 The Toronto cast |
In the mid-60s, Clark Gesner had written an album of songs featuring the Peanuts character, and was approached by producers to turn the album into a stage show. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown was first staged on March 7, 1967, at Theatre 80 St. Marks in New York City, moving to Broadway on June 1, 1971 where it played until June 27, 1971 at the John Golden Theatre. Since then, it has become one of the most produced musicals in history, a perennial favourite with amateur theatre groups, mostly due to the simplicity of its sets and small cast size. The revival made some significant changes to the original show, deleting 17 scenes and adding 21 new ones, drawing on new material from the Peanuts comic strip since the debut of the original production. Perhaps the most significant change was the replacement of the character Patty with Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally. It opened on February 4, 1999 at the Ambassador Theatre in New York and closed on June 30 of that year. It was nominated for 4 Tony Awards, and won two – for Best Featured Actor (Roger Bart) and Best Featured Actress (Kristin Chenoweth). |