‘Peanuts’ characters to come to life on Perry stage

Charlie Brown and the whole gang have come to life at the Perry Players Community Theatre in Charles Schulz’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

The 34-member cast is made up of all the regular “Peanuts” characters, including Charlie Brown (Aaron Benda), Snoopy (Jaime Hall), Sally (Hanna Kemp), Lucy (Annie Sinatra), Linus (Levi Shelton) and Schroeder (Trajan Clayton), according to the show’s producer, Tami Daniels. Other characters who will make appearances include Pig Pen, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, a whole flock of Woodstocks and a scene of hilarious bunny rabbits.

“I think the audience is going to just instantly connect with this cast because the characters are so iconic and recognizable,” Daniels said. “Charles Schulz created more than 17,000 ‘Peanuts’ comic strips, so between the comic strips, TV specials and movies, these are characters that have truly been known and loved for generations.”

In addition to the play, there will be more than a dozen songs, complete with choreography, according to Perry Players publicist Tyler Yeomans, who is also a member of the ensemble. Some of the more well-known and beloved classics will include “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “Beethoven Day” and “My New Philosophy.”

“I think it is wonderful,” he said. “I grew up with Charlie Brown. It’s great seeing it brought to life. It’s full of uplifting, catchy songs and dance numbers. It’s very magical, colorful and happy.”

The two-act show is simply about a day in the life of Charlie Brown. Daniels said the show starts off in the morning with Charlie Brown thinking it’s going to be a good day. However, he ends up being late to school, which is followed by scenes at choir practice, homework time and the baseball field. The shows goes all the way through the evening with Charlie Brown looking at the stars and having a chat with Lucy at the psychiatrist booth.

A special event, “Snack Time With Snoopy,” will be held 4-5:30 p.m. Saturday, where kids can have fun with Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the whole “Peanuts” gang, Daniels said. Kids can enjoy a snack, get a take-home craft and a goody bag of souvenirs, enjoy songs from the show, and take a backstage tour. Then, they can come back for the 7:30 p.m. show. Tickets are $30, and the cost includes “Snack Time With Snoopy” as well as the show. Only 20 tickets are available for this special event.

“It’s just a way to expand our reach,” Daniels said. “It fits so perfectly with kids. It’s a way to reach out to kids ... a perfect match for Charlie Brown.”

At the Feb. 26 show, sign language interpretation will be offered to help make live community theater more accessible to the hearing impaired. Daniels said she is hoping to have several interpreters so they can trade-off with the different characters.

“Our director and choreographer and musical director take sign language lessons, and it just matches beautifully with theater,” she said. “It’s an expressive form of communication ... so because they had a real passion for learning it themselves, we thought it would work well if we reached out and tried to offer it.”

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 8:24 AM with the headline "‘Peanuts’ characters to come to life on Perry stage."