A Good Man Indeed, Charlie Brown

Amidst the unbearable heat and humidity of a Cambridge July, the Harvard-Radcliffe 2006 Summer Theatre Company opened their three-show program with Clark Gesner’s famous Broadway adaptation of Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts.”

As the songs and scenes pass seamlessly by, the revival becomes a superb metaphor for a Harvard summer: while playful, young, and confident, it still manages to ask unanswerable questions with colorful hints of philosophical depth.

For this reason, it was unfortunate to see some empty seats in the audience. Apparently, there are only a handful of unsold tickets left before the last performance on July 8th, but this cast definitely deserves a full house.

Although the script raises more heady questions than it answers, the nimble cast and the flawless crew make up for Gesner’s shortcomings.

It’s especially hard to achieve moments of personal brilliance amidst a very balanced cast of six. However, all the actors manage to make the whole play theirs at some point or another.

Joshua M. Brener ’07 provides an understated, witty performance as the troubled title character. As his “friends” constantly remind him, Charlie is neither handsome, nor clever—not even good at spelling. But together with his fellows and through a disjointed-yet-charming plot, he eventually realizes that “there is no one quite like you, Charlie Brown.”

Lauren L. Jackson ’07 finds more room for her distinct talent in Lucy’s skin than she did as the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland” this past May. She also works elegantly with Olivia A. Benowitz ’09, who plays the character Sally. Benowitz’s every word is worth a laugh; in keeping with the play’s balance between levity and depth, she delivers one of the play’s most contrary lines: “I was drawing a pink unicorn, and then everything was futile.”

Linus (Andrew G. Sullivan ’06) reaches equal heights during “My Blanket and Me,” an ode to his most beloved object. To him, blankets can be just as addictive as brandy, coffee, or cigarettes.

Words aren’t even necessary to stand out in this musical. Woodstock (Samantha K. Biegler ’08), a character this company brought to the stage from Schulz’s strip, manages to do so without having lines or songs of her own.

And in the midst of all this grown-up humor, the cast genuinely looks and sounds like a gaggle of ten-year-olds.

Technically, the production is as colorful and understated as the actors’ performances. Lighting plays an ingenious dramatic role and is crucial to the play’s finale. The aesthetic choices, from Lucy’s blackboard to Snoopy’s doghouse, form colorful geometric patterns, which are only enhanced by the set’s dark backgrounds. There are serious flaws, including a pit band that drowns out much of the cast’s singing, but they are too few and too sporadic to mar the production.

During intermission, while I asked a producer some questions about the arrangements, a member of the audience inquired why the cast and crew chose to stay at Harvard during the summer. After hearing their work was unpaid, she wondered if they got academic credit. But to both questions, the answer was “no.”

In a time when many of us seek profitable private jobs or for-credit summer courses across time zones, it’s refreshing to find a group that suffers the Cambridge heat and humidity for something else. Quoting Jonas A. Budris ’06 as the character Schroeder, “It is not for profit, Lucy; this is art.”

—Staff writer Pierpaolo Barbieri can be reached at barbier@fas.harvard.edu.