REVIEW | You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

'Charlie Brown' charms audience

Larry Collins
Springfield News Leader

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," the second entry in Tent Theatre's 2008 summer season, offers a high-spirited evening of song and dance that will entertain and perhaps even enlighten the entire family.
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The whimsical musical portrait of six popular characters featured in the "Peanuts" comic strips created by Charles Schulz became an off- Broadway hit in 1967, running four years and spawning countless productions around the world.

A 1999 reworking of the material for Broadway, the basis for the current Tent staging, proved less successful despite the addition of several catchy songs, new dialogue and a new character, Charlie Brown's outspoken little sister, Sally.

Under Michael Casey's sympathetic direction, the talented cast brings Charlie, Sally and the rest of the cartoon gang to three-dimensional life, while the cozy Tent setting gives you a close-up look at understated performances and subtle facial expressions that might go unnoticed in a larger venue.

Jeffrey Binney's winning take on the title character is a case in point.

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