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Players and Singers’ new musical will be a good one, Charlie Brown

Murray Bridge’s amateur theatre company will present a musical based on the Peanuts comic strip at a new venue this May.

Peri Strathearn

Apr 1, 2024 — 3 min read

This sponsored story is brought to you by the Murray Bridge Players and Singers, Inc.

Playing Schroeder, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Linus are Sophie Meers, Jack Humphrys, Daytona Luke and Maddison Stock. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Murray Bridge Players and Singers will try something new in their upcoming production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

It will be a different kind of production, for a start.

The amateur company has been better known in recent years for big-name musicals with big ensembles – Chicago, Priscilla, Mamma Mia – but this one has a cast of just six.

They’ll present it on a different stage, too, venturing out to Tailem Bend Town Hall instead of their usual venue in Murray Bridge.

But this musical – based on the Peanuts comic strip – will have the same high production values as any from Players and Singers, says director Andrew Broadbent.

After all, this is a prestigious company: MBPS’s recent production of Legally Blonde and its star, Katelin Kneebone, are both nominated for this year’s Theatre Association of SA awards.

If anything, the smaller cast and crew in this production will allow each member to polish his or her contributions that much more.

“We get to know each other better in a cast of six and develop our characters more thoroughly,” Broadbent says.

Broadbent, taking his first spin in the director’s chair since 2012’s Little Shop of Horrors, originally planned to present You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with another local theatre company, Green Wall Studio, two years ago.

When Green Wall closed down, the production was “basically ready to go”, he says.

So, since an information night and auditions in January and February, it has been all systems go.

Snoopy, Lucy Van Pelt, Charlie Brown and Linus Van Pelt have become some of the world’s most recognisable comic book characters since the 1950 debut of Charles M. Schulz’s *Peanuts*. Image: Fotos International/Getty Images.

Like frames in a comic strip, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is more of a series of vignettes than a single story, with musical numbers throughout.

Audiences might have a passing familiarity with its characters, including Snoopy, Charlie, blanket-hugging Linus and piano-playing Schroeder.

The original version premiered off-Broadway in 1967, having been based on a concept album by Peanuts fan Clark Gesner.

At times, the cast have had to get inventive in order to remain true to the source material.

Daytona Luke plays Charlie Brown, one of whose signature props is meant to be a peanut butter sandwich – but fellow cast member Sophie Meers, playing Schroeder, is allergic to nuts.

They came up with the idea of using caramel-flavoured Biscoff spread instead.

Meers described the production as “small but mighty”, with a different dynamic to more traditional musicals: “it’s musical, but … it’s known for the story”.

The production team includes Olivia Grinter, Rebecca Byrnes, Sophie Meers and Andrew Broadbent. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Broadbent hoped it would appeal to audiences of all ages.

“We’ve got the childish characters children will connect with: the characters are all six to eight years old, despite being played by adults,” he said.

“But on the other side of the spectrum, Charlie Brown is 74 years old; the older generation are going to be aware of the comic strip, the TV specials and what they’re like.”

Production manager Rebecca Byrnes described the production as colourful and melodramatic.

“People will laugh at different things,” she said.

“Everyone has an inner child; this show brings them out.”

Performances: 7.30pm on May 10, 11 and 17 and 2pm on May 12 and 18 at Tailem Bend Town Hall.
Tickets: www.trybooking.com/CQLSL.
More information: mbplayersandsingers.com.au/upcoming-productions.

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