About the Show
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown is an "average day in the life of Charlie Brown." It really is just that, a day made up of little moments picked from all the days of Charlie Brown, from Valentine's Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed up with the lives of his friends, (both human and non-human) and strung together on the string of a single day, from bright, uncertain morning to hopeful, starlit evening. This charming piece of musical theatre is enjoyable for the entire family.

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About the Auditions
All students between the ages of 9 and 14 are eligible to audition and although no stage experience is required it may be helpful.

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Make an Appointment
All preliminary auditions are held by appointment. Once your appointment is made you will receive a confirmation via email. Casting will be complete by April 14.

Request an Audition Appointment

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What to Prepare for the Auditions
All who audition for this program are accepted, however, anyone interested in a main role must audition with a preselect song from the show. Please prepare one song from the list below.

*Please note that the character of Snoopy may be played by a boy or girl.

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Callbacks
Sunday April 6, 2008 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Ventura Center for Spiritual Living, 101 South Laurel Street.

Students asked to come to the callback are being considered for a main role. At the callbacks students will be asked to sing the characters song and then read from the script. Those auditioning for Snoopy and Linus will be asked to also dance.

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Other Important Dates and Information

* Ventura Center for Spiritual Living
** Ventura High School Little Theatre
Please note the above preliminary may be schedule is subject to change

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Musical Numbers

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Cast of Characters

Charlie Brown
(A Baritone/Tenor, Strong Singer with Harmony Singing Experience)
Feels sorry for himself, lacks initiative, philosophical in a pessimistic way

Lucy
(Mezzo/Alto Belt, Strong Singer with Harmony Singing Experience)
Overbearing, brutally honest, says what she thinks without thought to social boundaries

Schroeder
(High Baritone/Tenor, Strong Singer Harmony Singing Experience)
Lucy's reluctant boyfriend, a sensitive musician

Linus
(Baritone/Tenor, Strong Singer and Dancer with Harmony Singing Experience)
Lucy's little brother, fanatical about his blanket

Sally Brown
(Soprano/Mezzo Belt, Strong Singer)
Charlie's little sister

Snoopy
(Tenor/Baritone, Strong Singer/Dancer with High Energy)
Imaginative

Chorus
The Chorus for this show will be a part of the Company in the listed Musical Numbers below. Some singing and dancing experience is a plus but not required.

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Brief History
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown opened on March 7, 1967 and played for 1,597 performances in New York at the theatre 80 St. Marks with Gary Burghoff in the title role. This version was revived briefly on Broadway in 1971 and played for 32 performances at the John Golden Theatre. A new revival version (You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown [Revised]) was presented on Broadway in 1999 and played for 149 performances at the Ambassador Theatre with award-winning performances by Roger Bart and Kristin Chenoweth as Snoopy and Sally.

Awards (1998-99)
2 Tony Awards for Featured Actress and Featured Actor
3 Drama Desk Awards for Revival, Featured Actress and Featured Actor

 

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Synopsis
A program note says that the time of the action is "an average day in the life of Charlie Brown." It really is just that, a day made up of little moments picked from all the days of Charlie Brown, from Valentine's Day to the baseball season, from wild optimism to utter despair, all mixed in with the lives of his friends (both human and non-human) and strung together on the string of a single day, from bright uncertain morning to hopeful starlit evening.

It seems to start off all right. After some brief comments on the nature of his character by his friends, Charlie Brown is swept into their center by a rousing tribute of only slightly qualified praise, in the song “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” He is then left to his own musings as he eats his lunch on the school playground, complicated unbearably by the distant presence of his true love, the "little redheaded girl," who is always just out of sight.

True love also seems to be the only unmanageable element in Lucy's solid life, which we discover as we watch her try to bulldoze her way through to her boyfriend's sensitive, six-year-old musician's heart, in “Schroeder.” The little scenes then begin to accumulate, and we learn that Lucy's little brother, Linus, is thoughtful about many things but fanatical when it comes to the matter of his blanket; that Sally is sweet and utterly innocent; and that Charlie Brown's dog spends much if not most of his time thinking of being something else-a gorilla, a jungle cat, perhaps a handsome trophy or two - but that mostly his life is a pleasant one –“Snoopy.”

The events continue to trickle on. Linus enjoys a private time with his most favorite thing of all- “My Blanket and Me,” Lucy generously bothers to inform him of her ambition-of-the-moment, to become a queen with her won queendom, and then Charlie Brown lurches in for still another bout with his own friendly enemy- “The Kite.”

Valentine's Day comes and goes with our hero receiving not one single valentine, which brings him to seek the temporary relief of Lucy's five-cent psychiatry booth – “The Doctor Is In.”

We then watch as four of our friends go through their individual struggles with the homework assignment of writing a hundred word essay of "Peter Rabbit" in “The Book Report.”

Act Two roars in with Snoopy lost in another world atop his dog house. As a World War One flying ace he does not bring down the infamous Red Baron in today's battle but we know that someday, someday he will.

The day continues. We learn of the chaotic events of the Very Little League's “Baseball Game” as Charlie Brown writes the news to his pen pal. Lucy is moved to conduct a personal survey to find out just how crabby she really is, and all the group gathers for a misbegotten rehearsal of a song they are to sing in assembly.

It is suppertime, and Snoopy once more discovers what wild raptures just the mere presence of his full supper dish can send him into. And then it is evening. The gathered friends sing a little about their individual thoughts of happiness and then they go off, leaving Lucy to make a very un-Lucy-like gesture: she tells Charlie Brown what a good man he is.

None of the cast is actually six years old. And they don't really look like Charles Schulz' "Peanuts" cartoon characters. But this doesn't seem to make that much difference once we are into the play, because what they are saying to each other is with the openness of that early childhood time, and the obvious fact is that they are all really quite fond of each other. And we are just as fond of them.

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To make a donation or to sponsor Rubicon's Education Outreach Programs, please call Brian McDonald at (805) 667-2912 ext. 234.