Mask&Mirror Heads Down the Nostalgia Road with Charlie Brown

Elizabeth Eckstein, Ellie Rooker, Julie Schaber, Lonnie Duran, Adriana 
K. Gomez, Jayna Cloud. Photo by Forrest Gardner

By Tina Arth

Mask&Mirror’s latest family-friendly production is You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. Clark M. Gesner provides book, music, and lyrics, with additional dialogue by Michael Mayer and additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. This much-produced show provides a touch of fun and nostalgia – a fine break from the personal and global crises all around us. While its target audience will always be children, the show is most familiar in 2019 to adults who grew up with the comics and TV specials – however, it’s great to introduce today’s kiddos to the gentle humor of Schultz’s world. Director Rick Hoover and Music Director Cindy Green have molded an all-ages cast into a well-oiled machine that delivers the dialogue, choreography, and songs essential to the play.

There is really no story – just two acts of vignettes that define the main characters of the Peanuts world – Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally, the Naturally Curly-Haired Girl, and of course the iconic Snoopy. The addition of a group of little yellow birds evokes Woodstock while allowing the company to feature some younger children in the cast.

Lonnie Duran delivers a wonderful Charlie Brown, every bit the downtrodden, insecure and anxious kid who, against all odds, just keeps trying. His eyes light up with fleeting optimism time after time, and his whole body just collapses with each failure.  Adriana K. Gomez is an appropriate foil as Charlie’s most consistent critic, the bossy Lucy that only a brother could love. Jayna Cloud is touching as Lucy’s younger brother Linus, the youngest yet wisest of the group. One of the best solo musical numbers goes to Ellie Rooker (Sally), whose “My New Philosophy” is a comic highlight. Of course we cannot forget Snoopy – Julie Schaber – who works her principal props (the food and water bowls) like a pro, and is particularly memorable when she goes after the Red Baron.

The lead vocals are surprisingly and uniformly strong, given the vast disparities in age and experience among the cast, and the vocal ensemble work is especially powerful. I do hope that the production team is able to find the limiter on the sound system that will allow modulation – the main cast members all wear head-mounted microphones, and when I saw the show the result was frequent spikes in volume well beyond what’s comfortable in the space.

Hoover’s set design is appropriately simple – just a brick wall and curtain backdrop with essential props like the doghouse, piano, and a few benches that can be easily moved around to streamline set changes. Costumes are equally simple – it doesn’t take much more than cartoon-worthy dresses for the little girls, Charlie’s iconic yellow t-shirt, and the essential dog suit for Snoopy (plus his WWI fighter pilot accessories when appropriate).

Mask&Mirror has opted to provide matinees on both Saturday and Sunday – a clever strategy to maximize attendance by children. For me, the show is a bit like Disneyland – best appreciated when seen through the eyes of a child!

Mask&Mirror’s You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown runs through Sunday, September 22 with 2:30 matinees on Saturday and Sunday and 7:30 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday at the Main Stage at Calvin Church, Tigard.