Always a good man Charlie Brown

I was reading the comic strips a few days ago when I came across this quote from the dog Snoopy in Peanuts. “The results of what I have done will be known only to future generations!” Those are big words from a comics Beagle who is no hero and who has not really done anything at all in his stories. I do not know when creator Charles M. Schulz wrote those words. But it has proven most prophetic. Snoopy’s lifetime continues and we still pay attention to what he says.

Peanuts started a long time ago, way back in 1950. But to this day we still enjoy reading the tales of Snoopy and his gang. We smile, we feel sad and sometimes we find ourselves in the strip. Schulz wrote Peanuts for 50 years. The last strip came out on the day of his death on Feb. 13, 2000. The materials he created continue to run in syndication and Peanuts remains one of the most popular and most influential comic strips of all time.

Even more loved are the characters Schulz created for Peanuts. There are Charlie Brown’s lovable and sensitive dog Snoopy; the blanket-toting Linus; the piano-playing fan of Beethoven, Schroeder; Charlie’s love interests, Violet and Patty and the red-haired girl; Charlie’s younger sister Sally, the crabby know-it-all Lucy and most of all, good old Charlie Brown, plagued by unrequited love, full of insecurities, but so willing to try and try again.

They are a disjointed, neurotic batch but for some strange reason they struck a chord with the ’80s generation. Would you believe that they were so well-liked that NASA named the command module and lunar module of spacecraft Apollo 10, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. That is why there is very famous image of Snoopy with Apollo 10. Maybe the astronauts who went up in space also saw all their flaws displayed in plain view with every Peanuts strip.

I expect to come across lots of those when the musical You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown opens at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of the RCBC Plaza in Makati on Saturday. This was created by Charles Gesner based on the characters and stories of Peanuts. Unlike most musicals, this is nothing fantastic. Like the strip, it is simple, low-key and almost childlike. It is also sweet, heartwarming and very funny.

Cast in the roles of the iconic characters are theater veterans Robbie Guevara as Charlie Brown; Carla Guevarra-Laforteza as Lucy; Lorenz Martinez as Snoopy; Franco Laurel as Linus alternating with Toff de Venecia; Tonipet Gaba as Schroeder; and Sweet Plantado-Tiongson of The CompanY as Sally. Director is one of the finest theater actors around Michael Williams.

You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown is presented by 9 Works Theatrical. It plays at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorim of RCBC Plaza in Makati, starting on Feb. 11 up to March 3 at 8 p.m.; at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturdays; and at 3:30 p.m. on Sundays. For tickets and other inquiries, call 557-5860; 586-7105; or 0917-5545560; or e-mail in[email protected].

Watch, bring the whole family and buy yourselves some happiness. In case you are not aware of it, the most popular song out of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown is Happiness, a song about simple joys and dreams of little kids. It is such a beautiful song that sends me musing about childhood.

This is the one that goes: Happiness is finding a pencil/ pizza with sausage/ telling the time/ happiness is learning to whistle/ tying your shoe for the very first time/ happiness is playing the drum in your own school band/and happiness is walking hand in hand.

Happiness is two kinds of ice cream/knowing a secret/climbing a tree/ happiness is five different crayons/catching a firefly/setting him free/happiness is being alone every now and then/and happiness is coming home again.

Happiness is a great song and one reason I am happy that You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown is back on the local stage. But there are also other pretty and amusing tunes you might discover when you watch the musical. Check out Lucy to the melody of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata by Schroeder; Snoopy by Snoopy; My Blanket And Me by Linus; The Doctor Is In by Lucy and Charlie; Beethoven Day by Schroeder; My New Philosophy by Sally with Schroeder; T- E-A- M The Baseball Game by Charlie; and Little Known Facts by Lucy with Linus and Charlie.