You\’re an Okay Man, Charlie Brown

By Jamie Ho, Guest Writer

The FVHS Drama Department put on the play “You\’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” in the midst of AP week. For those of us who were sick and tired of studying, it was a rather nice break. The play was adequately entertaining as long as you didn\’t expect something too amazing.

Josh Alvaro, who played the lead of Charlie Brown, wasn\’t impressive for the first half of the play. Scenes where the audience should be sympathizing with him didn\’t come out as intended, as he came out as a whiny and annoying “kid”.

His singing was very weak, especially the solos where he was supposed to shine. His voice sounded very shaky, and he didn\’t have control over his pitch. There were moments where his voice sounded like it was breaking,  and made it hard for me to listen.

Fortunately, he was able to partly redeem himself in the second half of the show. During one of his “nobody likes me” scenes, I actually started to feel for the kid he portrayed, and even found myself saying “awww…” along with the audience. Although Alvaro shouldn\’t plan on a career in song anytime soon, his baseball game solo was decent, as I still had it stuck in my head for some time after the show.

Noelle Carney, who played the part of Lucy Van Pelt, was one of the better actors of the show. Most people would agree that she stole the show. She had impressive comedic timing and delivered her lines the way a bratty, know-it-all kid would.

Lucy became one of my favorite characters in the play due to her humorous dialogue (“It\’s a woman\’s prerogative to change her mind”) and partly because of her singing. She was one of the very, very few people who were able to sing on key. Her voice showed vocal control, and was one of the highlights of the play. Unfortunately, not all of her notes were pleasant to hear, but her singing was superior to that of the other cast members.

The rest of the cast wasn\’t too bad, with a few exceptions. Rene Marino, who played Schroeder, was another actor that succeeded in making the audience chuckle. Scenes with Rene and Carney were golden, and made the play much more enjoyable. However, his singing was hardly better than Alvaro\’s.

Emily Fitzpatrick, who played Sally Brown, was up to par with Noelle with her acting and singing. However, there were times when her “Sally\’s” voice made me want to plug my ears. She was pretty funny throughout the show, and personified how a child acts when she doesn\’t get her way.

Eric Cota, who played Linus Van Pelt, was just barely better at singing than Alvaro and Marino. However, he didn\’t have as much stage presence as the rest of the cast, and was not very memorable.

Kayla Harkins, who played the part of Snoopy, was a bit of a let down for me. Snoopy has always been my favorite character in the Peanut gang, and it saddened me to see that Harkins wasn\’t able to play Snoopy\’s part very well. Of course, Snoopy is a dog, which can be hard to portray, but Harkins wasn\’t able to deliver her lines with the same humor as some of the other members of the cast. In fact, she came across as an unlikable character with a negative attitude rather than the loveable Snoopy everyone is so used to seeing. I understand Snoopy can be unpleasant, but the fact that he\’s adorable and annoying makes his character special. Furthermore, Harkins\’ singing was flat the entire time, perhaps even the worst of the cast.

The Chorus, which consisted of Chelsea Harvey, Jeremy Alvarez, Tiffany Pham, Jenna Stewart, and Hanna Davis, did not add much to the play very much. In fact, they rather took away from it. Staring at the crowd may have started out as funny, but became creepy and made the audience feel uncomfortable later on.

Jenna Stewart seemed noticeably lost, looking to the others for guidance as if she did not know the choreography. She made the whole scene look a bit awkward, which is unfortunate considering there wasn\’t much for her to remember. Despite all this, the chorus really added to the play when its members joined the rest of the cast in singing various songs throughout the play.

The set looked just as I thought it would: cartoony and right out of a comic strip. It fit the play perfectly, and created an atmosphere of unreality that could only come from living in a cartoon or a childhood memory. It made the play itself seem more , as it brought the peanut world to life. For a while, I was mesmerized by the set and imagined myself as a kid just enjoying a show. The lighting was about the same throughout the whole play, but a few spotlights, mainly focused on the center of the stage, were able to brighten the whole stage. It was simple, and the audience was able to see the play clearly without fancy lighting to distract them (as compared with A Midsummer Night\’s Dream).

The music was problemous throughout the play. Often, the music would be so loud that it would be difficult to hear the actors singing or talking. The only actors able to break through the music at times were Carney and Alvaro. Despite that, I really liked how a real band was used for the music rather than a CD. It showed how much was put into making this production.

The costumes were pretty much on point with the actual wardrobe of Charlie Brown and his gang. I really appreciated that they were able to replicate the character\’s original clothes in the series well. Emily Fitzpatrick even went as far as to wear a wig to capture Sally Brown\’s image. Accessories like the wig made the portrayal of characters more believable, such as with Linus\’s blanket, and Schroeder\’s piano. The only thing that seemed to be missing was Lucy\’s signature  football.

Although some of the performances were disappointing, small aspects of the play such as the set, costume, and band were able to make the performance a pleasant show to watch. Taking everything into account, I must give this show a 6+ out of a 10. As the title of this review states, the play was just “okay.”