BWW Reviews: YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, Tabard Theatre, October 9 2011

There's a case to be made for the fullest representations of American life over the last fifty years being captured by two cartoons. While "The Simpsons" is a savage animated satire and very much the product of the baby-boomer post-war generation, "Peanuts" is a poignant daily postcard, a product of the generation that knew war and its aftermath. (The two creators, Matt Groening and Charles "Sparky" Schulz, met once and got along like a house on fire.) "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (at the Tabard Theatre until 30 October) revives the 1999 Broadway production, giving it its UK premiere, focusing on five of the main characters in the much-loved strip as they sing, dance and daydream in the backyard in front of the white picket fence.

Like The Simpsons, kids can enjoy the humour, the storylines and the slapstick of the show, but there is more than enough for adults in a production that stays faithful to characters fans have come to know as real. Charlie Brown (Lewis Barnshaw) is wracked with indecision over what to do about the Red-Haired Girl; Sally (Hayley Gallivan) is developing new philosophies to deal with her school grades; Schroeder (Nathaniel Morrison) is promoting and protecting Beethoven's reputation; Lucy (LeAnne Jones) is assessing the extent of her crabbiness; and Linus (Adam Ellis) clutches his blanket, failing to understand why his carefully constructed world of logic and facts is not embraced by the others. Snoopy (Mark Anderson) swings between love and malevolence and is still haunted by dreams of fighting the Red Baron in the skies above France.

Fans of the strip will be pleased that so many of the complexities of the characters survive in this feelgood musical and will enjoy remembering half-forgotten strips (Snoopy selling Beethoven T-shirts on his birthday was one that instantly came back to me). On a small stage, director Anthony Drewe makes use of an ingenious doghouse that is as fertile as its occupant's mind when it comes to assuming other purposes and the strong voices (Ms Jones' is every bit as loud as Lucy's in the strip when she bellows, as she so often does) are supported by a live band to give a real immediacy to the music.

Though restrictions on space precludes the full West End musical atmosphere, the cast carry off the big numbers well and tell their stories with the intimacy of the tight four-panel cartoons that appeared for fifty years all over the world. The best tribute this huge fan of Peanuts can pay to "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" is that anyone unfamiliar with Snoopy and co will love the show and, as for anyone who has read the strips, watched the television shows and seen the movies? Well, they'll love the show too.        

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