26 high school students, dressed as the classical comic strip characters known as “Peanuts”, danced onto the Fort Zumwalt West stage on Oct. 10-12, 2013. Directed by Nicole Villhard, musical director Beth Fritz, and technical director Tim Crohan, this production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” was a success in many ways.

The musical’s script, along with music and lyrics, was written by Clark Gesner in 1967 and is based off of the creations of Charles M. Schulz. It features the adventures of anxious Charlie Brown, lovely Lucy van Pelt, silly Snoopy the Dog, and the rest of the team in short “comic-strip-like” scenes. The simplicity of the set, singing, and adjustable cast size put the musical on Playbill’s  2010 “Top Ten List for Most-Performed Musicals in High Schools” as number seven.

FZW Fine Arts Department captured the themes of the musical wonderfully. Luke Gottreu portrayed the young, troubled Charlie Brown in a way that was relatable to each audience member, bringing back fond memories of why “Peanuts” is still such a beloved pop culture item 63 years after it’s first publication.

His co-actors also succeeded in portraying believable youngsters. During monologues such as the famous lunch room scene, chorus members could be seen scattered around the set, keeping busy with purposeful and meaningful stage business. For example, Pig Pen, played by Annie Marion, was so in character that at one point the actor took off her shoes and socks and began to pick at her toes.

The believability of the story also came through by the flawless establishment of relationships between characters. Linus and Lucy (Jonah Munzer and Emily Ford) had a knack for walking off and entering stage in character, with Lucy leading the way with her hands on her hips and Linus reluctantly following, clutching his blanket. Smalls details such as these lead the audience to feel for the characters and relate to the words that they were singing or saying.

Some of the highlights from the show were because of the perfectly executed jokes within the script, such as Schroeder (Tracy Wilbert) and his inexplicable talent for relating everything back to Beethoven. The audience did miss a few of the jokes due to the inability to comprehend some of the singers in their higher vocal ranges.

Other highlights of the show came in the form of toe-tapping dance numbers, such as “My Blanket and Me”, which involved cast members dancing with colorful blankets. Throughout the dances every actor’s face seemed to light up with youthful energy and they seemed to be enjoying their time under the bright lights with each other.

Sweet Sally, portrayed by Amanda Blythe, surprised audiences with a simple tap dancing number during her song “My New Philosophy”.

But the whole show was stolen by Yasmine Benchabaane, who portrayed Snoopy the dog. It seemed as though Yasmine had observed real dogs for weeks, for she painted an incredibly realistic portrait of man’s best friend through her body language and facial expressions. At the same time she brought good ol’ Snoopy right off the page, but wasn’t afraid to add her own little twist, including a giant dance number (choreographed by Jay Davis) in which the pups and Woodstock danced around wearing sparkling top hats.

It is also important to note the wonderful costume, makeup, and set building teams, which added to the imaginary neighborhood on the stage. But throughout the Friday night performance I attended, there seemed to be a few scene transitions that left the audience in the dark for just a smidge too long, due to either lighting or scenery movement. The scenes towards the end of act one seemed to drag on just a bit too long, due to some pacing issues. These carried over to the beginning of act two, but the show quickly livened up during “The Baseball Game”. The oversized props were a nice touch, along with the childlike costumes. I tip my hat to the students running the tech booth. They went above and beyond to provide interesting lighting designs for each scene, rather than keeping with the simple theme like the rest of the production. My favorite moment of the night was the intense lighting during the “Red Baron fight scene” opening act two, where bright lights flashed in sync with Snoopy’s pilot shoot-down.

Overall, I enjoyed my evening and look forward to coming back for the spring production of “Almost, Maine”. A special thank you for the evening of laughter and heart-warming smiles.

For more information about Fort Zumwalt West’s theater department, check out their website at http://fzwdramaclub.webs.com/