Paper Wing Theatre and Supper Club, a Monterey staple now in its 25th season, has chosen something unexpected to mark the anniversary: a show that appeals to adults and children. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown – Clark Gesner’s 1967 Off-Broadway piece, one of the most frequently staged musicals in American theater – turns out to be a well-considered choice, arriving as a series of vignettes rather than a conventional plot, and landing equally well with the nostalgic adults and the children fidgeting in their seats.
Paper Wing thrives with Associate Producer Justin Gaudoin, who directed the show, and Sarah Gaudoin, who embodied Lucy from Peanuts, the little queen of crabbiness. Her note in the playbill – a childhood photo alongside the admission that this show has been a lifelong favorite – is a detail her performance then warmly confirms.
If you like Charlie Brown (flawless delivery by Zed Warner) and enjoy musicals, you should be delighted. Impressive and fitting scenography transports the audience into the world of a cartoon strip, all thanks to Hunter Powers, this time delighting as stage manager. The set is further transformed through fun, well-delivered dance scenes (Izzy Pedego, choreographer) and music (resident music director Taylor Safina).
Scenes document the Peanuts gang’s lifestyle: Charlie Brown, always lost in thought and forever self-conscious; bossy Lucy and bright-eyed Sally (it’s hard not to smile back at Michaela Velasco); self-soothing Linus (Nick Kelley, a Paper Wing veteran) and an even more adorable than usual Snoopy (Brian Steen-Larsen). Participating in his oversized daydreams is truly something. The “Red Baron” sequence is among the evening’s best stretches.
Children in the audience enjoy the story, but the adults are not immune to the sarcastic undercurrent of Charlie Brown’s manifesto: People are mean, life is unfair and there are always book reports to be written.
The story of Charlie Brown is surprisingly philosophical without being heavy in thought. His quiet, earnest struggle with self-worth and his search for meaning feel true.