This past Wednesday and Thursday on March 22nd and 23rd, Rocky Mount Academy’s Upper School presented the play, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at the Imperial Center in Rocky Mount. Of course, the play included staples of the Charlie Brown who everyone knows and loves including the “loving” relationship between Lucy Van Pelt (Junior Anna Penwell) and Schroeder (Junior Joseph Petruzziello), Charlie Brown’s handy sidekick, Snoopy (Senior Lindy Pittman), blanket loving, too smart for school brother Linus Van Pelt (Junior Joe Cockrell), Charlie Brown’s little sister dressed in pink and always stating what everyone is thinking, Sally Brown (Senior Anna Scott Wingfield), and, of course, the lone-wolf himself, Charlie Brown, (Junior Johnhenry Wirman). When I first entered the Imperial Center on opening night, I was taken back by the large turnout of students, family members, and even members of the community outside of RMA that were present. It almost seemed like all of Rocky Mount showed out to see the play. The audience was full of excited children and adults alike, many of whom purchased roses and all of whom purchased tickets before the show began. With the Tech Crew in the booth controlling the light and sound, band members in the background at the ready, and the labored over set pieces on stage, it was sure to be a great night.

The production began as Charlie Brown pondered if there was anything he was actually good at in life. He realized all of his faults, which his friends gladly helped him uncover, and began to become really depressed about the lack of things he has accomplished. The audience learns of his crush on the “little redheaded girl” that goes to his school, and laughs at Charlie’s embarrassment to when he hides his face in a brown paper bag. He claims that lunch is among his least favorite times of day, but upon further examination, every time of day is his least favorite. More music numbers followed that were full of amazing vocal performances and choreography, performed by the characters and the ensemble consisting of Holly Brantley, Chandler Gazaway, Gabby Hickman, Vivian Rogers, and Lauren Seale. Schroeder plays an impressive number on his mini-piano as Lucy tries, almost too hard, to catch his attention. Snoopy casually rests atop of his doghouse giving important life advice and how strange it was that food could only go in the red dish and water could only go in the blue dish. Perhaps the funniest part of the play was Snoopy’s, for lack of a better term, dying dinosaur cough followed by an exaggerated gesture of falling to the floor due to his “lack of food.” Also comedic was Sally, of course, making random appearances on her scooter, jumping rope, and being her sassy, girly self as well as the ensemble dressed as little woodstocks while running across the stage with maracas. Chandler Gazaway, a 6’1″ football player, surprised the audience with his supreme dance moves on stage along with his shorts and cowboy boots. Linus then performed a duet with Lucy, who is constantly making fun of his bond with his “silly little blanket”. Later, Charlie Brown makes another appearance where he is flying a kite. Just when he is finally getting the hang of it and actually doing something good in his life, he gets it caught in a tree, a doomed task like the rest of his life. Due to his plethora of failures, Lucy decides she can help Charlie Brown by becoming his psychiatrist, for 5 cents of course. After more playing on his piano, Schroeder actually does get excited about something, just not Lucy, much to her disappointment. He decides there needs to be a “Beethoven Day” where Beethoven’s birthday is celebrated everywhere. Snoopy is all for the holiday and even shows his excitement with a blue Beethoven Day t-shirt, which Schroeder claims is too commercial. The first act concluded with the main character’s struggling to write a book report on Peter Rabbit. Of course, Charlie Brown wrote his in his head and didn’t put a single word on paper whereas Linus wrote the great American novel.

After a short intermission in which snacks and drinks were sold by the RMA Junior Class, the second act began with a song from Sally Brown about her new philosophy on how to live life. After getting tangled in her jump rope and receiving a less than acceptable grade from her teacher, she came up with quotes such as “Oh yea, that’s what you think”, “Why are you telling me”, “No”, and “I can’t stand it!” The whole gang then played in a baseball game where the ensemble acted as the cheerleaders with pompoms in hand, encouraging the team with cheers (and accidently spelling out MEAT instead of TEAM). The baseball team had to work together in order to succeed, and when that ultimately failed, a slow motion fight broke out that had the entire audience rolling in their seats, especially the match-up between Schroeder and Lucy. The next number that graced the stage was the “Glee Club Rehearsal”. The choir, made up of the main characters and the ensemble, was directed by Schroeder. However, as confrontations arose, the choir began to diminish until it was just Snoopy who had a howling solo at the end. Musical numbers “Little Known Facts” and “Suppertime” followed. It was during the latter that Snoopy, after a dramatic airplane fight, decided he must be dying because Charlie Brown “forgot” his dinner. Just as Snoopy sarcastically declared that he soon would be nothing but a dried up carcass, Charlie Brown appeared with food and all is forgiven. “Little Known Facts” was a comical song delivered by Lucy giving Linus not so correct information about how the world works. For example, clouds make the wind blow, snow goes up like flowers, little eagles are called sparrows and are eaten at Christmas and Thanksgiving, and fire hydrants grow everywhere. The ensemble then took a look at the beautiful stars in which Chandler Gazaway stated by moving to the front of the stage he could “get a closer look”, so everyone followed. Then all the characters entered the stage for the last song of the evening titled “Happiness”, a testament to the knowledge that Charlie Brown, despite his obvious flaws, had great friends who loved him anyway.

Both nights of the play were huge successes and the drama department surely made RMA proud. All of the participant’s hard work and perseverance paid off with two amazing performances. A special congratulations is in order to the entire cast and director, Dawn Whitehurst.