YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN

is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark
LLC. www.concordtheatricals.com

YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN
Based on the Comic Strip "PEANUTS"

by
Charles M. Schulz
Book, Music and Lyrics by
Clark Gesner

Originally Produced in New York by
Arthur Whitelaw and Gene Persson
Originally Directed in New York by
Joseph Hardy

Sunday matinee performance will include American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters.

Sunday May 23 matinee will be performed in a sensory sensitive manner.

ACT I
Charlie Brown and Linus are together, as his friends give their various opinions of him ("Opening"). Today everyone is calling him a "good man". They state he could be king. Lucy, however says he could be king if he wasn't so wishy-washy ("You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown"). Lucy expresses her deep infatuation with Schroeder and asks him what he thinks of the idea of marriage. Schroeder is aware of her feelings, but remains aloof as he plays his piano. Lucy then exclaims: "My Aunt Marion was right. Never try to discuss marriage with a musician" ("Schroeder").

Schroeder is walking around in the sun, happy with all the peace and quiet. However, that is soon interrupted by Lucy screaming for a ball. Snoopy is lying on top of his doghouse, relaxing vacantly and peacefully. He daydreams that all the children are adoring him, and saying he's “the best dog in the world”. Birds start to poke his stomach, and then he begins to daydream about being a wild jungle beast. In a few minutes, however, he is back to his peaceful state ("Snoopy").

Linus enters, holding his blanket and sucking his thumb. Lucy and Patty show up and mock him for this habit. Lucy tries to pull away the blanket, but fails. Linus decides to abandon his blanket and move on, only to come running back to it in desperation. After the girls leave, Linus decides to relax with his blanket until he can outgrow it ("My Blanket and Me"). Charlie Brown appears, trying to get his unusually stubborn kite to soar in the air. Eventually, he succeeds in doing this, and he enjoys a few minutes of triumph before the kite plummets to the ground ("The Kite").

After this trauma, Charlie Brown tries to find the right way to give The Little Red-Headed Girl her Valentine's Day card, but he ends up saying "Merry Christmas", making a fool out of himself. He finds Patty handing out valentines, and she drops a valentine with the initials C.B. Charlie Brown gives it back to Patty, but soon learns it was Craig Bowerman's valentine. He goes to see Lucy, who is at her psychiatrist booth. He tells her all the things he thinks of himself. Lucy then clears it up by saying that Charlie Brown is unique the way he is, then asks for the five cent price ("The Doctor Is In").

Later, Lucy comes up to Schroeder again and talks about if they got married, and they were so poor that Schroeder had to sell his piano for saucepans, and, again, Schroeder cannot stand it. At noon, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, and Charlie Brown are working on their Peter Rabbit book reports, each in his or her own way. Lucy is simply babbling to fit the 100-word requirement, Schroeder is doing a "comparison" between the book and Robin Hood, Linus is doing an overcomplicated psychological analysis, and Charlie Brown hasn't even started out of worry ("The Book Report").

Act II
Snoopy, in his World War I flying ace uniform, climbs atop his doghouse. He goes through a scene, with him being a pilot searching for the Red Baron. In his imagination, he is defeated by the Red Baron and returns to the aerodrome in France ("The Red Baron"). Meanwhile, Charlie Brown returns, and, with his friends, plays the Little League Baseball Championship. After some mishaps, the team finally manages to make some progress. Charlie Brown steps up to the plate, and despite his valiant efforts, strikes out and loses the game. We learn that this was a flashback, and Charlie Brown expresses his deep sorrow to his pen pal ("T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game)").

Later on, Linus and Lucy arrive home. Linus starts to watch TV, but Lucy tells him to switch channels. Lucy tells Linus that what she intends to do when she grows up, she will become a queen. Linus denies, and Lucy decides to cultivate her life for her "natural beauty" ("Queen Lucy"). The next day, at lunchtime, Charlie Brown talks about his bad days. Then he notices the Little Red-Haired Girl approaching and puts a paper bag over his head. It turns out it is Lucy and Patty, chatting together.

At Schroeder's Glee Club, Patty is the only one to arrive early. When everyone comes, it's chaos. Unfortunately, a fight ensues between Lucy and Linus over a pencil. Lucy threatens to tell Patty that Linus called her an enigma. The fight spreads, and Charlie Brown decides to leave with his angry friends, leaving Schroeder and Snoopy the only ones singing ("Glee Club Rehearsal"). Later, Charlie Brown comes across Lucy teaching Linus about nature the way she views it, with "facts" such as bugs pulling the grass to make it grow or snow coming out of the ground in winter. Charlie Brown tries to correct her, but she retaliates with a false explanation, and Charlie Brown bangs his head against a tree in frustration ("Little Known Facts").

The next morning, Snoopy is puzzled why he has his supper in the red dish, and the water in the blue dish. Meanwhile, Linus and Schroeder are walking to school. Schroeder asks if Linus filled out the form that Ms. Othmar gave them. Linus puts down “Dr. Seuss“. Snoopy talks about how he hates cats, but he is also scared of them ("Peanuts Potpourri"). That evening, Snoopy complains that he hasn't been fed yet, and begins to overly complicate and dramatize the matter until Charlie Brown shows up with his dinner. Snoopy bursts into song about his craving for supper until Charlie Brown firmly tells him to eat his meal ("Suppertime").

That night, everyone is looking at the stars in wonder. Charlie Brown soon discovers a pencil which has been dropped by the Little Red-Haired Girl (his perennial crush). As he examines it, he discovers that "there are teeth-marks all over it . . . she nibbles her pencil . . . she's HUMAN!" With that realization, he concludes that today hasn't been so bad, after all, and he's done a lot of things that make him happy. As Charlie Brown expresses what makes him happy, everyone, touched by his love of life, begin to express what makes them happy as well ("Happiness"). Right then, he realizes being a "good man" means trying your best and making the most of the things you've been given in life. As his other friends leave the stage, Lucy turns to him then tells him, "You're a good man, Charlie Brown."

How Do You Like Me Now (HDYLMN) Productions, Inc. exists because great success is the best revenge.

The organization formed following the suicide death of a local fourteen-year-old. “Nic” had been bullied relentlessly about his perceived sexual orientation — perceived because, at 14, how could anyone other than “Nic” have known?  On October 8, 2011, while his classmates celebrated a birthday less than two miles away, Nic tragically left this world, his family and his friends.

We, the founders of HDYLMN (Ed, Grant and Robert), felt compelled to take action. For months, we attempted to honor Nic’s memory and raise awareness of the devastating impact of bullying by working with local community theaters to bring a production of “The Laramie Project” to the stage. Finally, frustrated by insurmountable obstacles, we founded How Do You Like Me Now and produced our first show on the stage at the Howard County Center for the Arts.

The organization has since expanded into two divisions. Stand Up For…Theatre (SUFT) presents musicals and straight plays with content focused on starting the conversations necessary to promote acceptance.  Erase Hate Through Art (EHTA) curates fine art exhibitions of work by artists who support our fight against bullying and hate crimes by creating originals works interpreting their view of the impact of hate on the world in which we live.

Our motto is: “When you get to the destination they said you could never achieve. Look over your shoulder and ask  “How do you like me now?’”

It is the mission of How Do You Like Me Now Productions to advance the cause of acceptance of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) community in and around the Baltimore/Washington suburban area. We endeavor to facilitate a free-flowing dialog between the LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ communities. Through the use of theater and fine arts, we promote the ideals of acceptance and equality in order to create an awareness of hate and hate crimes against all races, genders, sexual identities and humanity as a whole.