CCH brings beloved comic strip to life
‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, ’opens tonight at Eggplant Theatre
Catholic Central High School’s production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” officially opens tonight. The musical is based on the comic strip “Peanuts” which first appeared back in 1950.
“So I think it’s well known and a wellloved cartoon piece. This musical is kind of a collection of some of the favourite bits, it’s not a solid storyline, but it all revolves around, of course, Charlie Brown who’s the underdog,” said director Laurie Mitchell.
For the past 26 years, the school has been putting on high school productions, but Mitchell admits it can be difficult to decided what play to choose in order to meet all their targets.
“We want pieces that will be good for the public and we want pieces that will provide good vehicles for our singers, dancers and everything,” said Mitchell.
About 12 years ago, before it had been revised, she directed the play with a much smaller cast and enjoyed it. Mitchell said the students were excited about this year’s production.
“It’s nice for them because of the revision, they can go online and see Broadway versions and they can hear the music and see bits and pieces.”
The play is a little smaller than some of the other productions they’ve done, but there’s still a lot involved. In October, students auditioned for the musical and 29 students were cast.
There’s about 80 people involved in the whole production, however, with crew members, orchestra and the production crew. Mitchell said the production has been a labour of love.
Since November, students have worked on the project five days a week.
“We do two days of vocal, two days of acting and one day of (choreography) every week, so it’s a big commitment. They’re here from 3 to 6 p.m. every night and when we get into technical stuff, it’s much longer,” said Mitchell.
“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” runs from today to March 18 at the Eggplant Theatre at the CCH East campus with performances daily, except for Monday. The weekend performances will be matinees, the rest are at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the CCH campus east.