You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
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Free Music Notes for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
Free Music Review: Utterly beguiling
Hit: 5 Stars
We are lucky to have this recording back in the catalogue after a much-too-long absence. In fact, as far as I can tell, this is its first release on CD.Many listeners will have fond memories of having been in or seen a production of this show at an early age and will treasure reliving those memories through this CD. For those who don't know anything about the show, I recommend highly that you set cynicism aside for an hour and give into the delights in store.
"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" came out of a decade when off-Broadway shows were in their prime. "The Fantasticks," "Little Mary Sunshine," "Godspell," "Dames at Sea,"; all these shows used their small budgets and limited resources as assets, counter-acting the overblown, bloated, lavish Broadway productions. These shows had at their center a sense of fun and, most importantly, heart, which drew audiences to them in droves.
"You're a Good Man" captures not only the fun of the "Peanuts" characters but the essence and spirit of the wonderful comic as well. The actors are simple and direct, never falling into the coy archness some adults adopt when playing young children. The show itself is sweet without being syrupy and the music is pure fun and joy.
I won't compare this recording with the new Broadway cast; I like both of them, and don't wish to denigrate either of them. Both are valid ways of performing this show, although very different. The new cast is more polished and is backed by a more varied instrumental group, while the original cast plays the piece more sincerely, at a less cartoonish level. Again, I like both versions and recommend having both in your collection, but if you only want one, decide which is more important to you: polish and sparkle, or simplicity and charm.
This disc is a great memento of one of the most beloved off-Broadway shows ever written; many thanks to Decca for bringing it back to us!
Free Music Review: The original Off-Broadway cast is still the best
Hit: 5 Stars
The Original Off-Broadway Cast album of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" was probably the first musical I really listened to as a kid. I listen to a lot of musicals and I have lots of revival albums. As a general rule I am usually interested in how different singers deal with classic songs. But the latest revival album of this musical does nothing for me for the simple reason that those singers do not sound like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and Linus. The "real" characters are on this original album. Reva Rose singing "Schroeder" is ingrained in my brain in a way that allows no substitutes. No other version of "Happiness" can touch me the way that this one does, totally capturing the sense of friendship between these characters. Yes, I now know intellectually that it is Gary Burghoff playing Charlie Brown, but that means nothing. It is Charlie Brown singing and you will never convince me otherwise. In this case I am willing to argue the first version is the best, and if you loved this album as a kid you certainly will want to hear it again as a former kid. Composer/lyricist/librettist Clark Gesner had simply written a bunch of "Peantus" songs based on Charles M. Schulz's beloved comic strip and was persuaded to turn them into a stage musical in 1967 and ran for four years. The cast consists of Bill Hinnant (Snoopy), Gary Burghoff (Charlie Brown), Reva Rose (Lucy), Karen Johnson (Patty), Bob Balaban (Linus), and Skip Hinnant (Schroeder). One of the treats of this CD version is that we get to hear these songs in their original versions, with Gesner on the piano and Barbara Minkus doing the singing. Even in these earlier forms, the charm and the heart are readily apparent. It is really nice to see that the bonus tracks on this album live up to the name.
Free Music Review: THE "Charlie" recording to have
Hit: 5 Stars
The fanatastic songs in tis show are best done when underplayed. "Happiness" does not need to be an overbloated ballad with sweeping strings and overly "pop"-styled performances. Thankfully, this recording avoids that. The basic orchestrations and subtle performances suit the simple songs perfectly. These songs manage to cover, almost, the complete span of human emotion through the well loved Peanuts characters. I don't know of anyone who can't relate to Charlie Brown in "The Doctor is In," and "Happiness" is one of those songs that creates a lump in everyone's throat, only to make them respond "This is silly, why am I crying because of the little song?" You'll also do a fair share of laughing during songs like "Little Known Facts" which features "facts" every kid has tried to pass down on the people younger than them. The score is at once memorable, singable, clever, and touching in every song. You will be humming ALL of these songs for weeks. And no one will ever be able to tell you "Dinner's ready!" or say "Not bad" without causing you to break out into song. Buy the CD for the great music. Buy this recording to hear the music done to tbe highest level of effectiveness.Free Music Review: Innocent Charm
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a musical that couldn't have been created today. Featuring little-known and very young performers (except perhaps for Gary Burghoff, who would go on to play Radar O'Reilly in M.A.S.H. on TV) the show was literally workshopped into existence by the actors from a bunch of songs written by Clark Gesner and endorsed by Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the comic strip. In fact, the credit given for "the book" (script) is a fictitious charcter whose name is made up of the cast members initials!
This recording captures the charm and innocence of 1967 and is a testament to just how much one can achieve with a very small band and high-energy performances. Sure, the quality of the recoding ain't that great, but this was done nearly 40 years ago, so give it a break!
The actors lovingly (and laughingly, in Lucy's case) bring the PEANUTS characters to life and the experience is quite magical. I actually saw this show in New York in 1967 (I was 6) and hearing the music again brings back a flood of memories from that time.
Highly recommended for fans of PEANUTS, musicals, workshopped theatre and sentimentalists everywhere.
Free Music Review: This is the one! Beware of Imitations! Get it now!
Hit: 5 Stars
In a sense I've already reviewed this CD via my review of the dreadful revival CD, so I'll keep my comments short.This is not a great musical in the sense that it doesn't aspire to the lofty heights of a South Pacific or Showboat. But it is no less wonderful for its simplicity.
An homage to the best of Charles Schulz' comic strip, this music captures with luminescent precision the characters of that series. Each singer brings to his or her role the perfect tone to define that character, neither trivializing it nor falsely magnifying it. Such care in characterization is rare in contemporary performers where bombast and bluster are mistaken for emotions, and change in volume is the only way to convey change in mood.
What is striking for anyone who really listens is the universality of its simple messages. For example, the ensemble song "A Book Report (on Peter Rabbit)" absolutely catches every possible attitude a student might have to writing a book report (or an adult to completing some departmental presentation).
An absolute must.