Frustration, dismay and despair can be expressed in many different ways, but an eight-year-old boy nailed it best for a long-gone generation of kids when he first uttered but two words in the form of “Good grief!”
Charlie Brown made his debut in the first Peanuts comic strip on October 2, 1950. Based on a real-life childhood friend of creator Charles M. Schulz, the round-headed zig-zag sweater-bedecked character and his pals — Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally and, of course, Snoopy — become staples of an estimated 2,600 newspapers worldwide until Schulz’s death in 2000.
Inevitably, the Peanuts gang made its way to television in 1965 in the classic animated special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) with now-iconic music by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, and then to the stage in 1967 with the off-Broadway musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.
Originally featuring music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, with a Tony award-winning version remounted on Broadway in 1999 featuring additional songs penned by Andrew Lippa, the musical has well withstood the test of time, with its central characters and their youthful takes on life’s ups and downs still striking a chord.
So it was that, when Capitol Theatre artistic director Rob Kempson was pulling together the 2026 main stage lineup, the exploits and musings of the Peanuts gang proved hard to resist in terms of their enduring appeal to a wide demographic.
On Friday (May 15), You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, directed and choreographed by Kempson, will open a 19-performance run at the historic Port Hope venue. Billed as a tale about “life, love, baseball, and an opinionated dog named Snoopy,” it presents the adventures of its title character and the Peanuts gang in a way few have experienced beyond the comic strip and the TV specials.
In an interview with kawarthaNOW, Kempson confesses to this being a musical he has “loved since I knew of its existence.”
“I’ve listened (to the recorded music) of both (the 1967 and 1999) versions, but what I love about the 1999 version is it speaks really well to a broad demographic,” he says. “Yes, it’s for folks who grew up in the 1960s and have that really close childhood connection to the stories, but this show also speaks to contemporary parents, contemporary children, and contemporary families.”
“It’s timeless, yes, but it’s not about whatever the latest craze was in the 1960s. It’s about life — big picture stuff. The contrast of having children being sort of unintended philosophers is what I think makes it special.”
Kempson says “the magic” of Charlie Brown and his pals lies in the fact “that they’re imperfect characters.”
“You won’t come away learning a moral because there was a perfect person being imperfect in the story. They all behave badly, they all make the wrong choices, they all say the wrong things, and they all are a bit silly sometimes.”
Kempson adds “the piece really succeeds” in the fact that the Peanuts gang “isn’t very nice to Charlie Brown lots of the time.”
“The first thing that children turn off their ears to is anything that feels like they’re supposed to walk away with a message that their parents want them to have,” he says. “What’s so beautiful about this show is that those messages of embracing yourself and who you are, about finding the happiness in small things, about appreciating those bright sunny days because the dark ones will come — those are messages that kids can find themselves in this story.”
And then there’s music, notes Kempson, which is directed by Shane O’Regan.
“There are the famous pieces that you know and love, but it also introduces a bunch of new music not heard in the Charlie Brown TV specials,” he says.
“I think people come to the theatre for a variety of reasons. When one says that the number one thing I have to do is entertain, I agree, but I also disagree. I think my job is to help them understand just how big that variety can be. I think the joy that comes from live theatre lies in the opportunity to have, and embrace, a variety of experiences. It’s that variety that makes something entertaining.”
To that end, Kempson says You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown checks all the required boxes.
“There have been (rehearsal) moments where we’ve shed tears at how beautiful or touching a section is, but we’ve also found ourselves rolling on the floor laughing over how funny a section is,” he says, adding “And then we’ve also been moved by a song.”
As a production that’s opening a season titled “Where Our Stories Begin,” Kempson says the musical is ideal.
“A show that asks people to tap into their nostalgic side, to tap into who they might have been as a child, to tap into who their children or grandchildren are now — there’s no better beginning than that,” he says.
Kempson points out that the Capitol production will tell the familiar story of the Peanuts gang “from a uniquely Canadian perspective.”
“It’s a new staging of the show — it’s not a replica of the Broadway production,” he says. “If you’ve seen it, you haven’t seen it our way. Our way is about building it here in Port Hope … building it with local folks and folks from away and making sure we create something that speaks directly to our community.”
Of course, as it the case for any stage production, none of it works without the right cast, which is relatively small, featuring Amir Haidar as Charlie Brown, Ap Bautista as Lucy, Ben Kopp as Linus, Kyle Golemba as Schroeder, Jillian Mitsuko as Sally, and Matt Pilipiak as Snoopy.
Haidar, Kopp, Golemba, and Pilipiak, notes Kempson, have appeared in previous Capitol productions, while Bautista and Mitsuko are new to the Capitol but far from new in terms of previous stage experience.
“When I tell you that Ben’s Linus is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, I can’t say it enough. Jillian, meanwhile, plays the youngest character in the cast but she’s the tallest member of the cast. Ap is one of the funniest people I’ve ever encountered. Her playing Lucy is a treat people can’t possibly afford to miss.”
“There’s a real spirit of collaboration, and of joy, in putting together something that feels both iconic while also feeling new. That’s the magic that can only be brought to life with a really great cast.”
Speaking to the collaboration part of that equation, Kempson says he considers rehearsals to be a two-way street “where people feel they can try things and can offer their own ideas, and we can find the best idea together.”
“For example, I thought I knew exactly what we were going to do with our school bus. We were really running up against some challenges of making it actually happen on stage. Then someone came up with the idea that Charlie Brown never gets on the bus. He’s constantly behind it and chasing it. That solved our technical problem, but it also created a great way to set up Charlie Brown’s character in relationship to the others: he’s always a little behind, trying to catch up.”
Such give-and-take of ideas, says Kempson, gives all involved “ownership as a group that we’ve created this together.”
Asked if the school bus is inferred and not actually seen, Kempson answers as any good director would and should: “You’ve got to come and see the show.”
With the Capitol’s first production of the season about to hit the stage, Kempson says “This year feel particularly special.”
“It feels like much of what we’ve done over the last five years or so has led us here, to a season with 10 of 11 plays being Canadian from top to bottom, with three world premieres, and a great diversity of artists both on stage and off.”
Kempson wraps up the interview by returning to the season’s theme of “Where Our Stories Begin.”
“The fact that we get to celebrate starting stories, and being the place where this story begins, feels like just the most exciting gift — to be able to live and work in a community where that can be true.”
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown begins with a pay-what-you-can preview performance at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 15, followed by opening night on May 16 and additional evening performances from May 21 to 23 and May 28 to 30, with morning performances at 10:30 a.m. May 19 to 21 and May 26 to 28 and matinee performances at 2 p.m. on May 17, 23 and 24, and 30 and 31. The run also include an Indigenous community night on May 22, a relaxed performance on May 24, and a talkback session after every Thursday performance.
Tickets cost $50 ($40 ages for ages 13 to 30 and $22 for children 12 and under) plus fees and are available at capitoltheatre.com, in person at the box office at 20 Queen Street in Port Hope, or by calling 1-905-885-1071.
