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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. The Peekskill High School Drama Club performed a show last fall based on the works of American writer O. Henry. But this weekend's spring musical is all about a boy known to say, "Oh, brother."
The club will present "Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown," at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday in the high school auditorium.
"We have 13 kids in the cast this year," said drama director Katie Schmidt Feder, who has been working with the district for the past two years. "Charlie Brown is a small musical. In fact, you can do it with as few as six people."
Junior Michael Snell stars as Charlie Brown, and senior Stephanie Gil plays his nemesis Lucy Van Pelt. Linus is portrayed by junior Lucas Sanchez.
And then there's Snoopy, who is given a voice by sophomore Sheridan Alexander. Snoopy has two of the shows song-and-dance numbers, but there are many other tunes from different genres such as Broadway, R&B, gospel, classical and more.
The cast is rounded out by sophomore Afua Yeboah as Sally, sophomore Sterling Fite as Schroeder, Brandi Overby as Peppermint Patty, Ursala Jones as Pig Pen, Kyleah Mulligan as Violet, Arianna Memoli as Marcy, Paige Hill as the Little Red-Headed Girl and Brittany Brown and Quiana Malcolm as the dancing twins.
The play was first produced on Broadway in 1967 and is based on the beloved characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. The play is a series of short sketches.
"There are a lot of short vignettes that basically represent one comic strip, and what's funny is you can find the actual comic strip from which each one is taken," Feder said. "And a couple were expanded into songs."
The cast will use the score from the Broadway revival in 1998, Schmidt said, which offers new songs, adds the character of Sally Brown and has more contemporary musical arrangements.
The brightly colored cartoonish set design was executed by stagecraft adviser Cat Griffin and her student crew. A small ensemble of professional musicians will accompany the show, conducted by music director Brian Zane.
"The musicians are amazing. A couple of them have done Broadway shows, and they're all top-flight additions. And it gives the kids an opportunity to work with professional musicians, which is nice."
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for seniors and children under 10 and can be purchased in the lobby before the show.
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