After the announcement last week of a Jan. 10, 1999 closing date for the long running Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, producers for the revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown announced the show would not be moving into the Longacre, as expected, but enter Funk's Ambassador, instead.
Though the Ambassador has a larger seating capacity with 1,125 seats (compared to Longacre's 1,096), it's considered a more intimate house with one balcony -- as opposed to Longacre's two balconies.
The pre-Broadway tour of Charlie Brown began Nov. 18 in Skokie, Illinois and received good reviews from the Chicago papers. The next stop for the show is The Playhouse in Wilmington DE, for a run, Dec. 3-13.
The revival, helmed by Michael Mayer (A View from the Bridge, Side Man), is still slated for a Feb. 11, 1999 Broadway opening, with previews beginning Jan. 23, 1999.
The cast for YAGMCB includes Roger Bart (Triumph of Love) as Snoopy, Kristin Chenoweth as Sally (Steel Pier), Ilana Levine (The Last Night of Ballyhoo) as Lucy, Stanley Wayne Mathis (The Lion King) as Schroeder, Anthony Rapp (Rent) as Charlie Brown, and B.D. Wong (M. Butterfly) as Linus. Other Charlie Brown tour dates include:
Dec. 16 - 27, The Fisher Theatre, Detroit MI
Dec. 30 - Jan 3, 1999: The Fox Theatre, St. Louis MO
Jan. 7 - 17, 1999: The Shubert in Boston MA
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Charlie Brown is based on the long-running Charles M. Schulz comic strip "Peanuts," which features such characters as luckless Charlie, Lucy the shrew, blanket toting Linus and piano-playing Schroeder. Begun Oct. 2, 1950, the strip now appears in more than 2,600 newspapers internationally. The musical opened Off-Broadway at Theatre 80 St. Marks March 7, 1967 and comprises loosely-arranged songs and vignettes -- a slice of the lives of these elementary-school aged characters. Songs include "Happiness Is," "Book Report" and "My Blanket and Me."
