Customer Reviews

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" is a disarmingly small show which is preserved very well in this original, off-broadway cast recording. Compared to the recent broadway revival, this recording is more charming and less "brassy," and is overall much sweeter and childlike in performance. Especially noticable is the difference in "The Baseball Game" which is sped up significantly in the revival, giving it a rushed, frantic tempo, but here, slowed down, it becomes a humorously poignant song/story. The remastering, liner notes, and bonus tracks are superior, especially interesing are the bonus tracks of "demo" material that is very rare. Decca Broadway deserves public applause for re-releasing this fine, long-out-of-print score. Both this CD and the New York revival disc are worth owning, for there were significant changes in several songs made for the revival, but this disc has the edge in performance.

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.

It is so nice to have this album of the original cast on cd. YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN has been delighting audiences for nearly half a decade and the revival version sparked an even greater interest in the show. However, this was the production that began it all. Keeping in tune with the sweet spirit of the comic strip, this version of the musical is simple and relies upon the actors skill to portray the characters rather than a cartoonish tone and big instrumental score. Many of the songs are memorable and the performances bring the beloved comic to life. My favorite songs on the album include:

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

"T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game)"

"Peanuts Potpourri"

"Suppertime"

"Happiness"

The bonus tracks on the album are interesting and the booklet that comes with the cd is quite informative about the history of the original show. A great album for any Peanuts fan or Broadway buff.

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.

This is the CD to get. Do not be confused by the revival, this one is much better. This one has integrity, something which hard to find in some musicals. It has sweetness, warm and beautiful. One example of it being warm and beautiful is in the opening, they speak slowly and enunciate you hear all the words loud and clear; suddenly they are stuck in your head. This infectious musical is perfect in every way, such as the warmth and tone of Happiness or the way that all 4 parts sung in book report fit right together. Schroeder is a fun piece combining Beethoven's Moonlight sonata with the words sung ever well by Lucy, about them getting married someday, it just makes us think of our childhood days, all of our abstract plans, never knowing just dreaming. By far, you must go and discover this marvelous musical, it could bring you to tears or raise your spirits; it is that wonderful. Try it: you will not be disappointed.

I have the original LP release from 1967 and this CD, although it is definitely the original cast, it is *a different performance of the play*. The differences are "minor" but not "trivial" because there are even dialogue changes.

In my opinion the *original* LP release is still better, because these tapes, although they are nicely cleaned up, are not even as charming as the original LP! I was really happy to get this and still am, but I still believe that the original LP is superior (and no I'm not confusing the 1999 revival with this!).

I wish there were some explanation as to why this re-release chose a different set of performances compared to the original LP release. I really liked the LP versions and, except for the fact that they are now a bit scratchy (LPs being what they are), they performances are still more charming than this release.

So in Charlie Brown fashion I sigh and shrug and figure that life is bittersweet and that some things, loved as they were in childhood, are lost forever... and let sweet distant memories be what they are.

I came to amazon to buy my copy of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and was torn between the revival version and the original off-broadway version. I ended up choosing the original. I would recommend making the same decision. The off-broadway cast is the real thing. The innocence, simplicity, and of course happiness is all there. I can't imagine anyone but these voices portraying the amazing peanuts gang. Gary Burghoff IS Charlie Brown, Reva Rose IS Lucy, and Bill Hinnant is most definitely Snoopy. The heartfelt songs and charming characters on this recording are exactly what Charles Shultz intended them to be. The only loss is not getting to have "The Glee Club Rehearsal" on the CD. Do the right thing, choose the original version of "Your a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It's absolutely PRICELESS.

I got this CD today, and I thought it was great! It definitely is the ultimate version of this play! Great performances (especially by a young Gary "Radar" Burghoff from M*A*S*H as Charlie Brown), great music, great nostalgic feel, and a great amount of charm, which were lacking in the overblown parade that was the 1999 revival! The title song has a majestic ASTRO BOY-ish charm, and the other songs were great, especially "My Blanket & Me," "The Book Report," "The Red Baron," and "T-E-A-M!" And "Happiness" still made a tearfully happy ending to what can be known as a sort of Peanuts Opera! The bonus tracks, from a test recording made for Schulz, is eerily unique and just as charismatic as the regular songs!

In summary, get this CD! A very important addition to the collections of Peanuts and musical fans alike!

After waiting years, the classic Off-Broadway Original Cast Album is finally available on CD. No matter what some may say this recording offers rewards the Broadway Revival never comes close to reaching. To think that one would attempt to update Charles Schultz is unthinkable. This cast of little known (at the time) "singing" actors understands their little people almost as if they became them onstage. The opening march and the finale will win over the hardest hearts, especially when Charlie Brown realizes that the Little Red Headed Girl is human because she chews her pencil! As Charlie Brown might say, "I guess that this isn't such a bad album after all!" As Snoopy would say, "It's grrrrrrrreat!"

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.