Gallery • 11 Photos

Gianna Fusco

Charlie Brown (Aiden Tesinsky. 12) puts his lunch bag over his head to hide his face from his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl (Luiza Ferrari da Silva, 12).

The chatter of a crowded auditorium quiets as the lights dim, the curtains close, and characters dressed in the iconic outfits of “Peanuts” characters step onto the stage, climbing atop blocks decorated in the same colors and patterns as their outfits. The audience falls completely silent as they begin to sing.

Oviedo Manestage Theatre opened their winter musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” on Thursday, Jan. 22, playing four performances before it closed on Saturday, Jan. 24. It was directed by James Brendlinger with musical direction by Morgan Watts and choreography by senior Miya Cunningham.

The show is episodic, imitating the style of the comic strip “Peanuts,” which the musical is based on. Its story follows the everyday lives of a group of idiosyncratic elementary schoolers, including the unlucky Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy, Charlie’s dramatic sister Sally Brown, the bossy Lucy van Pelt, her wise brother, Linus van Pelt and devoted pianist Schroeder.

“It’s really different because the plot, it’s not like a long storyline that ranges throughout the entire show… [it’s] like the comic strip,” said junior Kylie Secret, who played Snoopy. “So it’s kind of cool to just kind of have these different interactions that have nothing to do with each other.”

Manestage Theatre performed “Grease” in the fall, making “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” their second large production of the year. The selection of shows for this school year came from a desire to appeal to a large audience.

“When I picked our shows for this year, frankly, we wanted to pick very popular shows we thought a lot of people would want to come to because we want to build up our bank account, and also we just wanted more people to see what we can do,” Brendlinger, who is in his first year as director of theater, said. “And I thought, ‘Everybody loves Snoopy.’”

Though casting was completed before winter break, the show was only in development after students returned from the vacation, giving the cast and crew three weeks to prepare rather than the usual two to three months.

“So I was unaware of what a big event Lion Showcase is every year,” Brendlinger said. “We were so busy before Christmas getting Lion Showcase together that it really cut short the amount of time we had to work on ‘Charlie Brown.’”

While it’s not easy to develop an entire show in under 21 days, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is short, running one and a half hours including a short intermission. Moreover, the show features a smaller cast than usual Oviedo productions, with six speaking roles and a twelve-piece ensemble.

“I’ve saw us more come together and work more together to get it done, because we all wanted to make sure this was good, especially for the time that we had,” said senior Emma Bremer, who plays Lucy.

Though there was a time crunch, lead actor and senior Aiden Tesinsky, who plays the titular character Charlie Brown, was happy with the result. This was Tesinsky’s fifth show ever, and his first lead role.

“I think the cast did an amazing job,” Tesinsky said. “We pulled it together in three weeks, which is great, and I’m proud of myself, too, working this hard.”

Manestage Theatre’s next show, “The Great Gatsby,” will be performed in early April.