Updated and Revised, He’s Still a ‘Good Man’

The enduring wisdom of Charles M. Schulz inhabits the 1999 Broadway revision of Clark Gesner’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” receiving its local premiere as the second offering of the Colony Theatre’s inaugural Equity season. Though cynics may scoff, this revue-styled celebration of the “Peanuts” gang is exceptionally appointed and performed and is generally delightful.

This is particularly notable because in New York, despite Rosie O’Donnell’s tireless promotional efforts, Michael Mayer and Andrew Lippa’s updating folded after 150 performances, even though it garnered Tony Awards for actors Kristin Chenoweth and Roger Bart.

For many, the political corrections and brassy Broadway pop arrangements distorted the intimate charm of Gesner’s 1967 original, whose off-Broadway incarnation ran for 1,597 performances, spawning countless regional and amateur productions worldwide. Was an update really necessary?

Maybe not, but here, under director-choreographer Todd Nielsen’s excellent guidance, it seems a persuasive alternative. The reconstituted title number demonstrates as much, intercutting spoken observations about its subject (the wonderful Ed F. Martin) with an expanded post-Stephen Sondheim musical attack (effectively overseen, as is the whole score, by musical director Tom Griffin).

Though nontraditional, the approach deftly establishes the archetypal characters’ adult viewpoints in children’s guise.

There is Beethoven-worshiping Schroeder (the golden-voiced Roger Befeler), eternally at odds with contemporary clamor. There are the Van Pelt siblings: philosophical blanket fetishist Linus (Rod Keller, ideal) and titanic fussbudget Lucy (the prodigious Julie Dixon Jackson). Sidekick Patty is now Charlie’s sister Sally Brown (Beth Malone, hysterical), while Snoopy (the proficient Nick DeGruccio) remains the same crowd-pleasing humanoid canine of yore.

For the next two hours, which usually fly higher than the hero’s recalcitrant kite, they cavort with unaffected spontaneity that easily compensates for the occasional incongruities of tone between old and new elements.

The crackerjack design scheme is anchored by Bradley Kaye’s superb set, simultaneously abstracting and replicating Schulz’s idiosyncratic style. Lisa D. Katz’s lighting, Drew Dalzell’s sound and Scott A. Lane’s costumes are all seamlessly coordinated, with many inventive surprises.

Nielsen has a field day with the staging, from the Paul Taylor handling of Keller’s agile “My Blanket and Me” to the inspired insertion of “Rabbit Chasing” into the Act 1 closer, “The Book Report.”

He can’t help Lippa’s “Beethoven Day,” which, while affording Befeler’s chops a nifty showcase, seems unrelated to the whole. Nor does the jazz-gospel take on “Suppertime” cover DeGruccio’s valiant struggle with tessitura, and the script’s omission of Sally’s infatuation with Linus is a missed opportunity.

But when Martin voices his Everyman’s complaints in priceless milquetoast manner and Jackson belts her high notes clear across town and Malone sells the kicky “My New Philosophy” with equal parts Judy Holliday and Baby June, reservations evaporate.

And if you can witness the unforced simplicity of the pajama-clad finale “Happiness” without your eyes moistening, you’ve regrettably missed the point this enchantingly heartfelt production so disarmingly delivers.

*

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 8. $28-31. (818) 558-7000. Running time: 2 hours.