Page 7 - Charlie Brown Playbill

Director’s Note

Some may ask, “What place does You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown have
in the repertoire of a classical Christian school? Isn’t it a bit childish? A
bit too modern? A bit too pop-culture? All the things we’re trying to get
our students not to pay attention to?”

Good question.

What we find in Charlie Brown is a young boy who suffers from what
the Bible calls the “fear of man” (Pr. 29:25). Whatever he sets his hand
to, he fears that others will find him inadequate, unable, ill-suited. This
is what makes Charlie Brown so universally appealing. He suffers from
the same affliction we all do; an inordinate fear of what other people
think about us. As a result, this musical challenges us to re-evaluate the
emphasis we place on the opinion of others.

Charlie Brown also asks several of the “eternal questions” that mankind
has been asking for all of human history: What is happiness? and What is
a good man? Charlie Brown is in good company when he ponders these
questions. Plato (Symposium), Aristotle (Ethics), Augustine (Confessions),
Aquinas (Summa Theological), Dante (Divine Comedy), and many others
have asked these questions long before Charlie Brown came on the
scene.

It shouldn’t surprise us then, when Charlie Brown, a young boy who’s
“more than five,” tries to answer the question of happiness, he finds it
in “two kinds of ice cream” (feasting), “having a sister” and “holding
hands” (relationships), “five different crayons” (beauty), and “getting
along” (being at peace with his fellow man). Would that we — who are
much older than five — could find happiness in such simple gifts.

Yes, Charlie Brown is a relatively modern, pop-culture musical. My
hope is that you find truth, goodness, and beauty in this performance,
nonetheless. We certainly have.
The Director, Michael J. McKenna