Director Kim Messina has collected a talented cast for her production of Snoopy!, led by Jay Schenk as the title character who leads many of the show’s big musical numbers, interspersed among little anecdotes by the various characters with their profoundly childlike insights into life. 

Jay makes for an excellent Snoopy with a great sense for the beagle’s humor, coolness, and melodrama. And it doesn’t get much more melodramatic then The Great Writer as he leads us through a dark and stormy night. He is joined by all his regular cohorts, with Kevin McDonald as his luckless owner Charlie Brown. We see Chuck getting razzed by Lucy during his school crossing guard duty (“Fuzz!” and “Police brutality!”), and we see him wistful for a happier time when Snoopy was a happy, loving pup in the touching Where Did That Little Dog Go with the younger versions of the cast playing out those happy times. Heather Banks stars as Lucy, doing so with a very Lucy-ish persona – bossy, self-centered (absent-mindedly attentive to her hair), bored with the concerns of others (but willing to take 5 cents to listen to them), and leading the big Dime a Dozen number with a terrific voice and style. Sarah De La Isla is a hit as Peppermint Patty and delivers a hilarious version of Poor Sweet Baby, her beautiful, tender serenade to Charlie Brown after he admits wishing to be called “poor, sweet baby.” Yes, he gets his wish, but it is accompanied by some physical abuse as she squeezes his cheeks together, forces his head to her shoulder, “whispers” in his little ear, and makes sure that he shows her where it hurts (as she slugs him in the shoulder).

Elsewhere, Anna Strickland gives an amusing turn as Sally who deals with a lot of educational-related stress (her snowflake melts before show-and-tell, getting a ‘C’ for her coat-hangar artwork). Brent Burbank waits for The Great Pumpkin with fervent anticipation in The Vigil and goes berserk, flapping around on the ground, when mean Lucy steals his beloved blanket. Madison Johnson is a hoot as Snoopy’s lively sidekick Woodstock. Daniel Collins offers up some expert butt-scratching techniques as Pigpen. And the whole group is filled with strong vocal and comic talent. The girls combine for a lovely I Know Now as they wonder what their lives would have been like if they knew from birth all the knowledge they’ve gained since then. And the entire gang sings the praises of Edgar Allen Poe, excitedly finds all sorts of exotic scenes in the Clouds, kick off the second act on a great note with When Do the Good Things Start, and end with inspiring renditions of Don’t Be Anything Less and Just One Person.

Performs March 28 - 30, 2008.

Rob Hopper
National Youth Theatre