You're A Good Man Charlie Brown Revival Question

[dramarama2]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 4:46am

In the YAGMCB revival, I understand that new songs were written by Lippa. What new songs were they (As opposed to the original 1967 ones)?

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 4:57am

Beethoven Day and My New Philosophy were added.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 4:59am

He also added lyrics to the opening number.

[sparrman]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 10:15am

Is anyone else really bothered, as I am, by the song "Beethoven Day"? Okay, the decision was made to cast an African-American actor as Schroeder. Interesting, because Schroeder is blond in the strip, but whatever. I have no problem with the non-traditional casting. What I do have a problem with is the song written for him, which strikes me as a profoundly racist choice. Why is the song written in, for lack of better words, a "gospel soul" style? Schroeder is a classical musician. Why is he celebrating Beethoven in this style of song? I'll tell you why: Because the actor they cast is African-American. And heck, you couldn't have an African-American actor sing a legit or even quasi-operatic song! That's not "what they do"!
If Anthony Rapp had been cast as Schroeder instead, that song would never have been written. This is the total opposite of the "color-blind casting" of which I'm guessing this production was proud. "Well, if we have an African-American Schroeder, we'll have to give him a gospel song!" (Even if he's singing about classical music.) This is exactly the kind of thinking that kept African American actors in the Stepin Fetchit roles they were "expected" to play for years.

[musicman117]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 10:27am

I hear what you're saying, but i don't agree.

I think the reason Beethoven Day waws written was because that show seriously needed a big up-beat production number. Sure The Book Report has up-beat moments to it (Lippa also revised this number) but You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown didn't have a peppy song. Personally, I can't imagine Schroeder singing a Classical style aria in that slot in the show. Besides, this song is a very good protrayal of an inner feeling. Schroeder is very excited about his idea of having a Holiday to celebrate his favorite composer. I know that if it were me and I were that excited my inner feelings would be better expressed through a gospel-style song rather than an aria.

They probably just wanted an upbeat song for Schroeder, a character who didn't have a song until this revival, and it just happened to be a gospel-esque song.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:06am

I'm pretty sure Schroeder loves all music, not just classical. I remember strips where Lucy would get frustrated with the classical music he was playing, say so, and storm off, and as soon as she was gone, he would start playing something more up beat and current. He is a man of many talents!

[sparrman]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:08am

Thanks for your response, musicman. I don't know you, but I'm going to guess you're not a person obsessed with Beethoven, which is Schroeder's defining trait. So maybe your inner excitement would come out in gospel form, but Schroeder's wouldn't.

The show may need a rousing up-tempo number, but it also needs songs that fit the characters, and that one doesn't. Schroeder's personality may be narrowly defined, but trying to fill it out with a generic "blackness" is a lazy, artistically bankrupt, and racist decision. And I can't believe for a second that the song "just happened" to be a gospel song, with no forethought to the ethnicity of the actor who would perform it.

LuPonatic, sounds to me like you're remembering the TV specials, rather than the strip upon which the show is based.
Updated On: 5/22/07 at 11:08 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:19am

"The show may need a rousing up-tempo number, but it also needs songs that fit the characters, and that one doesn't."

The song has its basis in Vince Guraldi's music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Schroeder starts jamming on the piano. They even steal a few bars from Guraldi. I'm sure Beethoven Day was written before the decision to hire an African-American actor.

[sparrman]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:28am

I know every note of Guaraldi's score for that TV special; it's jazz, not gospel.

Was Schroeder ever animated on TV playing music other than classical? Yes. Are there examples from the newspaper strip where he plays something other than classical? Probably, here and there. But the song is ABOUT Beethoven, the defining obsession of Schroeder's life!

Gothampc, you're "sure" about the timing of the casting, but I remain skeptical. And regardless, what ended up onstage is offensive to me, and I'm not even African-American.
Updated On: 5/22/07 at 11:28 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:29am

Also, the understudy was, I believe, Asian-American. I never really thought the song sounded all that 'black'. I thought any of the 'gospel' flavor was added by Stanley Wayne Mathis.

Oh...and I'm one of the three people on the planet that loved this revival.

[Steve2]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:35am

Add me to the list of those who loved the revival, robbiej. I remember how sad I felt when the orchestra seating was half empty and the mezzanine was completely empty. If people only realized the talent on that stage B.D., Anthony, Kristin, Roger, .....

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:40am

I hadn't seen Bart in anything till then. I've been a fan ever since. I adored his Snoopy. But the Lucy (was it Illana Levine) made my night. She could barely sing...but she did it loudly and was an absolute riot.

[singingbackup]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:46am

WOW..interesting thread. Guess what. I sing Gospel every Sunday at my church gig, and summer tan aside, I'm the poster child for white, so the whole Gospel=Black stance is a bit racist.

[musicman117]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:51am

robbiej - I loved it too!

sparrman-
Just because the song is about Beethoven doesn't mean it needs to sound like it was written by Beethoven. They do use a section of Beethoven's music within the song.

"Schroeder's personality may be narrowly defined, but trying to fill it out with a generic "blackness" is a lazy, artistically bankrupt, and racist decision. And I can't believe for a second that the song "just happened" to be a gospel song, with no forethought to the ethnicity of the actor who would perform it."

As far as that statement is concerned, I think you are making a lot of assumptions that you don't really have a right to make. Frist of all, having grown up in as a pastor's kid, I can tell you first hand that black people are not the only people who sing gospel and it's kind of racist for you to think that. Second of all, I would hardly consider the situation artistically bankrupt; I would consider it you disagreeing with a choice that was made by the creatvie team of a show. There are many poeple who find that song wonderful. Thirdly, the only way to know whether Stanley Wayne Mathis was hired as Schroeder before or after the song was writeen would be to ask Andrew Lippa, Stanley Wayne Mathis, or anyone on the creatvie team personally.

As far as the song itself is concerned, the song is more about the idea of having a holiday so everyone can celebrate your hero with you rather than about Beethoven himself. And, in all honesty, the song is so much more showtune than gospel. I agree with Robbiej that the gospel flavor was added by the actor. Either way, it is a great song that has added to the show. But then again, I am not obsessed with Beethoven, so who am I to say anything.....

[sparrman]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:55am

No one said gospel=black. But please don't try to deny it's a style typically associated with African-Americans. The off-character writing of a gospel song for a character singing about his obsession with classical music, coupled with the casting of an African-American actor in the role, gives me the unmistakable impression of racism. As I have said, by all means cast an African-American actor, but let him sing a song suited in style to the character.

But I've said what I have to say, no one's changing my mind any more than I'm changing theirs, I've been called "a little bit racist" myself as I figured would eventually happen, and so it's time for me to depart this thread. Thanks to all for a stimulating discussion.
Updated On: 5/22/07 at 11:55 AM

[jennyish]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 11:59am

Maybe it's the fact that both Schroeders at my high school were white, but "Beethoven Day" as a gospel song comes as news to me. I always saw it as very showtune-y, broadway-style.

[Actinggbugg474]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 12:05pm

I agree .. I think "Beethoven Day" has elements of Gospel music, but I always considered the end of "Suppertime" the real Gospel part of the score. As we all know, they didn't cast a black Snoopy to sing "Suppertime."

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 12:12pm

I would call it more of a "Funk" style, a la The Wiz more than Gospel, but it has elements of different styles mixed in.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 1:39pm

Lippa is a very talented man, but his (and director Mayer's) additions to this show were, IMHO, unnecessary and fairly awful.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 1:46pm

"Lippa is a very talented man, but his (and director Mayer's) additions to this show were, IMHO, unnecessary and fairly awful."

Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one that thought this. Took a fairly charming show, ignored its style and rammed in material that was supposed to appeal to modern day kids. It was like adding a JLo song to A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[EdmundOG]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 1:53pm

I liked My New Philosophy, and I'm fine with Beethoven Day. I love the extra bit on You're a Good Man.

What I HATE aboutt he revival is the insistance that every song end on some big dramatic ornate burst. It's very stereotypically show-tuney, and very un-Peanuts.

[Glory]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 2:19pm

i'm doing it at a community theater right now and we're doing the original version and adding my new philosophy and hopefully Beethoven Day since i'm Schroeder haha. If you look at the original script, everybody has their own song except Patty (Now Sally) and Schroeder.

[dramarama2]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 5:08pm

That's a good point, and that's why I always thought they put in the new songs, coz Patti/Sally didn't have avery big part now that I look back on the script.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 6:36pm

Lippa wrote the new songs and reworked the old ones long before Stanley was cast.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 5/22/07 at 6:50pm

While I agree that Lippa took some of the beautiful simplicity from the score, it was a big splasy broadway production. Most people, including a few on this board I'm sure, would have called the orchestrations "too amature and off broadway-ish" for a full scale broadway revival. To be perfectly honest the only change I didn't care for was the exclusion of Charlie Brown's leaf monologue at the end of act one. Sure Book Report is a great way to end the act on a punch, but I don't think it would have hurt the show for Charlie to step out after Book and deliver his speech before the blackout. It seems like a crime to cut such a beautiful speech that really gives us a good look inside CB.