Ryver's House stages Charlie Brown with an all-kid cast
Vancouver theatre company's adaptation of the 1967 musical opens this week with six young performers who are, as director says, 'triple threats' in song, dance, and acting.
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When Ryver Santos Cegnar was casting his new adaptation of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, he initially opened auditions to all ages. After all, Bob Balaban was in his twenties when he originated the role of Linus in the 1967 musical.
But Cegnar, a young director himself, changed course early on. "When I had kids come in and I saw their youthfulness, I was like, nobody else can portray kids better than kids, and the amount of talent that these kids have is just astonishing," he says. "They're professionals, they're all triple threats: they can sing, they can act, they can dance. It's a six-person cast, so everyone has to be strong in all of those elements."
The production marks a major step for Ryver's House, a theatre company started by Cegnar and fellow Capilano University graduates. The company has already staged Ruthless! and Vanities: The Musical, but taking on the Peanuts comic strip — which celebrated 75 years in October — carries particular weight. The strip and its various adaptations have touched multiple generations.
"The show doesn't have an overlying plot; it's a bunch of small vignettes, and it's really for people who grew up with Peanuts," Cegnar explains. "It's a nice way to see the characters reimagined on stage, a nice little laugh. There are also quite a few emotional moments in the show, too. It's a reminder that kids have more emotions than just silly and happy."
Snoopy, played by Shantei Leal, stands out. "She makes such great choices," Cegnar says. "We have this beautifully oversized dog house that she plays around with, so any scene with her really shines. And then anything with the full cast too, because seeing them all together, they just make such a great environment as a cast, both on and off stage."
Cegnar isn't regretting the all-kid decision. "They all just get along so well together, which makes me really happy as a director, because that's one of the things when casting that you're always worried about. They've all taken to one another and they've all got these friends for life now."
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown plays at the Waterfront Theatre from June 25 to June 28.