Search - Clark Gesner, Bob Balaban, Gary Burghoff :: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

The original Off-Broadway cast is still the best

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 12/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Original Off-Broadway Cast album of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" was probably the first musical I really listened to as a kid. I listen to a lot of musicals and I have lots of revival albums. As a general rule I am usually interested in how different singers deal with classic songs. But the latest revival album of this musical does nothing for me for the simple reason that those singers do not sound like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and Linus. The "real" characters are on this original album. Reva Rose singing "Schroeder" is ingrained in my brain in a way that allows no substitutes. No other version of "Happiness" can touch me the way that this one does, totally capturing the sense of friendship between these characters. Yes, I now know intellectually that it is Gary Burghoff playing Charlie Brown, but that means nothing. It is Charlie Brown singing and you will never convince me otherwise. In this case I am willing to argue the first version is the best, and if you loved this album as a kid you certainly will want to hear it again as a former kid. Composer/lyricist/librettist Clark Gesner had simply written a bunch of "Peantus" songs based on Charles M. Schulz's beloved comic strip and was persuaded to turn them into a stage musical in 1967 and ran for four years. The cast consists of Bill Hinnant (Snoopy), Gary Burghoff (Charlie Brown), Reva Rose (Lucy), Karen Johnson (Patty), Bob Balaban (Linus), and Skip Hinnant (Schroeder). One of the treats of this CD version is that we get to hear these songs in their original versions, with Gesner on the piano and Barbara Minkus doing the singing. Even in these earlier forms, the charm and the heart are readily apparent. It is really nice to see that the bonus tracks on this album live up to the name."

Off-Broadway cast has the edge...

bretw@bigfoot.com | USA | 10/31/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

""You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" is a disarmingly small show which is preserved very well in this original, off-broadway cast recording. Compared to the recent broadway revival, this recording is more charming and less "brassy," and is overall much sweeter and childlike in performance. Especially noticable is the difference in "The Baseball Game" which is sped up significantly in the revival, giving it a rushed, frantic tempo, but here, slowed down, it becomes a humorously poignant song/story. The remastering, liner notes, and bonus tracks are superior, especially interesing are the bonus tracks of "demo" material that is very rare. Decca Broadway deserves public applause for re-releasing this fine, long-out-of-print score. Both this CD and the New York revival disc are worth owning, for there were significant changes in several songs made for the revival, but this disc has the edge in performance."

Good, but this is NOT the classic 1967 Release!

mijcar | 03/18/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have the original LP release from 1967 and this CD, although it is definitely the original cast, it is *a different performance of the play*. The differences are "minor" but not "trivial" because there are even dialogue changes.In my opinion the *original* LP release is still better, because these tapes, although they are nicely cleaned up, are not even as charming as the original LP! I was really happy to get this and still am, but I still believe that the original LP is superior (and no I'm not confusing the 1999 revival with this!).I wish there were some explanation as to why this re-release chose a different set of performances compared to the original LP release. I really liked the LP versions and, except for the fact that they are now a bit scratchy (LPs being what they are), they performances are still more charming than this release.So in Charlie Brown fashion I sigh and shrug and figure that life is bittersweet and that some things, loved as they were in childhood, are lost forever... and let sweet distant memories be what they are."