Brooks Secondary School will present its original comedy musical, Snoopy and Friends, a student production reflective of the high school experience, on Thursday, May 4, and Friday, May 5.
The Brooks show should not to be confused with hit musical comedies Snoopy: The Musical or You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, but the Snoopy and Friends storyline and characters are very familiar.
The original production is based on the Peanuts characters created by Charles M. Schulz, but the script comes from the minds of the school’s cast and crew.
According Brooks drama teacher Brenda Laycock, the students wrote it themselves, added ideas and put it all together under her guidance and supervision.
“We took characters from the Peanuts gang and just started putting stuff together,” said Laycock. “We ordered the script and looked at it. There were only about five or six songs we liked from it, so we took some songs from You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, and from the movies; then we just started making things up.”
To capture the characters and the comedy, 16-year-old Jaxyn Oele, who plays Charlie Brown and Linus, said he went to the original source material for some inspiration.
“I went through pages of all the original comic books I could find,” said Oele. “I love Peanuts.”
Laycock assembled two different casts from 14 student actors, and four crew members.
One cast will perform on opening night and the other will close because, according to Oele, more people signed up for drama class this year than expected.
“So many people wanted to join, so we couldn’t have one cast of 20 people,” he said. “We needed to split it in half and double-cast it.”
According to 14-year-old Olivia Blackburn-Hopkins, who plays Lucy, the Peanuts gang walks the halls of Brooks.
“They’re in every high school,” said Blackburn-Hopkins.
Oele added that Brooks has some kids like Lucy: big loudmouths who think they know everyone and everything.
“Then there’s always a Charlie Brown,” said Oele.
Laycock said Oele has the toughest job among the actors because he plays two major roles: Linus in one show and Charlie Brown in the other.
“It was very hard to separate the two characters at first,” said Oele.
As opening night approaches, set pieces are arriving, along with costumes and makeup, and the cast and crew are feeling nervous excitement, said Blackburn-Hopkins.
“Everyone is kind of freaking out the last week; it’s really stressful,” she said. “We’re doing 35 hours of rehearsal and shows. Lots of time, but it’s definitely going to be worth it.”
Oele has high expectations for performances taking place over the two days.
“I think we’re going to rock it,” he said.
The curtain rises at 7 pm at Max Cameron Theatre for both performances.
