Roy Lightner, the fabulous director of PLANE CRAZY at Oklahoma City University's Stripped Festival this past April, starred in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN earlier this month at the Stages St. Louis at the Kirkwood Civic Center. Although I didn't get a chance to see it, I heard from a reliable source he was awesome! Way to go Roy!

Here's the review they got from Backstage.com:

Actor Roy Lightner's face is narrower than that of "the little round-headed boy," but he has the same winsome charm as the title character in Stages St. Louis' production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The Clark Gesner musical -- which was revived on Broadway in 1999 with additional music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and additional dialogue by the director of that production, Michael Mayer -- has been shortened to 60 minutes to appeal to a younger audience as well as performed during the daytime.

A day in the life of Charlie Brown, Charles Schulz's hapless hero, follows him through his various trials and travails. Everyone trashes poor Charlie, even Snoopy, his mostly loyal dog (excellently portrayed by Codey Girten), who demands better dinner service. Charlie's baseball team doesn't win, either.

But the entire cast, however, is terrific. Girten, for example, is impressive in his ability to move believably from human to animal and back again. As Lucy, Annie Funke is the most unpleasant little girl in the world as she stands tall and demands her "queendom" with all the proper notes of faux authority. (She also does double-duty as Cha Cha DiGregorio in Stages St. Louis' production of Grease). Funke is one of several college students in the show, a University of Oklahoma attendee. Girten attends Indiana University, Lightner attends Oklahoma City University, and Chelsea Jo Pattison, who portrays Sally, recently graduated Webster University. Tall and lean, Vernon Goodman is another standout as Schroeder, especially when his character tries to lead a glee club in rehearsal even as its members gleefully squabble over a pencil.

Kristen Nordstom's choreography is simple and effective, as is the direction by her husband, Ben Nordstrom. The costumes, like Mayer's staging, are derived from those created for the Broadway revival.

Technorati tags: Broadway Music Movie Musicals Musicals Blog Blogs Theater Theatre Entertainment