The Peanuts comic-strip premiered in 1950, but Charlie Brown and the gang have
always been Gen X’ers at heart. Think about it: they stay outside all day long
and they never have any adult supervision. That is why they love camp, except maybe
Sally. She is like the Gen-Z’er of Peanuts, who would rather stay home watching
TV. Just for the record, this is not Camp Remote from Race for Your Life,
Charlie Brown. This is Cloverhill Ranch, where everyone feels welcome, even
a blockhead like Charlie Brown. He is excited to introduce Sally to the camp’s activities,
but it turns out this might be the last hurrah in Snoopy Presents: A Summer
Musical, directed by Eric Wiese, which premiers this Friday on Apple TV+.
Of
course, the Peanuts kids can sing. They had their own hit Off-Broadway
musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Group singing also happens to
be a very camp thing to do. Frankly, Charlie Brown enjoys everything about
Cloverhill, which seems very un-Charlie Brown, but the recent Apple TV+ specials
have cut Chuck a lot of breaks. It is sort of nice, because we all love the
character, but it still feels sort of wrong, because it breaks with the tradition
established by Charles Schulz.
Regardless,
Cloverhill is his happy place, but Charlie Brown cannot help noticing there
have been fewer and fewer campers every year. Yet, he initially focuses on
convincing Sally to be less of a miserable Gen Z wet blanket, while Snoopy and
Woodstock commence a treasure hunt using the map they accidentally unearthed.
Unfortunately, just as he starts to make progress with Sally, the invisible
adults announce this will be Cloverhill’s final season. How can the Peanuts
gang save the camp? This is a musical, so that should be your first clue.
In
fact, this happens to be a pretty solid musical. It isn’t quite Good Man,
but it features two pleasingly melodic and memorable tuns penned by Ben Folds. “When
We were Light” is a standout that measures up to anything you can currently
hear on Broadway, while “Look Up, Charlie Brown” has a really nice musical
theater dramatic arc. However, Foods’ best Peanuts tune remains the
title song to Snoopy Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown,
which should have won an Emmy (or even a Grammy).
Earth Day is one of the few “holidays” the Peanuts gang didn’t have a
special for, until now. (To be fair, they had Arbor Day, which is pretty much
the same thing, but a different day). Their latest special of the Apple era is indeed
intended to commemorate Earth Day, but it works just as well for the opening of
baseball season. Flowers will be planted, but it is unclear how much baseball
will be played on Charlie Brown’s regular weed-infested field in Snoopy
Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown, directed by Raymond S.
Persi, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.
Purists
amongst us will be happy to see the black-headed kid’s name back on the title
(they’re still using that “Snoopy Presents,” but whatever). Snoopy is a star,
but Charlie Brown is the heart and soul of Peanuts, partly because he is
such an eternal optimist. This time he is convinced his baseball team can beat
Peppermint Patty’s for the neighborhood pennant. It maybe wouldn’t be as crazy
as it sounds, because he has them playing some pretty good ball. The thing is,
he promised Sally she could play this year—and she is terrible on the field.
The
real trouble comes when she gives up on playing and becomes fixated on a
dandelion growing on the pitcher’s mound. Much to Charlie Brown’s frustration,
her sudden enthusiasm for wild nature starts to catch on in the neighborhood
and within his team.
None
of Apple’s Peanuts originals have quite matched the gentle wisdom of
Charles Shulz’s writing, because how could they, but the previous For Auld Lang Syne came pretty close. Small Things also has some worthy
sentiments, but it happens to be the first that really creates its own musical
identity. In the past, Jeff Morrow’s music was nice, but clearly tried to evoke
Vince Guaraldi’s classic themes, while staying appreciably different (presumably
for legal and economic reasons).
