In what is being hailed as the first Peanuts musical in 35 years, Charlie Brown and Snoopy head to sleepaway camp in a new, melancholy Apple TV+ special that is driven by two Emmy Award-nominated songwriters.
As the son of the legendary Peanuts comic strip creator Charles S. Schulz, co-writer Craig Schulz says, “My motivation has always been to preserve and enhance my dad’s legacy.”Therefore, getting to play with these kids is truly a privilege.
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The five songs in Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, which opens on Friday, include three by Ben Folds and two by Jeff Morrow, Alan Zachary, and Michael Weiner.
I don’t enjoy talking down to anybody, much less children, so I would find it hard to write for a silly kids event, Folds adds. That isn’t the case with “Peanuts.” The land in which we operate is quite fertile and rich.
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What’s the special about?
The children are preparing to board the bus to Cloverhill Ranch camp in the opening scene of the program, but Sally isn’t entirely convinced that it will be a success. “Honestly, big brother, I could stay home,” she replies.
At first, Sally finds the camp’s internal jokes and customs intimidating, and she is repulsed by the insects, the constant climbing, the lack of a television, the chilly lake water, and the lumpy bedding.
In the song “A Place Like This,” she sings, “You wake at dawn/Like you would in jail.” This entire project is a complete failure, and that’s being diplomatic. The food isn’t what you’d call sophisticated.
You may rely on Peanuts to examine fear of change and a reluctance to leave home. Craig Schulz, who co-wrote the script with Cornelius Uliano and his son Bryan, drew inspiration from his own early years.
In actuality, Cloverhill Ranch is a parody of Cloverleaf Ranch in Santa Rosa, which I detested as a child. He claims that after a week, I went home and pulled out. There are a lot of references to my early years that we incorporated into the movie.
Snoopy finds what he believes to be a treasure map that would turn him into a wealthy dog who will sleep on top of a gold dog home while Sally gets ready to camp. Charlie Brown also finds out that unless he takes action, this summer will be the last for his beloved but faltering camp.
He says Sally, “I suppose your generation would rather sit in front of the TV than sit under the stars.” These types of locations must be preserved since once they are gone, they won’t be back.
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A concert to save the camp
Charlie Brown imagines inviting generations of campers back for a fundraising concert, but on the big day, the weather turns gloomy, threatening to call off the event and throwing him into a downward spiral of good sadness.
Director Erik Wiese claims that Charlie Brown is unique in this special. He’s ecstatic. He adores this location. Because he went back to the zero, we kind of know him from the past, which is why that scene is so powerful.
Folds praises his songwriting collaborators for setting the scene and provides the beautiful final three songs, When We Were Light, Look Up, Charlie Brown, and Leave It Better.
According to him, I got in when those first two songs were released, and I get to kind of take over when things start to get really complicated and depressing.
Having penned the Peanuts Earth Day song “It’s the Small Things,” Charlie Brown in 2022, and several songs for the 2006 film Over the Hedge, Folds has previously dabbled in musical theater.
According to him, it’s easy for people to mistake a song that sounds like musical theater for one that actually is. The song’s real worth lies in the fact that it eliminates the requirement for a solid five to ten pages of screenplay.
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Craig Schulz, who fell in love with the family business long ago, is now working with his son on a second animated musical.
He compares it to the I Love Lucy cartoon where Lucy tries to keep up with a chocolate conveyor belt. “I used to always wonder how in the world my dad could go to the office every day for 50 years and write a comic strip every day,” he recalls.
I later learned that he had a family of five children, but I believe he loved working with the Peanuts characters at the studio even more than his actual family. He had the opportunity to enter and embrace them, draw them, or do whatever else that made him happy or unhappy. I don’t think he could ever leave that world.
