“Life is like an ice-cream cone, you just have to learn to lick it.” Was Charlie Brown’s humorous attempt at philosophy in the last performance of Snoopy!!! The Musical, performed by the popular KickstArt group at the UKZN Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. This witty play, directed by Steven Stead (Snoopy himself!) and Charon Williams-Ros, is a hilarious modern take on everyone’s favourite beagle, Snoopy. The show which consisted of a series of skits rather than a continuous story line, cleverly portrayed our old favourite comic strip Peanuts, with each scene centred round a catchy tune.
The production and set were noteworthy, with Snoopy’s dog house (which marvellously doubled as an illuminated stage) standing front and centre. The simple set consisted of multifunctional props with lighting and a live band (who were amazing, by the way!) setting the tone for each scene. Justin Southey (Piano) and Bruce Baker (Percussion) accompanied the cast in playing a perfect mix of amusing upbeat songs with a couple of ballads thrown in. While I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of storyline, the script had us all in stitches and the energy of the show had the audience clapping their hands and tapping their feet. In retrospect my only complaint was a lack of a song book as I so desperately wanted to sing along!
Besides singing, the cast comically enacted each of the beloved Peanuts characters. Snoopy was too sharp in his sunglasses, fur coat and all stars. Mopey Charlie Brown, played by award winning actor Bryan Hiles, shrugged his way through each scene. Katy Moore delightfully portrayed Charlie’s sister, Sally Brown. Graeme Wicks clutched his blanket as Linus, the tomboy Peppermint Patty was played by Caitlin Kilburn and Evashnee Pillay buzzed around the stage as Woodstock. My favourite was Lucy a.k.a. Carol Trench, who hilariously depicted the bully in blue. The singing, dancing and music in this show were truly world class.
I took my 11 year-old cousin Alex with me, who excitedly discussed his thoughts about the production all the way home: “Seeing Snoopy live was great, much better than going to the movies. The atmosphere was just different, it was a lot more exciting. Snoopy was definitely the star of the show, you could tell he was experienced and knew what he was doing. The songs were all really fun. My favourite part was Linus, he was really funny. What I didn’t like was how all the characters were mean to Charlie Brown and it was a bit sad at times. Also I would have liked it if there was more of a story about Snoopy, like I wanted to know where he came from. Mostly I had a good time and it was a lot of fun.” The performance had the audience cheering and awing all night, the humour was skilfully aimed at both young and old. This is the perfect show to watch with your family, if you missed this show I recommend you buy your tickets for the next.