PPC to perform Charlie Brown musical

Chipper piano music drifted through the small room in the Memorial Union’s South Tower as the Purdue Performance Collaborative prepared to put on its first musical since the club’s founding two years ago.

“This is the first musical we’ve ever produced, I think the first completely student-produced musical on Purdue’s campus,” said Grace Steward, the director of the performance, PPC’s founder and current president, and a senior in the College of Engineering.

Based on the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, the musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” comprises a series of vignettes about a day in the life of Charlie Brown. The show features songs such as “Little Known Facts,” in which Lucy drags Linus around, telling him that fir trees are used to make fur coats and that clouds make the wind blow.

Nostalgic and heartfelt in its simplicity, the vignettes are framed in a child’s world, but its issues are relatable for college students, according to Steward.

“(The song ‘The Book Report’ is) just about every type of essay that a college student has ever written,” she said. “We have Linus, who goes over the top and is super-philosophical and is writing his thesis, and then Lucy’s literally just trying to make the word count and counting up to 100 until she gets there. And Charlie Brown hasn’t even started. ... And then Schroeder’s just completely off-topic.”

For the graduating senior, the musical is a culmination of what she’s worked toward with PPC.

“The show is important to me, I kind of grew up on the soundtrack and the last Broadway revival was in 1999,” Steward said.

The small cast, minimal set pieces and relatively simple music make “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” a good musical to start off with and a “springboard for bigger things,” according to Steward.

Combining acting, dancing and singing increases rehearsal time, requires multi-skilled performers and, as a whole, is more ambitious than the typical play, said Katie D’Addato, a performer with PPC from its start and a junior in the College of Agriculture.

“When you’re just acting, there’s a lot more to go on with lines and a lot more about motivation,” Steward added. “But a musical is very different in just how much variety you have to bring together.”

PPC has around 30 active members, with its own costume designers and stage crew. It allows students who cannot accommodate the theater department’s rigorous rehearsal schedule to participate in theater, whether that be through acting, lighting, costumes or backstage tech.

As a result, the cast of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” is made of up majors from the College of Engineering, the College of Agriculture, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science.

D’Addato enjoys having the opportunity to portray such iconic characters and said they benefit from the variety in majors.

“This whole show is so quotable,” she said. “And everyone that’s here is from completely different majors so coming together to do such a pivotal show has been really cool, to kind of see everyone’s little flavor.”

As PPC aims to make theater accessible for as many people as possible, its shows are free of charge. Though they get the majority of their funds from awards provided by organizations such as the Student Organization Grant Allocation Board, they encourage audience donations.

PPC will perform “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Matthews Hall, Room 210.