THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9509270170
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The Little Theatre of Portsmouth players who take the stage in ``Snoopy'' certainly get full marks for being earnest. That quality can be especially important when adults must play 5- and 6-year-old characters whose big show tune offers motivational advice such as, ``Don't be the tail if you can be the dog, don't be the bump if you can be the log.''
If that song, ``Don't Be Anything Less Than Everything You Can Be,'' sounds more like an Army recruiting slogan or the philosophy printed on a box of herbal tea than like something from the ``Peanuts'' comic strip, the authors of this musical offer an explanation.
``You learn what sells,'' remarks Linus early in the first act, after reading in his classroom an essay that is an obvious attempt to curry favor with his teacher.
One irony is that the short sketches lifted directly from the familiar cartoons have far more appeal than do songs bearing only a superficial resemblance to anything Charles Schultz ever wrote.
Stringing together unrelated skits, which usually enact episodes of the familiar daily newspaper strip, gives the show a somewhat disjointed feel. Rather than finding one plot line or theme that could hold together the entire work from within, the authors attempted to squeeze it into one package by superimposing second act additions of pop psychology and self-help exhortations.
Somehow they missed the point of Lucy's famous five cent sidewalk advice booth, which made a quietly telling comment on the profiteering practitioners of the amateur advice industry.
The cast gets one effective ensemble number, a piece about classroom anxiety called ``Edgar Allan Poe.'' For the most part, the songs present them as individual performers or in duets.
Though Adam Ivey plays the flop-eared title character with winsome charm, the character of Peppermint Patty seems to dominate the show.
Oralie Wilhite, as the freckled Patty, seems in particularly strong voice. Her two solos and her appearance in a trio with Marti Craver and Tammie Soccio afford her opportunities to add dimension to her role.
Craver plays Sally Brown with a touch of wide-eyed innocence and wonder. She is the younger sister of Charlie Brown, to whom Bill Abrams brings a quietly bemused approach.
Soccio is the often grumpy Lucy, always firm in her convictions. Tommy Gay is the precocious Linus who nears hysteria when his beloved security blanket is in the laundry. Kathlyn Baker dances the role of Snoopy's silent friend, the bird Woodstock.
Baker also choreographed the show. Alice Everhart directed, and Bob Shifferly served as musical director and pianist.
There is a certain nostalgic, retrospective air to the whole production. Moreover, the very appearance of the ``Peanuts'' characters brings back memories of the strip at the height of its popularity. Even the production style, with its single piano accompaniment, its set pieces of pastel blocks surrounding Snoopy's doghouse, and its hard-working volunteer cast harken back to an era of community theater that can be perceived as refreshing in its sincere simplicity. by CNB