Charles Schultz\u2019 Peanuts will be on stage Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26 in \u201cYou\u2019re a Good Man Charlie Brown\u201d brought to you by the Tioga Central High School (TCHS) Drama Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rehearsals for this Broadway musical began in late October. This is one of the largest theater groups in TCHS Drama Club history with 24 cast members and five crewmembers, said Director Alex MacDonald who\u2019s accompanied with Assistant Director Heather Matthews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMusical theater is such a great way to incorporate different art styles and to include different students,\u201d MacDonald said. Some of the cast joined to act, some joined to sing, with this show, the two get pushed to the center with musical theater he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is Tioga Central\u2019s first Broadway show since its production of Grease in 2010. \u201cYou\u2019re a Good Man Charlie Brown\u201d is organized like a collection of Peanuts comic strips with all of the usual characters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe students have been eating it up,\u201d MacDonald said. \u201cThey\u2019ve learned quickly, and they\u2019re learning on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leads Josh Coyne, playing Charlie Brown, and Maggie Engelbert, Lucy, are both singing in their second musicals and are enjoying the scale of this Broadway show. Coyne is singing center stage for the first time as a lead, and Engelbert is embracing this performance, as her dream is to peruse theater after high school. \u201cMr. MacDonald directing really changed the game,\u201d Engelbert said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One change he has brought to the stage is a live pit, composed of three professional musicians, including him. In past TCHS musicals, the performers and crew had to be in perfect synchronicity to time the musical recordings with the acting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This musical serves as a homecoming for MacDonald because he grew up on the TCHS stage, he said. After graduating in 2008 and returning years later to teach, he is \u201cso pumped to be back, it\u2019s different being on this side of the stage.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The auditorium at TCHS has received some new equipment debuting this weekend as well. The stage is adorned with all-new curtains, lighting and rigging to make the experience more spectacular. MacDonald hopes that with a new group of students excited about musical theater, the department will be able to put on larger shows in the years to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBig things are coming,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that we\u2019re in a growth phase in our department and I\u2019m excited to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three months of hard work will be shown this Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. Tickets to the musical will be sold at the door: $7 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and free for children under 5. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Charles Schultz\u2019 Peanuts will be on stage Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26 in \u201cYou\u2019re a Good Man Charlie Brown\u201d brought to you by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":70912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n