January 22, 2010
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The Daily News
Happiness is being alone every now and then.. and happiness is walking hand-in-hand…Happiness is morning and evening, daytime and nighttime too!
And happiness is anyone, and anything at all that’s loved by you!
1 Ah, the beautiful thing about the DN is its absolute randomness!
2 That song, from the venerable musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, brings with it such joy and mirth dating back to when I was but a wee youthling.
3 For the record, I have taken to following me old mate Merlin’s advice, and have taken to youthening. Right now I’m 891 years old, and getting younger by the minute detail. Attention to detail, always the essence of art.
4 AnywayZ, I’m a tremendous fan of the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, because it brings a trifecta of thoughts when I listen to the lovely music.
5 For one thing, it was my first EVER musical, with the gracious and illustrious Paula Kim on piano, and the immortal Skinny Vinnie from West Vagineee (ha!) on percussion.
6 It had SO many wonderful workshop immortals that I’m almost holding off naming them for fear of forgetting someone.
7 But I’ll reach back and try: Sandy Luna was Lucy. Perfect, even though the REAL Sandy is alive and well in esseff! Love you girl! And we had Nhat Doan as the very white Linus, who did wonderfully.
8 Nhat is now “Nil” but I have no idea where he has gone since we last talked about a charitable benefit so many years ago.
9 And the very wonderful Luis Banuelos, and my great friend Bonnie! To this day, yo!
10 Ah, let us bring together the amazing meeting of Paula Kim and Sandy Luna. Paula was not a drama girl, but a graceful and eloquent straight-A student, if I may, “back in the day”.
11 She had incredible skills on piano, lovely, like pure love.
12 In our first version of Charlie Brown, I remember bringing Paula into the Theatre to play our piano, and she made the angels cry. I immediately hired her as our accompaniest for Charlie Brown. She would sit at that piano and make the music that would make the angels cry.
13 In the middle of our rehearsals, Sandy came into the Theatre. I called her over, excited at the amazing prowess of Paula. Paula was class, culture, the whole nine yards. Sandy was class, culture, but also one of the purest, most down-to-Earth students ever.
14 One fine day, I walked into the Theatre only to find Paula making the piano sing, as she always did. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, and I was excited that we had some awesome piano for a piano-centered Show.
15 I stood dumbfounded at Paula’s talent when Sandy walked in with a group of friends. Sandy ALWAYS played a delightful leadership role in the Workshop, and she was all smiles that fine day.
16 AnywayZ, as Paula continued to play, I called Sandy over to the piano, and enthusiastically said, “Sandy! Listen to this!”
17 Sandy walked over to the piano, leaned on the piano proper, and fell into a mezmerized state. When Paula finally lifted her fingers, I looked to the heroic Sandy Moon for a response.
18 The Theatre fell silent.
19 Eyes focused on Sandy, awaiting the response.
20 With absolute impeccable timing, Sandy looked up and said…
21 “The BITCH can PLAY!” Everyone broke into laughter and smiles.
22 Amazingly, my first musical ALSO brought us Vinnie Richardson, one of the most rhythmical and soulful drummers I had ever met. Any rock band I ever played in became instantly better with Vinnie on the skins.
23 I brought Vinnie in to listen to Paula, and he just faded. She was THAT good.
24 Within seconds, I had my orchestra for Charlie Brown. From there, we fell in love with the Show.
25 One day, while looking through catalogues for various musicals, I had seen pictures of the original professional set from the Show’s opening in Washington D.C., and realized it was the same set I had seen when the Show had traveled to Ghirardelli Square in esseff. They had a sort of coffehouse theatre, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown came to be a huge hit in the Bay Area.
26 When I had done shows at Mills High School in Millbrae, California, I had also been a substitute teacher in the San Mateo Union High School District. While substituting, I was called one day to San Mateo High School to substitute for the drama director, Roy Casstevens, who had played Schroeder in the esseff production of Charlie Brown.
27 I later became marginal friends with Roy, so when I saw the pics of the ORIGINAL Washington D.C. set, I came to realize that it was the same exact set that had traveled to San Francisco.
28 The next time I ran into Roy, I asked if he knew where the set was. The set consisted of larger-than-life building blocks in primary colours.
29 He said, “Well, actually, WE (San Mateo High School) have the set in our storage here at the school, because WE did the Show a few years ago.”
30 I said, “Roy, is it possible for my school to rent the original set from the production?”
31 He said, “Yes! Just give me a day’s notice, and then rent a U-Haul. I’ll have a crew load it for you, and you’ll be on your way!”
32 Needless to say I was ecstatic, and we secured the set and brought it directly to the YB Theatre!
33 I also brought some November leaves to give the feel of childhood to the audience.
34 We brought in the lovely Loretta Rezos to sing, and a kid named Brian to play Snoopy, although I don’t remember Brian’s last name. He came over to my house with a pair of tap shoes, and practiced in the same living room that is under my feet as I construct these words.
35 Well I KNOW I’m forgetting someone, but it’s late, and if you wish to admonish me, do so on my Facebook account.
36 Meanwhile, I just wanted to give a bit of history of one of my fondest Shows.
37 Years later, I brought YGMCB back in a Show we called simply, “The Show”. We had Richard Lambert cast as Charlie Brown, and a cast as good as any in the history of the Workshop doing such grand tunes as “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”, “Team”, “Book Report”, “Suppertime!”, and of course, the immortal “Happiness is…” complete with Kevin Lambert on piano, and Fina Pengosro on flute, one of the most amazing and wonderful teams in the history of the Workshop. Fina’s flute slinked through that Show so beautifully that I can never again listen to any of those tunes without thinking of her slitheringly beautiful music.
38 There’s so MUCH more, and somewhere in some Public Storage place I still have pictures of one of the most magical Shows in the history of the Workshop!
39 If you have any memories of either Show, be sure to throw some comments to everybody who lived through either one.
40 Dear Pen Pal…
41 Just another dose of YB Drama Workshop memories from the guy who was lucky enough to have lived through all of them, and to have worked with SO many talented people, many of whom still perform in venues all over the world.
41 Thank all of YOU for those precious memories.
42 And as of last year, I met with Vinnie and me old friend and confidant Geoff for a night of Italian food and laughs, served with much spice!
43 Well, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
44 Happiness is…ah, why bother? Here are the wonderful lyrics!
CHARLIE BROWN:
(Spoken)
I’m so happy. That little red-headed girl dropped her pencil.
It has teeth marks all over it. She nibbles her pencil.
She’s human! It hasn’t been such a bad day after all!
(Sung)
HAPPINESS IS FINDING A PENCIL.
SNOOPY:
PIZZA WITH SAUSAGE
LINUS:
TELLING THE TIME.
SCHROEDER:
HAPPINESS IS LEARNING TO WHISTLE.
LINUS:
TYING YOUR SHOE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.
SALLY:
HAPPINESS IS PLAYING THE DRUM IN YOUR OWN SCHOOL BAND.
CHARLIE BROWN:
AND HAPPINESS IS WALKING HAND IN HAND.
HAPPINESS IS TWO KINDS OF ICE CREAM.
LUCY:
KNOWING A SECRET.
SCHROEDER:
CLIMBING A TREE.
CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS FIVE DIFFERENT CRAYONS.
SCHROEDER:
CATCHING A FIREFLY.
SETTING HIM FREE.
CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS BEING ALONE EVERY NOW AND THEN.
ALL:
AND HAPPINESS IS COMING HOME AGAIN.
CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAY TIME AND NIGHT TIME TOO.
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT’S LOVED BY YOU.
LINUS:
HAPPINESS IS HAVING A SISTER.
LUCY:
SHARING A SANDWICH.
LUCY AND LINUS:
GETTING ALONG.
ALL:
HAPPINESS IS SINGING TOGETHER WHEN DAY IS THROUGH,
AND HAPPINESS IS THOSE WHO SING WITH YOU.
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME TOO.
CHARLIE BROWN:
FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT’S LOVED BY YOU.
Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!
~H~
www.xanga.com/bharrington
