A Musical Production of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Wows Alabama and Mississippi Audiences

Green Roof Productions put on a musical production of Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" last weekend in several locations across Alabama and Mississippi. The performances also featured a segment performed by the Mississippi Boy's Choir for the Laurel, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama performances. Musicians John Milham (drums), Chris Spies (piano), Tommy Sciple (upright bass), and Rebecca Barry (saxophone) provided the music for the event, while Will isherwood and Dustin Rudzinski from Prime Suspect Productions provided video projections and lighting.

This all came together to form a very entertaining experience that both young and old enjoyed. I was rather surprised to see 3-5 year old children sitting in their seats paying attention to every detail, as most kids will either get bored or fall asleep while listening to jazz music. However, with the familiar faces of Charlie Brown, Snoopy,  and the rest of the Peanuts cast dancing around on the video screen positioned on the stage, they found themselves enjoying the performance as much as their parents.

The performance started with jazz renditions of many popular Christmas songs such as "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman".  From there, on select performances, the Mississippi Boy's Choir joined them on stage for a few more songs, and then drummer John Milham, pianist Chris Spies, and bassist Tommy Sciple went on to perform "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Each song drew loud applause from the audience, and the children in the audience often joined in singing along with the songs they recognized. At the end of each show, the band then said to the audience that they had one last song left, and invited everyone in the room to put on their best "Charlie Brown Dance". Then the familiar intro notes to "Linus and Lucy" began to play, drawing immediate applause from the crowd, which then evolved into a clap-beat that went on throughout the performance. Several children got up on stage and began dancing, which drew a lot of cheers and "aww"'s from the crowd as they saw the dancing children projected onto the video screen.

The audience roared with applause at the end of the show, with many who I spoke with after the show saying they'd love for this to become an annual tradition, which is exactly what Green Roof Productions hopes to make of it. The show turned out to be an excellent event to bring the entire family to. Here is some video from the Laurel, MS performance.

"Skating" From Green Roof Productions' "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from Dustin Rudzinski on Vimeo.

Green Roof Productions' "A Charlie Brown Christmas" - From the Laurel, MS performance.