“A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage" at the Adler Theatre -- November 20.
Wednesday, November 20, 6:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
On November 20, a beloved animated special will come to delightful theatrical life when the touring production of A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage lands at Davenport's Adler Theatre, this 90-minute entertainment filled with all the memorable characters, crises, and music that made the television version a cherished holiday perennial.
A Charlie Brown Christmas: Live on Stage is an all-new production of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning TV special that has been charming viewers since it first aired in 1965. Featuring the classic Vince Guaraldi musical score and the popular Peanuts comic strip characters by Charles M. Schulz, audiences discover the magic of the meaning of Christmas right along with the Peanuts gang, live on stage. At the end, the audience is also welcome to sing along while the cast performs a concert of classic holiday songs.
After the comic strip's debut in 1950, Peanuts had become a worldwide phenomenon by the mid-1960s. The television special was commissioned and sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company, and was written over a period of several weeks, and produced on a small budget in six months. In casting the characters, the producers took an unconventional route, hiring child actors. The program's soundtrack was similarly unorthodox, featuring a jazz score by pianist Guaraldi. Its lack of a laugh track (a staple in U.S. television animation in this period), in addition to its tone, pacing, music, and animation, led both the producers and the network to predict the project would be a disaster. However, contrary to their collective apprehension, A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics.
Receiving an Emmy and a Peabody Award, the special became an annual presentation in the United States, airing on broadcast television during the Christmas season for 56 years before becoming exclusively available on Apple TV+ streaming service. Its success paved the way for a series of Peanuts television specials and films. Its jazz soundtrack also achieved commercial success, selling five million copies in the U.S., while live theatrical versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas have been staged worldwide.
The touring production of A Charlie Brown Christmas comes to Davenport on November 20, admission to the 6:30 p.m. performance is $34-59, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting DavenportLive.com/the-adler-theatre.
