Good Grief, It’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” by Women for Women in South Florida

Feb 3, 2019 by Susan Rosenbluth

Women and girls who will be in the Miami area on March 7 or March 10 are in for a treat. The newly organized Jewish Women’s Theater of South Florida will be showcasing its inaugural production, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

The award-winning 1967 musical comedy, with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, is based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz.

The JWTSF production will include all 12 songs from the original, classic 1967 version plus two new numbers, “Beethoven Day” and “My New Philosophy,” which were added for the show’s 1999 revised Broadway production. The show won that year’s Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical.

Following Jewish Law

All members of the cast and crew belong to Orthodox-Jewish communities in and around Miami. While several of them have theater backgrounds, they do not perform in any venue that would require them to desecrate the Sabbath or holidays.

JWTSF executive producer Sara Gottlieb points out that the performers also abide by the religious restriction that proscribes women from singing in front of men, which is why only women and girls will be permitted in the audience for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

The whole Peanuts gang is in the production: bossy Lucy (Reva Homnick) is hopelessly in love with piano prodigy Schroeder (Nava Zweig) who doesn’t give her the time of day; perfectionist Sally (Rachel Benveniste) is still mocking blanket-toting Linus (Sarah Levine); Snoopy (Sarah Dahan) is in the doghouse; and Charlie Brown (Yael Zweig) is the “blockhead” himself.

Eight more women—Tobi Ash, Barbara Berg, Nadia Folic, Yosefa Friedman, Rachel Grossman, Diane Levy, Aviva Maiberg, and Lena Silverstein—constitute the team. Dr. Helen Pevzner and her daughter, Tonya, serve as music directors, with Chrissy Wright as choreographer and Goldie Berman as stage manager.

Multi-Generational

JWTSF director, Carla Zackson Heller, is a veteran whose credits include a Greek classical chorus, a Brazilian samba group, and a French cabaret troupe. “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” represents her first opportunity to bring the Broadway experience to a group of Orthodox-Jewish women singers and dancers.

In all, the cast and crew consist of over 30 women who range in age from 24-70.

“These women are inspiring, and the show is funny and wonderful,” says Ms. Heller.

From NJ to Florida

For the role of Sally, which was originated on Broadway by Kristin Chenoweth, Englewood native Rachel Benveniste brings years of experience to the production. A graduate of the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey and the Frisch School, Mrs. Benveniste (then Rachel Rosenbluth) performed as a student with various groups at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly as well as with the Frisch Drama Society and the New Jersey Summer Arts Institute at Rutgers.

A soprano, she received a degree in Vocal Performance from NYU and went on to earn a master’s at the school in Music Therapy. Before relocating to Florida with her husband and their three children, she performed with the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera and the New York Opera Forum. She currently runs music programs for mothers and children.

“Peanuts is, without a doubt, one of the greatest comic strips ever created. While the songs are charming and funny, the lyrics often reflect Schultz’s quintessentially human view of the world and his ability to put that into words,” she says.

New Theater

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” will perform for all-female audiences on Thursday, March 7, at 7:30pm and Sunday, March 10, at 2pm at the new, state-of-the-art Alan and Diane Lieberman Theater at the Michael Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, 18900 NE 25^th Avenue, North Miami Beach, Florida.

For tickets, call 305-218-2121, email JewishWomensTheater@gmail.com, or go to Www.jwtsfl.com.

“We are so excited to bring this fabulous show to the South Florida community,” says Ms. Gottlieb.