Charlie Brown and Snoopy go to sleepaway camp in a new, bittersweet Apple TV+ special fueled by a pair of Emmy Award-nominated songwriters that's being billed as the first "Peanuts" musical in 35 years.
"My motivation has always been to preserve and enhance my dad’s legacy," says co-writer Craig Schulz, a son of the iconic comic strip "Peanuts" creator Charles. S. Schulz. "So it’s really an honor to get to play with these kids."
"Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical," which premieres Friday, features five songs — two by Jeff Morrow, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner — and three by Ben Folds.
"If someone asked me to write for a stupid kids thing, I would find it difficult because I don’t like talking down to anyone, much less kids," says Folds. "'Peanuts' isn't like that. We’re working in very rich, fertile soil."
What's the special about? The special opens with the kids getting ready to catch the bus to Cloverhill Ranch camp, but Sally isn't so sure it's going to be great. "Honestly, big brother, I could stay home," she says.
Sally is initially intimidated by the camp's inside jokes and rituals, turned off by the insects, the endless climbing, no TV, cold lake water and lumpy beds.
"You wake at dawn/Like you would in jail," she sings in the song "A Place Like This.The food’s not what you’d call upscale/This whole endeavor, an epic fail/And that’s being diplomatic."
Trust "Peanuts" to explore reluctance to leave home and fear of change. Craig Schulz, who co-wrote the script with his son, Bryan, and Cornelius Uliano, channeled some of his own childhood.
"Cloverhill Ranch actually is a take-off of the one in Santa Rosa called Cloverleaf that I went to as a child and hated. I bailed out after a week and went home," he says. "So many connections in the film kind of date back to my childhood that we weaved into the film."
While Sally warms to camp, Snoopy discovers what he thinks is a treasure map that will transform him into a wealthy pooch, one who will lay on top of a gold dog house. And Charlie Brown learns that this summer will be the last for his beloved but struggling camp — unless he does something.
"I guess your generation would rather sit in front of the television than sit under the stars," he tells Sally. "We have to protect these kinds of places because once they’re gone, they’re gone forever."
Charlie Brown comes up with the idea to invite generations of camp-goers back for a fundraising concert, but the skies darken on the big day, threatening to cancel the event and sending him into a "Good grief" spiral.
"Charlie Brown is different in this special," says director Erik Wiese. "He’s really happy. He loves this place. And so that’s why when we get to that scene it’s so effective because he returned back to the zero we sort of know him traditionally."
Folds supplies the lovely, last three songs — "When We Were Light,Look Up, Charlie Brown" and "Leave It Better" — and credits his songwriting collaborators for setting the stage.
"I entered when those first two songs existed, and I get to just sort of step in at the point where things get really complex and melancholic," he says.
Folds has had a flirtation with musical theater before, having written the "Peanuts" Earth Day song "It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown" in 2022 and a few songs for the movie "Over the Hedge" in 2006.
"People can easily confuse a song that sounds like musical theater with a song that should be musical theater," he says. "Really what the value of the song is that it obviates the need for a good five to 10 pages of script."
This October marks the 75th anniversary of "Peanuts," and the musical arrives with a boatload of branding, from tote bags by Coach to shoes by Crocs and Starbucks mugs.
Craig Schulz is already at work on a second animated musical with his son, having long ago fallen in love with the family business.
"I used to always wonder how in the world my dad could go to the office every day for 50 years and write a comic strip every day," he says, comparing it to the "I Love Lucy" episode with Lucy trying to keep up with a chocolate conveyor belt.
"Then I came to realize that he had his family of five kids, but I really think he enjoyed going to the studio and working with the ‘Peanuts’ characters even more so than his real family. He got to go in there and embrace them, draw them, make him happy, sad, whatever. It was a world that I don’t think he could ever leave."
