This week’s theater openings

Charlie Brown and The Whale, that’s not one play but two (unfortunately).

February 23, 2015; 12:29 PM • by Ross Catrow

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Virginia Rep • Hanover Tavern • 13181 Hanover Courthouse Road
February 27th – April 17th
Buy tickets online

Lucy, Linus, Charlie Brown and the whole gang come to life on stage in this up-beat and heartwarming musical for children and adults alike. Based on the popular comic strip, Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, familiar scenes and popular meoldoies will entertain and endear us all to these favorite characters.

The Whale

HATTheatre • 1124 Westbriar Drive
February 27th – March 28th
Buy tickets online

Big hearted and fiercely funny, The Whale tells the story of a man’s last chance at redemption and explores what both family and faith can do for people and to people.

At the center of the story is Charlie (Michael Hawke), an expository writing instructor who has been driven by grief to a state of morbid obesity. A writing assignment on Melville’s Moby Dick becomes a recurring theme that resonates throughout the play, as its lonely and adrift characters move toward a deeper understanding of the hopes and motivations that propel one another.

With his health failing, Charlie makes one last desperate attempt to reconnect with his long estranged 17 year old daughter, Ellie (Gwyneth Sholar), an angry, unhappy teen he has not seen since she was two years old. As he embarks on his quest for closure, he looks to his caregiver, Liz (Debra Wagoner), ex-wife Mary (Annie Zannetti), and a young Mormon missionary, Elder Thomas (Deejay Gray), who is determined to rescue his soul, to help him find peace.

Photo by: Jay Paul