| Clark Gesner | |
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| File:Clark Gesner (center, with flower) with director Joseph Hardy and the original 1967 cast of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
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| Background information | |
| Occupations | Composer, author, actor |
Clark Gesner (born March 27, 1938 in Augusta, Maine)[1] was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M. Schulz comic strip Peanuts.
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Born and raised in Augusta, Maine, and later moving to Brooklyn, New York,[2] Gesner attended Princeton University and was a member of the Triangle Club, the university's theatre group. There, he began writing and producing original musical comedies.[3]
Following his graduation from Princeton, Gesner kept close ties to his alma mater, serving as a member of the graduate board of the Triangle Club, and regularly patronizing performances by other groups on the Princeton campus, such as the Princeton University Players and Theatre Intime.[2]
Gesner found work in New York City as a writer and composer for the Captain Kangaroo and Mister Mayor television programs. He later wrote for the shows Sesame Street and The Electric Company.[1]
While working for television shows, Gesner started writing songs inspired by the Peanuts comic strip. Ten of Gesner's songs were first recorded as a concept album for MGM Records. These songs later served as the basis for a musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, based on the strip. Genser wrote the music, lyrics, and co-wrote the book.[4]
On March 12, 1967, the stage adaptation of the concept album premiered Off-Broadway and was a big hit, running for 1,597 performances.[5] In 1971, a Broadway production featuring an entirely new cast opened at the John Golden Theatre, but closed a month later after only 15 previews and 32 regular performances.[6] In 1999, the musical was revived again on Broadway and ran for 149 performances at the Ambassador Theatre.[7]
Smaller works include Animal Fair, The Jello is Always Red, and Bloomers.[8] Gesner's other musical, The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall, was much less successful than his other works, and closed at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway after seven previews and one regular performance.[4][2]
Some of Gesner's well known compositions include "The Ivy League Look", a song for the Triangle Club, and "Little Known Facts", a musical number from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.[2]
As an actor, Gesner performed regionally in theatre productions, including 1776, Lend Me a Tenor, and Carnival!, among others.[8] He sang on the original concept album of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown as Linus van Pelt and sang with Barbara Minkus on four bonus tracks on the original cast recording of the Off-Broadway cast of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.[9]
Gesner died of a heart attack at age 64 on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 in downtown New York City.[1] He was never married.[2]
Playbill.com's Robert Simonson said that Gesner was "an open-faced man with a childlike presence."[10] David Spencer described him as an "adorable big teddy bear of a man, with seemingly kind words for everyone."[11]
Said director Jim Morgan, "Gesner's view of the world [was] droll, very humorous and off-kilter. He [looked] at things in a different way. For example, the song 'Where Do The Chickens All Come From?' tells of a man overwhelmed by modern life. The Gilbert & Sullivan-style 'The Peanut Butter Affair' is about a New York executive who realizes he went through the whole day with a clump peanut butter on his chin. Then he goes in to work the next day, and everyone has it because they think that's the way to rise in the business world."[10]
| Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown |
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