Even Charlie Brown can’t avoid the recession entirely. In the trailer for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical,Peanuts’ first musical special in three decades, Charlie, Lucy, Sally, and the rest of the gang hear some upsetting news in Peanuts’ typical, nonsensical adult-speak. Unfortunately, Peppermint Patty understands it just fine: the grown-ups are planning to close their beloved summer camp because fewer campers are enrolling each year.
The news is devastating to all of the kids, but especially Charlie, who “feels hopeless about losing a place that has meant so much to him and his friends and is determined to preserve its legacy,” per the special’s logline. His sadness leads to a flashback of his first summer at the camp featuring a baby Snoopy that’s sure to bring a tear to the eye of even the most grown-up adult. “We have to protect these places… We’re not doing it for us. We’re doing it for them, and all the others that will follow in their footsteps,” he says of the younger kids who won’t get to spend as many beautiful summers at the camp as he did if it closes. Cue the wide-open-mouthed waterworks.
The gang has a plan, of course: they’re going to put on a show to save the camp. That musical, as well as the rest of the special, contains original songs written by Emmy-nominated artists Ben Folds (of Ben Folds Five) and Jeff Morrow, as well as Broadway veterans Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner. They may not get to enroll at Charlie and his friends’ camp, but hopefully kids of all ages will be able to spend many happy summers to come with this special. Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical premieres August 15 on Apple TV+.
