At some point in our lives – in a moment when it feels like the world is conspiring against us in every way possible -- we all feel like Charlie Brown.

Maybe that’s why we love him so much. Cartoon character he may be, but we recognize that he is, in reality, us, and we relate. He lets us know that no matter what happens in those unexpected and mostly unwanted instants, we’re going to survive.

Well, the Red Barn Theatre invites all the Charlie Browns in us to join them for fun and music in the final production of their 47th season, as Charlie Brown – along with all the other beloved characters in the Peanuts comic strip -- take their stage in “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown”, for four shows only,  May 1-3.

The show was a massive Broadway hit in the late Sixties, and again in revival in the late Nineties, garnering Outer Critics Circle Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and three Tony Awards. It has become one of the most-performed musicals in American theatre history, celebrating its 58th year of entertaining audiences.

The Red Barn’s production is a special one, featuring the stellar talents of a host of young musical theater students out of Bravo Theatre, a group of 2nd to 7th graders from area schools. Daniel Goldberg will play Charlie Brown, Olivia Blass will be Lucy, Cody Hawks will be Schroeder, Annabel Garrido plays Snoopy, Rowan Thompson is Linus, and Virginia Spottswood takes on Sally. Joining them as part of the ensemble are Zadie Haskell, Romy Witherow, Scarlet Smith, Mila Fernandez, Isabel Marrero, and Uma Simon. The show is co-directed by Lauren Thompson and Amber McDonald Good.

“It’s fantastic,” Thompson said of working with young talent. “These kids are really inspiring because they are fearless. All the inhibitions and stops we have as adults, they don’t have. Their minds are not cluttered up as yet….they’re so much more adept at connecting openly and easily. You really feel like you’re looking at fresh minds open and alive to the fun they’re presenting.”

The show – a series of vignettes featuring songs that capture you and choreography that amazes – follows Charlie Brown, the eternal blockhead, as he and his gang suffer through disastrous baseball games, infuriating book reports, and – of course – the humiliation of trying to kick a football out of Lucy’s hands. But as trying as all that may be, in the end they remind each other – and us – that happiness is all around us.

“The best part of the show,” Thompson said, “is that cartoonist Charles Shultz had an incredible ability to draw his characters in deep and meaningful conversations about human beings and how we each may see things and how we’re emotionally different from one another. It’s really wonderful to have kids do this, because they’re learning as they’re doing the show…having the experience. It’s an important time for conversations such as these. For them and for us.”

The music and book for the show were originally written by Clark Gesner with later additions by Andrew Lippa, who also wrote “The Addams Family.” Musical direction for the Red Barn production is by Nancy 3 Hoffman, with choreography by Penny Leto. Sushi will be making all the costumes.

Called “A delight! A small miracle...almost everything works because almost everything is effortless…” by the New York Times, and “…a show that comforts your nostalgic inner child while welcoming the newer generations with open arms…” by DC Metro Theatre Arts.

Tickets are already limited. Visit redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911 before they completely sell out. Shows are Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 7 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm.

The show is sponsored in part by the generous support of Truman and Company, the Community Foundation, and Keys Open Doors.

Cast of Red Barn’s Production A ROCK SAILS BY (Lauren Thompson Not Pictured)

With their next mainstage production, Key West’s Red Barn Theatre takes on nothing less than the intersection of science and faith, the unknown, and the human condition in general. Not a small task for 90 minutes, but they do it all with humor, heart, and touching emotion.

“A Rock Sails By”, by prolific playwright Sean Grennan, runs March 31 through April 25, with all curtains at 7:30 pm. It has garnered high critical praise for its script and emotional depth.

The play explores the great questions of our time: Is there life beyond our planet? What happens after death? Why is life, in all its beauty, filled with fear, anger, and hatred? And, perhaps one of the most complicated of questions – What’s the point? It tells the story of an astrophysicist, Dr. Lynn Cummings, who, while investigating a mysterious interstellar object nearing earth, finds herself dealing with personal grief, physical and mental decline, challenges to her professional reputation, and trying to reconnect with her daughter. She’s always believed in science, but now that her life is changing, the certainty that was once a source of comfort to her has become a source of emptiness. How she deals with the collision of all these new elements in her life is what gives the play its beating heart.

Playwright Grennan recently told a reporter, “In 2017 I read a news article about an odd object that was flying through our solar system. It had come from outside our galaxy, which was very unusual. It’s Hawaiian name – “Oumuamua” – translates to ‘Messenger from our distant past’.” That got Grennan to thinking about what it might be and what it could mean to mankind. “I’d been thinking about mortality – friends are passing, I’m wearing out, fewer days ahead than behind – so I wanted to explore all of that.”

Astrophysicist Cummings does the same in the play, as she navigates her new personal challenges, though always with wit and humor. Mimi McDonald, the Barn’s Managing Director, portrays Cummings in a rare onstage performance and tour-de-force role. She’s accompanied by Susannah Wells, Lauren Thompson, Jody Orrigo, Glenda Donovan, and Fritzie Estimond. The play is directed by Joy Hawkins.

Broadway World called the play “…smart, witty, and relatable…a thought-provoking story filled with wit, humor, and emotion.” Coral Gables Magazine said it was “A soul-searching delight.”

This production is sponsored in part by Berkshire Hathaway and Stanley Kovak, as well as the Monroe County Tourist Development Council.

Tickets are available at redbarntheatre.com or by calling the box office at 305-296-9911. All curtains are at 7:30 pm. There will be an Opening Night After Party for all ticketholders that night.

Cast of Red Barn’s Production AND THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND, with Musical Director Michael Fauss

Every musical theater lover knows there’s a special magic woven into every Broadway musical, an alchemy of melodies and lyrics that worm their way into the mind and memory, where they take up residence forever.

Key West’s Red Barn Theatre will present an evening of the best of these alchemic confections by two of Broadway’s most celebrated musical wizards in “And The World Goes Round – The Music of Kander and Ebb.” The show runs February 24 through March 21. All curtains are at 7:30 pm.

Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb were one of Broadway’s most creative, versatile, and dynamic musical theater writing teams. Over their partnership of 40 years, they created over 15 of Broadway’s greatest classics, including “Cabaret,” “Chicago,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Woman of the Year,” “Zorba,” and “New York, New York,” among many others. Many of their shows found their way onto the silver screen as well.

“And The World Goes Round” is a unique evening of the duo’s work – a clever collage of love songs, torch songs, and witty comic numbers cherry-picked from their top shows. But while it is a musical revue, the show – originally conceived by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson –is something far more unique. It accomplishes the feat of expressing the lives and emotions of characters through the music alone, without the need for a story line or character dialogue. The songs serve as a lens into the lives of the characters on stage, exploring love, heartbreak, hope, and the resilience of the human spirit, all through Kander and Ebb’s unique blend of wit and emotion.

The show stars four great Key West voices -- Lauren Thompson, Claire Caplan, Arthur Crocker, and Jeremy Zoma. A real extra plus for this show is having musical direction by New York’s Michael Fauss, a Broadway orchestrator and musical director for such shows as “Brigadoon,” and “Oliver!”. The show will be co-directed by Red Barn artistic director Joy Hawkins and Lauren Thompson, who also handles the bulk of the choreography.

“I love that we get to celebrate these men who are icons of Broadway,” said Hawkins. “They wrote such celebrated Broadway musicals, with intricate harmonies and fancy footwork. This is a terrific night of music, and a celebration of these men who served musical theatre so brilliantly. This will be one of our best musical offerings ever.”

The show ran for over a year in New York, garnering Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel awards for Outstanding Musical Revue. Broadway World called it “…stylish, sophisticated, and thoroughly satisfying…”. MD Theatre Guide said it is “…one of the most satisfying and enjoyable musical evenings I’ve ever experienced…”. The Marriott Theatre Review said it is “…an emotional thrill ride of amazing voices…”.

Tickets can be purchased at redbarntheatre.com or by calling the box office at 305-296-9911. The show is sponsored in part by Duval Street Media, the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, and the Monroe Country Tourist Development Council.

Cast of Red Barn’s Production AT THE WEDDING

Ah, weddings. Those wonderful celebrations of love and the commitment of two hearts to the sharing of a life together. We expect an evening of joy, laughter, too much good food and drink, and endless toasts to the happy couple.

And then there is the somewhat sideways reception for the nuptials depicted in Bryna Turner’s heartfelt and hilarious “At The Wedding,” the next mainstage presentation in the Red Barn Theatre’s 46th season. Running January  20 through February 14 at their 319 Duval Street facility, it is an invitation that you surely won’t want to miss.

It’s not that Turner’s very funny play doesn’t have all the trappings of a typical joy-filled wedding. They’re in there somewhere. But she has reimagined the classic wedding-genre story by lampooning the tropes of such stories and adding just enough off-the-wall spice to elevate the play into the rare air of great comedy that manages to deliver a poignant message.

The story centers around a gregarious wiseacre named Carlo who has crashed the wedding of her ex-girlfriend, Eva, a vivacious young woman that has left their gay relationship to marry a straight man. Carlo has several goals in attending: not to get drunk, not to make little kids cry, and to try to win back Eva. The play is fast-paced, sharp, funny, and emotional, blending its humor with poignant reflections on love, loneliness, and heartbreak.

Along the way, we meet a cornucopia of great characters: Carly, the bridesmaid and “frenemy” of Carlo; Eli, a  high school English teacher who thinks all of life can be explained in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Leigh, an alluring guest who flirts with Carlo and tries to get her to ditch the wedding with her; Victor, a very charming waiter; and Maria, the classic mother of the bride. The brilliance of Turner’s play is how she uses the interactions of these characters to examine how societal institutions often fail to accommodate diverse human experiences. And she does it while making us laugh out loud.

The play features the talents of Jess Polak, Martha Hooten-Hattingh, Jody Orrigo, Rita Troxel, Susannah Wells, Jessica Miano-Kruel, and Jack McDonald. It is directed by Joy Hawkins.

“I loved the play instantly,” said director Hawkins, also the Red Barn’s artistic director. “She’s a total fresh voice. The play has a nuance and poignancy, and a very special sweetness. It’s very today. We get to take this journey with this woman who is so adorably lost, and we get a great romantic look at life and how hard it can be sometimes. It’s simply an adorable play.”

DC Theatre Arts called the show “…wickedly funny…with plot twists and laugh-a-minute dialogue…”. TheatreMania called it “…brutally hilarious…”. The New York Times says, “…spritely smart…so fresh…so funny…”.

Tickets for “At The Wedding” can be purchased at redbarntheatre.com or 305-296-9911. Curtains for all shows are at 7:30 pm. Be aware that there is no parking at the Red Barn Theatre.

Christine Mild

Christine Mild, vocalist star of the uber-popular “Always…Patsy Cline” shows, will return to Key West’s Red Barn Theatre with her all-new evening of songs from the vaults of country music.

The all-new show is called “Queens of Country Music: Patsy! Dolly! Loretta!” The limited engagement runs January 7 – 10, 2026 only, and is expected to sell out quickly, as all of Mild’s past shows have done.

“When I started designing the show,” Mild said recently, “I asked myself who I would call the ultimate Queens of country music – the ones who set the bar and who have influenced everyone who’s followed them. And honestly, there were only three – Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn. You can name dozens of “Duchesses” who came up after them and thanks to them, but those three stand by themselves.”

Mild will be cherry-picking the best of the Queens in the new show’s line-up of classic country, while sprinkling in tunes from several Duchesses, including Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Gretchen Wilson, and Beyonce.

“For a country music lover, this show will give you a multitude of songs that you know and love from these remarkable women,” Mild said. “And we won’t forget a few of the newer voices that may hint at who might, at some point, assume the kind of reign Patsy, Dolly, and Loretta were able to achieve.”

Joining Mild on stage will be what she calls a “kick-ass ensemble” of great players. She’s enticed UK guitarist Matt Becker, who has played with the likes of Julian Lennon, among many other notables, to spend some time in Key West and join her on stage.  Playing bass will be Geoff Lowe, a friend from Chicago, who many Key Westers may have seen in playing recently around the jazz clubs in town. Key West’s Gary McDonald will again be on drums, and the keyboards will be handled by Jim Rice.

“It’s a great, great band,” Mild said, “and we’ll also be adding another terrific female voice in my dear friend Erin Parker, who has a real connection to Nashville as one of Reba McIntyre’s back-up singers. She’s fantastic. With that group on stage, there’s no way you won’t have an awesome time. This will be our best one yet.”

For tickets and more information, check redbarntheatre.com or call the box office at 305-296-9911.