Play It Again, Charlie Brown is the seventh prime-time animated TV special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on CBS on March 28, 1971. This was the first Peanuts TV special of the 1970s, airing nearly a year and a half after It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown. (The feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown had been released in between the two specials.) It was also the first special to focus on a character other than Charlie Brown or Snoopy. It also marked the first time someone other than Peter Robbins voiced Charlie Brown, which in this case was Chris Inglis as the character, since Robbins' voice deepened after the previous special. Also, all the other remaining original actors from the first special, except for Bill Melendez, were replaced by someone else. This left Bill Melendez as the only original actor remaining, until his death on September 2, 2008. However, recordings of his voice were used in later Peanuts animated media. In the special, Lucy talks Schroeder into playing his piano for a PTA meeting, but there are unforeseen details that he will not tolerate.

Voice cast

Music score

The majority of music cues for Play It Again, Charlie Brown consist of works composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Eight different piano sonatas and one symphony appear in the television special. Remaining cues were divided between Vince Guaraldi, John Scott Trotter and Harry Bluestone and are noted as such. Trotter also conducted and arranged the score, and received an Emmy nomination for his work on the special. No official soundtrack for Play It Again, Charlie Brown has been released. However, recording session master tapes for seven 1970s-era Peanuts television specials scored by Vince Guaraldi were discovered by his son, David Guaraldi, in the mid-2000s. A version of the program's eponymous song featured in There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown (1973) was released in 2007 on the compilation album, Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown Television Specials. Harpsichordist Lillian Steuber performed all Beethoven piano sonatas.

Credits