The nonprofit organization, Inside Broadway, kicked off its 2025 touring production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at P.S. 78X, The Anne Hutchinson School, located at 1400 Needham Avenue in Williamsbridge, on Wednesday, Jan. 15. The 12-week touring production is currently bringing Broadway directly to 45 public schools across all five boroughs.

 

The production is funded by the New York City Council’s CASA grant, the purpose of which, according to the Council’s website is “to support arts enrichment offered to public school students through after-school programs.” It goes on to say that the grants are single-year discretionary awards made by Council members.

 

Katie McAllister, executive director at Inside Broadway, spoke about the production, saying, “They put this entire show together in a week, and then today was our first performance. It’s a very quick turnaround process but we use equity actors and union musicians.”

 

According to Inside Broadway, the nonprofit puts on 45-minute productions that are specially designed to fit into a class period and are created by theater professionals and performed by professional actors and live musicians.

“We believe that’s really important because the higher the quality [of performers], the higher the quality it would bring to our students, and they get to see real professional theater here at their schools,” McAllister said.

 

Kevon Bolt, who was representing local District 12 City Council Member Kevin Riley, said, “We enjoy doing stuff like this, seeing kids participating in the arts.” Bolt added that the production will take place in five other schools in District 12.

 

Meanwhile, P.S. 78X Principal KerryAnn Roberts told Norwood News of the show, “We are fortunate enough to have established a partnership with Inside Broadway for over 15 years. Our student leaders have enjoyed the day program, and the afterschool program immensely. They get the opportunity to showcase their arts, showcase the genius they have.”

 

Asked how he enjoyed the show, David Efobi, a 10-year-old student at the school, said, “I felt good about the performance and I thought it was very funny. I liked the character’s reactions and everything.” Meanwhile, Victory Aibogu, also 10, said, “I think the performance was really funny and it felt alive, like they weren’t even acting.”

Victory added that “Lucy” was her favorite character. “I thought that she was very dramatic and very bossy!” she said. “She wanted everything for herself and she was the protagonist.”

 

Previous productions which Inside Broadway have put on have included “On The Town,” “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies,” “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Bye Bye, Birdie,” “Land That I Love,” “Real Magic,” “All Kinds Of People,” and “My Town.”

 

Inside Broadway officials said the nonprofit was first founded in 1982 by Michael Presser as a free ticket program, bringing professional tours of classic Broadway musicals directly to school auditoriums throughout the City. They said Inside Broadway also serves over 75,000 students across the five boroughs through in-class residency programs, afterschool workshops, summer theatre camps, senior citizen programs, and its popular “Creating the Magic” series.