{"id":1958054,"date":"2025-08-13T14:59:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1958054"},"modified":"2025-08-13T14:59:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:59:04","slug":"song-in-the-key-of-peanuts-how-snoopy-presents-a-summer-musical-creatives-composed-the-new-animated-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/song-in-the-key-of-peanuts-how-snoopy-presents-a-summer-musical-creatives-composed-the-new-animated-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Song in the Key of Peanuts: How ‘Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical’ Creatives Composed the New Animated Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This article was written for the

\n\t July-August \u201925 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 351). <\/b><\/p>\n


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\"Erik\"Erik<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe can all use things that make us feel good and empower us, and who better than to uplift us than Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Sally and the rest of the Peanuts gang?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Director Erik Wiese<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Summer camp is a staple of both the Peanuts<\/em> comic-strip and long-running animated specials. This month, Apple TV+ viewers get a new, musical take on this subject when Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical<\/em> makes its debut on the streamer.<\/p>\n

The half-hour special, which features music by Emmy-nominated composer Jeff Morrow and popular singer-songwriter and composer Ben Folds, centers on first-time camper Sally Brown, who is nervous about being at a new and unknown place. The rest of the Peanuts<\/em> gang also discover that their favorite summer camp is shutting down and join forces to save it. Meanwhile, Snoopy and Woodstock set off on an adventure of their own when they come across a treasure map!<\/p>\n

Directed by Erik Wiese and written by Craig Schulz (son of Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts<\/em>), Bryan Schulz (Craig\u2019s son) and Cornelius Uliano (The Peanuts Movie<\/em>), the special is billed as the first Peanuts<\/em> musical in 35 years. During a recent Zoom interview, Craig Schulz and Erik Wiese discussed the stand-out qualities of this new charming 2D-animated offering (produced by WildBrain Studios) with Animation Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Snoopy\"Snoopy<\/a>
Season in the Sun:<\/strong> The new \u2018Peanuts\u2019 special, \u2018A Summer Musical,\u2019 features music composed by Emmy nominees Jeff Morrow Ben Folds. The story follows Sally Brown as she faces her anxieties over her first camp experience, and Snoopy and Woodstock as they search for hidden treasure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a New Special, Charlie Brown!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe idea of producing an animated musical special was something that was really important to me,\u201d says Schulz, who also executive produced Apple\u2019s six previous Snoopy Presents<\/em> specials, as well as The Peanuts Movie<\/em> (2015), Snoopy in Space<\/em>, The Snoopy Show<\/em> and Camp Snoopy<\/em>. \u201cWe put everything into it and spent a lot of time making this one, and it was well worth the wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the Peanuts<\/em> world is one of my absolute favorite things, and as a creative who does storyboards and directs animation, you really feel like that frame goes away, and you live with these characters every single day,\u201d says Wiese, who was nominated for an Emmy for directing the Sonic Prime<\/em> TV series last year. \u201cOf course, to work with Craig and all the talented people at WildBrain has been a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Craig\"Craig<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cMy goal from the get-go for these Snoopy Presents specials was to create things that children and their parents could talk about. We have tried to include a lot of good messages and lessons in our specials, and I\u2019m most proud of that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Writer\/executive producer Craig Schulz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Schulz mentions that he had been watching a lot of the great musicals at home. \u201cI had this vision in my mind of all the characters dancing and singing,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI tried to get Derek Hough on board to do the choreography for it. I told our co-writers, Bryan and Neil, about the idea, and they said, \u2018Dad, we\u2019ve never written a musical before. We don\u2019t know where to start!\u2019 I said, let\u2019s get the basic story down and we\u2019ll worry about where to drop the music on later. Before long, everything just developed along the way, and it became exactly what I was hoping for!\u201d<\/p>\n

To compose the special\u2019s five memorable songs, Schulz and his team reached out to Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who collaborated with them on the 2022 holiday special It\u2019s the Small Things, Charlie Brown<\/em>. \u201cCraig always imagined Ben in that role,\u201d says Wiese. \u201cI just love the emotion he brings out,\u201d says Schulz. \u201cI watched the \u2018Dandelion\u2019 sequence again the other night, and I hadn\u2019t seen it for a while. The music just brings tears to my eyes. To me there\u2019s really nothing better than strong music backed up by great emotion. I always says, \u2018You can watch a dirt cloud if the music\u2019s great!\u2019 But when you have great animation and music, you always get a winner!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Snoopy\"Snoopy<\/a>
The new Peanuts special features four new songs by Ben Folds and music by This is the first Peanuts musical in over three decades and features original music by Ben Folds. The special focuses on Charlie Brown and gang\u2019s summer at camp and Snoopy and Woodstock\u2019s treasure hunt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wiese also points out that music has always played a key role in the Peanuts<\/em> animated specials and series through the years. \u201cThe piano is a key character in this world,\u201d he notes. \u201cBen is our piano man, our modern-day Billy Joel. He\u2019s such a poet, and he can be really emotional. You always come away thinking about the lyrics and that also provided a lot of information for me to come up with the visuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like all the previous Apple TV+ Peanuts<\/em> specials and series, the team at WildBrain in Vancouver were responsible for the projects beautiful 2D animation, produced with Harmony and After Effects. \u201cThey\u2019re just incredible artists and animators,\u201d says Wiese. \u201cThe whole project looks like 2D feature animation. It\u2019s soft and supple when you need it to be, but they\u2019re not afraid to snap to poses or do multiple smears when needed. That\u2019s something you don\u2019t normally associate with Peanuts<\/em> animation, but you can go back to the Bill Melendez specials, and they were doing UPA-style material and some very cool tricks. You can get some really subtle emotional moments, where you can keep the animation soft and fluid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Snoopy\"Snoopy<\/a>
\u201cSnoopy Presents: A Peanuts Musical\u201d is the sixth \u201cSnoopy Presents\u201d special produced by Apple TV+ and WildBrain. It\u2019s billed as the first Peanuts musical special made in 30 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cErik gave the animation team the freedom to create new things,\u201d adds Schulz. \u201cWe write the story, but then they add their own creativity to the scenes. There\u2019s a scene in which Peppermint Patty blows a bubble and pops it, and she actually looks at the little comic strip that comes with the bubble gum. I thought that scene was so clever and subtle, especially the way she gives that chuckle. You could have made that scene over the top and have her actually read the comments, and make it on the nose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiese recalls another instance where the animators added their own special insights to improve a scene. \u201cSally has a song sequence, where she\u2019s coming down the stairs,\u201d he says. \u201cI implied some things, but then the animators went off and did something completely different. They showed me the rough, and I thought it was fantastic and fluid stuff. Sometimes, unexpected things would be created. Animators and storyboards are actors after all. It\u2019s just like placing actors in front of cameras, and these animators are cast to certain scenes, because we think they\u2019ll be really good at doing a musical dance number. Sally had some choreography in her song, and she was stomping her feet and really stepping up. That\u2019s when the actor\/animator comes in and brought that special magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Snoopy\"Snoopy<\/a>
\u201cSnoopy Presents: A Summer Musical\u201d is directed by animation veteran Erik Wiese and written by Bryan and Craig Schulz and Cornelius Uliano.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shaping Young Hearts and Minds<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Both Schulz and Wiese are thrilled that the new special allows them to reach out to millions of fans around the world. \u201cThe Peanuts<\/em> characters are the greatest at sending messages,\u201d says Schulz. \u201cThe cast and the genuine nature of these kids offer a wonderful, multicultural platform to spread messages. My goal from the get-go for these Snoopy Presents<\/em> special was to create things that children and their parents could talk about. We have tried to include a lot of good messages and lessons in our specials, and I\u2019m most proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiese concludes, \u201cI\u2019d also like to add that there aren\u2019t really another characters that have this ability out there. When you look at the full scope of what\u2019s happening on TV, I don\u2019t think there are properties that allow you to dig deeply the way Peanuts does. I\u2019ve had conversations with my friends about how you can come together when things are really hard. These days, we can all use things that make us feel good and empower us, and who better than to uplift us than Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Sally and the rest of the Peanuts?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical<\/em> premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday, August 15.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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