The creative team behind Peanuts: A Summer Musical, including singer-songwriter Ben Folds, shares the inspirations and themes behind the Apple TV+ special.
The Peanuts franchise's fruitful streaming home on Apple TV+ continues into previously undiscovered country with the latest special, Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical. As the title suggests, the special is a bonafide musical as the Peanuts gang visits their beloved summer camp, with fan-favorite musician and songwriter Ben Folds serving as the music director and contributing three songs to the special. And as with all memorable Peanuts, this particular tale came from personal places from its core creative team as they developed both the narrative and music for the gang's time at camp.
The creative team includes director Erik C. Wiese and producer and screenwriter Craig Schulz, son of the Peanuts comic strip creator Charles M. Schulz, who wrote the script with his son Bryan Schulz and frequent collaborator Cornelius Uliano. This particular special puts the spotlight on Charlie Brown's younger sister Sally, who initially doesn't gel as well with life in camp as her older brother before finding her own enjoyable experience within the environment. In an interview with Den of Geek, Craig Schulz, Erik C. Wiese, and Ben Folds shared how this special came together.
"Sally reflects my experience at camp, which was disastrous. I hated camp and had a bad time. Charlie Brown represents my son's experience at camp. He loves camp and made lifetime friends," Schulz shares. "Each of those characters are really metaphors for other things in life, with Sally representing the new generation and Charlie Brown representing the old generation."
One of the standout sequences from the special is set to a song Folds wrote, titled "When We Were Light," with the gang reflecting on their history with the camp. Powered by Folds' wistful melody, the song features Schulz's original character designs used in the early days of the comic strip before gradually evolving to the gang's contemporary appearances. Schulz credits his son Bryan for coming up with the idea of incorporating the original character designs, happy to honor his father's artistic legacy.