Craig Schulz and Erik Wiese Talk SNOOPY PRESENTS: A SUMMER MUSICAL On AppleTV+

It’s summer, Charlie Brown! Snoopy and the Peanuts gang are making their return to the musical genre with Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical on Apple TV+, premiering Aug. 15.

The special takes place during Charlie Brown’s final year of summer camp — and he’s determined to make it as special as can be. Sally, a first time camper, is nervous, though. Meanwhile, Snoopy and Woodstock discover a treasure map that takes them on a wild adventure nearby. One morning, the gang learns their beloved camp is shutting down because of low attendance, which makes Charlie Brown feel hopeless. With Snoopy and Woodstock’s new treasurers in hand, the gang host their own concert to save the camp.

Theatrely sat down with co-writer and executive producer Craig Schulz, the son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, and director Erik Wiese to discuss the new special, diving into the musical genre, and what musicals they think Joe Cool himself might be a fan of.

This is the first Peanuts musical in quite some time, why do this now? Why bring back the musical universe into the Peanut's universe? 

Schulz: I thought it was over time. It was my idea to pitch the idea of a musical to Apple TV+ and my co-writers Brian and Neil. But I think it enhanced the ability for us to tell the message we wanted to tell in the story about saving things. And when things are gone, you can't get them back. In the world today, you're losing national parks. I related to school where my school growing up, you had auto shop and wood shop and music classes, and all those things are gone right now.It was kind of a vehicle to really tell the message we wanted to tell. 

‍I want to talk a little about the character of Snoopy. He's huge with my age group. I'm wondering why you guys think he resonates so much with young people? 

Wiese: I think we want wholesomeness right now and he's cute. I mean that is the thing is he's really cute, he's lovable, but also he does these things that are the fantasy of all of us and he goes off on adventures. He's fearless, and I think that that's what we want. Also meme culture. The internet loves dogs and they love Snoopy, and I just see so many Snoopy memes that I think you know that has been sort of the entry point I think for Gen Z. They go "oh I gotta watch and and and read these comic strips" and they see that it's you know bigger than just being a cartoon. There's a lot of you know big thoughts and heavy thoughts that come along, even with Snoopy. And I think that that's why people have fallen in love with him. That's what got me to him. I think for your generation, I just go in through Instagram and TikTok, and the amount of Snoopy presence and memes is everywhere and it's great. I'm so happy that there's a younger generation that is getting into it. 

Trust me, I'm never complaining when I get another Snoopy post. I'm curious if you guys could each share what your favorite aspect of working on this project has been. 

Schulz: I think for me, the creative process. I think blending the idea of writing a story, which we had already done seven of those for Apple TV+ before, and now blending storytelling with music and with the artist of doing that and with Eric and the animation team. It's the first time we ever got to do that much blending of different talents. That's what made this one really special and really unique to work on, and hopefully we'll do more. 

Wiese: To go off of what Craig said, it's like a rock band. It just works. That's a rare thing. Not only that, but the project is really good. You want to make something really cool. I'd never done a musical before. Craig and Brian and Neil have never done musicals before, and we were up for the challenge. It was like, "wow, let's do this." Getting the chance to work with Ben Folds was really great, and getting to do something new with Ben Folds was just such a blast. Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration. 

‍Tell me more about what it's been like to get into the musical genre. 

Schulz: It's really exciting. I mean, number one, I was a huge musical fan. My son, not so much, but I kind of talked him into it, but I've been watching, you know, non-stop music. I'm in my home theater right now, and we watched a musical last night called Prom, which goes way back, way back, but that was a great musical. I just enjoy musicals so much. And as I watch a musical, I envision our characters, Charlie Brown, Linus, and so forth, within each of those musicals and how we could present that. And that's where the ideas come from. It's easy to have the idea, but then you actually make it happen, and that's why you need Eric and the team and so forth. I'm an idea guy and my son and Neil are "the make it happen guys." 

Wiese: I also am huge fan of musicals. Sound of Music really stands out for me, but also Rocky Horror Picture Show. And even though some people don't say Blues Brothers is a musical, to me it is. And I really went to all those places of like, “how did they solve some stuff?” The editing in Sound of Music was so great. The way that they stage these characters. Also with Sound of Music, each song creates a shift in the story. By the end of the song, a story point has happened that moves the story forward. We're all very conscious of that. So that conversation with Ben Folds. You know, we were very aware of that. And I think that really was a special thing for our musical. 

But what do you think Snoopy's favorite musical would be? 

Schulz: It would have to do with a bunch of bunny wunnys, is there a bunny wunny musical coming out this season? He would like that. 

Wiese: I like to believe it's Blues Brothers. It's silly and fun and it's a crazy adventure. It's got every weird cartoony thing in there, but also some of those songs are grounded. That's my personal opinion. That's what I think Snoopy would do. 

What are you most excited for audiences to see when this special premieres in a couple days? 

Schulz: I'm super excited because I think the people that have seen it, I showed it last night to a friend of mine, and she just said that everyone needs to see this. I mean, she absolutely loved it. So the feedback we've been getting from this thing is way over the top from even the other specials that we got reviews from. I'm just excited to see what the world is going to think of it. 

Wiese: I hope that people are inspired to protect those things that are so important. One of the themes, too, is Charlie Brown gets everybody and bands together, and that we can do change. We can make change even though things might be hard, through the music and through some really heartfelt scenes, which Charlie Brown always delivers. I hope that that's what they take away from it because these are little kids, but they're very big and when we get together we can be bigger. 

Schulz: And I do believe this is the first time Apple TV+ is premiering this in over 100 countries all at once on the same day. So again, that's exciting. It's gonna be exciting to see what the international take on this musical is and see if it is universal, which we believe it is.