After over three decades without a Peanuts musical, the drought is coming to an end. Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical puts a song back in the gang’s hearts. But what does a famous blockhead have to say—or rather, have to sing about—in 2025?

Thankfully, there has been no shortage of Peanuts projects in recent years, and A Summer Musical is merely the latest in a series of Snoopy Presents specials on Apple TV+. We saw Lucy’s vulnerable side as she tried her hand at teaching in Snoopy Presents: Lucy’s School (2022). We applauded the beauty of introverts in Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie (2023). We rode in a Soap Box Derby and saved a seat for Franklin in Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin (2024). The list goes on. We’ve been well fed by Snoopy’s splendors, among other film and television projects in the Peanuts multiverse. But the musical-shaped hole in our hearts is due to be filled.

Thanks to folks like Craig Schulz and Erik Wiese, the round-faced, zig-zagged shirt icon Charlie Brown still has a wobbly grin on his face and a beagle at his side. Son of the original Peanuts comic strip creator Charles M. Schulz, Craig is keeping his father’s legacy alive as executive producer and writer for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical. It’s his fifteenth Peanuts project. Meanwhile, Wiese, the special’s director, is making his first foray into the Peanuts world. Let it be known, though, that he is no industry rookie, as you’ve likely had a laugh from his work on SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-2007), The Mighty B! (2008-2011), or Sonic Prime (2022-2024), to name a few.

Having spent my childhood Halloweens sorting candy on the living room floor as my family and I watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) (one of several Peanuts DVDs we wore out), it’s heartwarming to see the way the comic perseveres today. It’s no small feat, taking on a fictional world that spans decades. In my interview with Schulz and Wiese, Schulz described the simultaneous respect and fear he and other creatives experience while working with the beloved Peanuts crew.

“The line we always hear,” he told me, “[directors] tell their friends, ‘Oh, I’m working on a Peanuts special.’ And the line they always say back is, ‘Don’t screw it up.’” Wiese concurred that sweat beads populated his experience on A Summer Musical.

So, what’s so sweet about this summer musical treat? In a Freaky Friday–esque attitude swap, Charlie Brown (Etienne Kellici) devotes his energy to waxing poetic about the magic of summer camp, while his little sister Sally (Hattie Kragten) laments being torn from air conditioning and television. Chuck’s final year and Sally’s first year at Cloverhill Ranch are disrupted by the news that the “Womp Womp” adults intend to close the camp due to low attendance in recent years. Whatever shall the Peanuts gang do?

Clichés are cliché for a reason—that’s right, one last massive concert might just save the camp. Move over, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Snoopy on the trumpet, Schroeder on the keys, and a whole lot of other melodic excitement are in store.

Charlie Brown is the lead camp-saving lobbyist, reminding his senior camper peers that they aren’t doing this for themselves—they’re doing it for the younger kids behind them. “We have to protect these kinds of places,” Chuck says, “because once they’re gone—they’re gone forever.” A song with a chorus of “We’re gonna leave it better than we found it” makes this Apple TV+ special become larger than life. It’s a lesson in caring for the environment and making the world a place that protects its children.

Amidst a widespread cultural discussion on the future implications of geopolitical conflict and technological advancement (namely AI), it was euphoric to see kids immersed in the outdoors, grinning ear to ear. Don’t say the highbrow analogy is a stretch for a kids’ cartoon; need I remind you, Lucy (Isabella Leo) is an infamous psychiatrist who decides she’ll consult her attorney to sue for damages and emotional distress upon hearing the camp is closing.

One verse of this song in particular struck me. The kids remind us that they are still fans of progress, listing off the enjoyment of trains, landline phones, and shopping malls as evidence (in admirable old-school Peanuts fashion). Chuck concludes this aside by saying, “But, what’s it all mean without the nature it was built on?” I felt like John Smith hearing Pocahontas call out his cruel colonization, singing, “You think you own whatever land you land on, the Earth is just a dead thing you can claim. But I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name.” You’re a good climate activist, Charlie Brown.

The theme of caring for the younger campers is driven home with drawings we have never before seen in a Peanuts special: Chuck and his peers as younger kids. My jaw dropped at the appearance of a Peewee Charlie Brown climbing a tree and growing older through the years. “You know, that had never, ever been done in any Peanuts animation anywhere to show those characters from those early days,” Schulz shared in our interview. He said it came about partially due to the outpouring of love for the kindergartener characters introduced in Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie.

“And I thought, think how great it’s gonna be if we bring these 1950s characters in?” Schulz was fearful about taking on the new concept. Thankfully, his son Bryan Schulz, fellow writer and executive producer, convinced him it was an important storytelling point. “And, even though I was scared to death, that’s become my favorite scene in the whole film,” Craig reflected.

“Look Up, Charlie Brown” wound up being Wiese’s favorite sequence. When it seems like all is lost, Charlie sings a melancholy refrain under blue lighting and rainclouds with his eyes turned downward. Spoiler alert: unbeknownst to him, sunlight starts to peak through the sky. Wiese explained that Ben Folds’s music informed the scene, and the power of persistence makes it something that sticks with the audience. Wiese shared, “[Charlie Brown]’s internal, we got to make external—his reflection in the hat, and how he looks into the darkness—and we played in darkness.” The emotion in the animation and the music is tangible.

Contrastingly, Snoopy proves consistent in his epic B-plot adventure trope, finding a treasure map and following it with fantasies of gold grandeur. Woodstock and his crew of bird assistants accompany Snoopy when his solo exploration proves naive and dangerous. You’ll have to watch the special to find out whether X marks the spot for all of their wildest dreams coming true.

If you’re looking to have your heartstrings pulled, your laughter invoked, or your eyes and ears relaxed through comforting pastel scenery and jazzy piano synths, Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical will indeed leave you better than it found you.

Review Courtesy of Risa Bolash

Feature Image: Snoopy, Woodstock and Charlie Brown in “Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical,” premiering August 15, 2025 on Apple TV+.