Northwestern grad starring in Chicago's 'Charlie Brown Christmas'

Alex Benjamin has always been a fan of Charles M. Schulz's comic strip characters and recalls that watching the animated Peanuts television specials — particularly the holiday ones — was a tradition when he was growing up in Bourbonnais.

Now, 50 years after the first broadcast of the 1965 animated “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the 22-year-old Evanston resident and recent Northwestern University grad is starring as Schroeder in Emerald City Theatre's production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in Chicago. The show runs through Sunday, Jan. 3, at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place.

“It's great to relive the memories now onstage,” Benjamin said. “There is something universal about Peanuts that appeals to children and adults. There is a sarcastic edge ... a sense of humor.”

Like the Beethoven-loving pianist Schroeder of Schulz's comic strips, films and TV specials, Benjamin is also a pianist, and he plays onstage throughout the production. The audience will recognize familiar Vince Guaraldi-composed Peanuts tunes such as “Linus and Lucy,” Benjamin said.

“I don't think I am quite as much of a classical music fan as Schroeder is, though. I took classical (piano) lessons when I was younger, but I have become more of a musical theater player,” he said.

Finding a way to play the often-silent Schroeder on stage has been a challenge for Benjamin.

“Schroeder is so stoic, and he does not express much emotion,” Benjamin said. “So he definitely has been a challenge to bring to the stage. When you are onstage, you cannot always just be straight-faced, playing the piano and looking down. It's been fun trying to find where Schroeder ‘ticks' and find where he does express emotion.”

Along with starring in “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Benjamin is currently teaching classes with theater companies in both Chicago and the suburbs. His next project will be to music direct Emerald City's “Skippyjon Jones in the Cirque de Ole,” a production set to open in February.

But for now, Benjamin finds himself happily immersed in the onstage world of Charlie Brown and his pals as they seek the meaning of Christmas.

“I think a lot of the show is about family and about tradition,” Benjamin said. “It's about togetherness, a common theme in most major holidays.”