DHT presents live-action ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’

Christmas is about more than getting “choke presents” and going to lots of parties, but when the “holiday season” starts around Halloween the deeper meaning can get lost in the hubbub.

Charlie Brown, the “lovable loser” protagonist of Charles Schulz’s long-running comic strip “Peanuts,” confronted that conundrum in “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” an animated television special that has entertained generations of children with its gentle, perceptive humor every year since it was first broadcast in 1965.

Ike Webster looks forward to sharing that timeless family-friendly message when the stage version of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” opens Friday at Diamond Head Theatre.

“There’s such a nostalgia that the show invokes just in and of itself,” Webster, the director of the DHT show, said.

The way Webster describes it, Charlie Brown “doesn’t get it,” adding, “He feels uneasy about the whole thing. Everything is commercial; everything is materialistic and commercialized.”

In the end, however, the show’s hero “reconnects with the simple things,” Webster said. “The simple act of finding the tree that needs him connects him with another person.”

Hawaii stage veteran Mathias Maas, seen this summer as Scuttle the Seagull in DHT’s staging of “Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid,’” stars in the title role. Ixchel Samaniego is Lucy, Moku Durant is Linus and classically trained ballerina Celia Chun is Snoopy.

Webster praises the work of his “awesome ensemble cast” of 20 in bringing the beloved story to the DHT stage.

“It’s not super-complicated, there’s no crazy special effects, but it tells us about the importance of simplicity and that Christmas should be more about friendship and connecting with other people than about material things,” he said.

AT A GLANCE

>> What it’s about: Amid the overwhelming materialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown seeks the true meaning of Christmas. Directing the school Christmas pageant isn’t the answer. Then he adopts a forlorn Christmas tree and, with Linus’ help, he finds what he’s looking for.

>> Morals and messages: Christmas is not about presents, physical objects or material things. It’s about the people around you and the connections that you make with them throughout the year.

>> Parental advisory: Nothing to worry about.

>> Kid-pleaser aspects: Set Designer Christina Sutrov’s bright and beautiful set that echoes Schultz’s original artwork, and Chun’s energetic portrayal of Snoopy.

>> Age recommendation: 6 and older, since the run time may be too long for the very young.

>> Run time: 1 hour, no intermission.