“All Systems Are Go,” a new stage show at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, presents a modern-day story using big puppets and characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip.
The gang is up to familiar high jinks: Charlie Brown seeks answers, Lucy complains about the color of spacesuits, Schroeder is on keyboard, and Snoopy and Woodstock are on a high-flying adventure.
Their antics are interspersed with Artemis facts and an on-screen appearance by Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, NASA’s first female launch director.
“We didn’t want to do a typical on-screen show,” said Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “So incorporating the augmented reality in the beginning and then projection mapping … I just thought it was an intriguing way to try to get that excitement and inspire that next generation.”
Here are elements to watch for in the 20-minute “All Systems Are Go.”
Fun with facts
Education is at work in the story, if presented fancifully. Blackwell-Thompson, for instance, recruits Snoopy and Woodstock to work on the Artemis project. But that leads Charlie Brown to the space center, where Marcy is working “for extra credit.”
Marcy doles out facts regarding the power of the Orion spacecraft, how long it’s been since NASA went to the moon, future space travel, the significance of Launch Pad 39B and the goals of Artemis. Later, “Peanuts” character Franklin explains the importance of moon rocks and asteroids.
“We tried to balance the fun, the humor and with the technology but also to make sure that somebody is walking away with something,” Protze said.
“Reciting facts soothes me,” Marcy tells Charlie Brown.
The show maintains the flavor of Charles Schulz’s characters without leaning into dialogue heard in vintage “Peanuts” productions such as “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The new show’s concept, story and music were created by Monlove, a Montreal-based production company.
Puppet mastery
“All Systems Are Go” uses wide video backdrops as well as puppeteers cloaked in dark ensembles, who operate the “Peanuts” puppets, which top out at about 4 feet tall (Woodstock is a handheld, sized appropriately, model).
The cast makes a lot of a little. Snoopy’s onstage doghouse turns into Lucy’s 5-cent psychiatric booth before the audience’s eyes. Two stage pieces that represent the moon later double as a wall for Charlie Brown and Snoopy to sit on and gaze into the cosmos.
There are musical moments, too. Sally sings a solo while other characters go for a spacewalk, and Schroder’s classical piano solo turns into a trippy intergalactic scene.
Like many theme park shows, “All Systems” should introduce young people to theater and public performances. And today’s kids probably haven’t watched too many spacewalks either.
Back to augmented reality
Another modern twist involves QR codes found on the back of the theater’s seats. (Pro tip: Connect before the house lights come down.)
As a preshow offering, there are space-related images — transports, astronauts, heavenly bodies and the like — projected on the walls.
Enter augmented reality.
“You take your phone, and then there are objects on the screen and on the app,” Protze said. “Then you get a golden star that will light those objects up.”
The space for space
The new show is staged in the attraction’s Universe theater. It’s a multi-use space and has been the home to astronaut encounters and other gatherings. That will continue.
In other words, nothing was subtracted from the visitor center to make room for this addition.
The space seats about 300 people, but beware of those front rows. The big screens go from across the stage and up the sides, and folks in the back have a better shot at seeing all the action, especially early in the show, when there’s a focus on the history of NASA and Snoopy.
“All Systems Are Go” is included with regular admission. For more information, go to kennedyspacecenter.com.
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