Pippin

Pippin

Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036

This show was one of two shows that I saw on Saturday, May 4, 2013 and which motivated me to start this blog. The joy of seeing both Pippin and Matilda in one day did a serious job of boasting my levels of Showqueenosterone into the stratosphere. It reconnected me with a sleeping (but not non-existent) love of swelling orchestrations, squinting lights, too much make up, and human joy. They metaphorically slapped me upside the head with the better side of people-kind.

It might not be fair to expect myself to be objective about a revival of Pippin.  It was one of the first "Broadway" shows that I saw in my youth (albeit a road company of the Broadway production with Michael Rupert at the Morris Mechanic Theatre in Baltimore) and the Fosse pheromones and my adolescent quest for self-discovery was so overwhelming in 1978 that I became infatuated with the show and the music. It didn't matter to me at this wasn't Rubinstein, Vereen, Ryan, Clayburgh, et. al:  I had seen a REAL production of Pippin with Fosse choreography and there was nothing amateur about it. Other than a nice regional tour of the show starring Mickey Dolenz as Charlemagne that passed through Philadelphia in 1997, I've only had that memory to keep me warm.

The book of Pippin is often represented by critics as slight but, as a lost-little-gay boy, the theme of living your life "on show" versus simply "living your life" was huge and formative in my eyes and still seems that way today. This level of human questing is Jungian at its core and the pretext of using the son of Charlemagne to act out the drama is a brilliant ruse.  How WOULD the son of the then greatest man on the planet struggle to define his own role in the world and not have to feel a need to match or to eclipse his dad?

This framework is nothing more than a structure on which to hang Pippin's efforts to balance the importance of being extraordinary with the less exciting but more rewarding importance of being happy and the show within a show structure makes it clear: this is a parable and not a literal tale.  In this context, the show's apparent narrative weaknesses fall away because it is clear that this play is not about Pippin, the son of Charlemagne, but is about the act of men (in particular) maturing and putting away their childish notions.  Pippin's conundrums are situational metaphors and constitute the real story here.  The yearning that is evident in songs like "Corner of the Sky" and "Morning Glow" may stylistically evoke another musical era (I'm not convinced that they do) but the impact is still potent.

The conceit of telling this story about a young man living his life as if it needed to be the greatest show on earth literally within the environment of the "Greatest Show On Earth" is a brilliant precept and adding Fosse's razzle-dazzle choreography ensures that the theme of "extraordinary" versus "ordinary" is thoroughly realized.  The updated ending in this production emphasizes that this show is NOT about Pippin any more than it is about Theo as he begins to follow his call to fame and glory in the final seconds of the show. 

Links to Explore:

• Pippin montage
• The cast on Letterman ("The Manson Trio" and "Simple Joys")
• Listen to the cast record at EW
  

Goosebump moments:

• "Magic to Do."  The silhouette of Patina Miller calling the show to attention behind the curtain before literally ripping off the cover.  If the opening number of a show is meant to set the tone:  well done!  All that AND the ghost of the floating hands to overcome.

• "Corner of the Sky."  Adorable boy and with a really sweet voice singing longingly.   Sigh.

• Andrea Martin:  "Pull up a ball..." (and I'll knock your socks off!)

• Orion Griffith:  Yummy (to name but one of the tasties on the stage.)

• Chet Walker:  Damn!  He had a beard at the stage door so I missed getting his signature but his Fosse legacy is as important to this production as Anne Reinking's was to Chicago and Fosse(but presumably without the sleepovers prep.)  It should be Tony time for his insemination of the illegitimate love child of Bob Fosse and P.T. Barnum.

• Charlotte d'Ambrose:  Whispering sweet little nothings to the girl next to me in the front row during the finale to coherce her to come into the limelight.

• Rachel Bay Jones:  Slight whiff of Carol Kane lisp.  Loved it.

• PS:  Seats in the front row.  Rotten upstage views but who cares.  Awe. Some.

*Thankfully, I got to see an excellent Patina Miller in the production since she was  understudied by Stephanie Pope on the evening performance just the night before, but also stepped out of the role at the following performance after giving it the ol' college try on the first several numbers.  I stalked the cast at both Saturday performances to get a window card signed and got signatures all of the principals except for Patina.