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Pippin
NORTHERN LIGHTS The Chance takes on the ambitious staging of relatively unknown musical "Pippin," as the newest of their wonderful musical series. The lyrics are from Stephen Schwartz, who gave us the Disney animated features "Pocahontas" and "The Prince of Egypt". The storyline loosely chronicles the life and times of Prince Pippin in the early Middle Ages, the son of emperor Charlemagne who spawned the Carolingian kings dynasty named after him and helped shape the emergence of France as a national entity after the long hiatus of the Dark Ages brought about by the Fall of the Roman empire. Against this highly fictionalized historical backdrop of intrigue, Roger Hirson's book takes us on a philosophical romp which defies categorization as it breezily winks at and weaves through assorted modern times and problems. Director Martie Ramm with her stellar list of credits reinterprets this Vietnam era piece, the contemporary of such classics as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar currently enjoying similar genre revivals. The flower-power hippy character of Pippin strives to find his place under the long shadow of his mighty father who rules with an iron fist over precariously united warring fiefdoms, forging alliances to fight the heathen Visigoths, gleefully decimating and defiling hordes of infidels in the name of the Christian God and Pope. Freshly graduated from the genteel civilizing influences of Padua university, Pippin both questions and rebels against his Father's intransigence and yet attempts to win his approval by fighting at his side. Charlemagne's great renown stands in sharp contrast with his diminutive physique, his purported bedroom prowess notwithstanding. At his side is his conniving vixen wife Fastrada, Pippin's stepmother, who has plans of her own for her son Louis sired by Charles, a brawny, brainless warrior and Pippin's arch rival. The script moves through a series of highly stylized graphic tableaux corresponding to the various phases of Pippin's quest to give meaning to his life. The fast paced action bursts with life from one musical number to the next, with Marie Madera's Fosse inspired choreography imbued with sensuality intelligently supported by the vibrant rainbow of electric colors in Commedia dell'Arte eclecticism unified by a shimmering metallic dominant. The set design is stripped to a minimal abstraction highlighted by bands of primary colors echoed by the lighting composition. Rick Friend brings his distinctive stamp to the musical arrangements. Rovin Jay as the leading player enthuses the show with his contagious energy. He emcees the actors and the audience and manipulates his hapless pawns as helpless puppets under his Godlike control - or does he? - as Pippin and his lady Catherine the merry widow dare to stand up to him. Jon Sparks is a gentle Pippin, a teddy bear of a man who fumbles against forces beyond his control before finding solace in the simplest joys of mundane family life. Erika Ceporius is the headstrong chatelaine who rescues him at his darkest hour. Timothy Quirus gives us an affable vainglorious Louis (Lewis on the bill) with Marie Madera as his wily, beguiling mother. Gerard Reyes brings self-deprecating humor to his role as the bumbling Charles, himself at the mercy of circumstances beyond him in spite of his power. Sherry Domerego as Pippin's grandmother has a great cameo number with audience sing-along. A highlight of the piece is Pippin musing with The Head, played by Kevin Williams, the severed remnant of a slaughtered Goth abandoned on a carnage strewn battlefield, where the two find commonality in their humanity across the dividing abyss of the superficial ideological differences which pitted them against each other. The finale is as anticlimactic as life itself, a stark
and sober silhouetting of three lone figures overshadowed by life's gloomy
cast, reducing miracles and magic to the empty snares of mirages. Pippin's
journey is that of every one of us, ordinary as well as extraordinary
by our very individuality, pondering our position and role on the planet
and dissatisfied by the shallow answers of civilization. The Chance packages
the entire production into a wonderful local end of Summer experience
not to be missed.
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OC WEEKLY With its veiled references to Vietnam, civil unrest, Nixon, political assassinations and spiritual unease, Steven Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson’s 1972 musical Pippin is very much a product of its disillusioned, about-to-peak-and-burn decade. The title character is the offspring of Charlemagne (who became king of the Franks in 771 A.D.), but even he seems contemporary. He’s a hippie fresh out of school, dissatisfied with his wealthy existence, a man on a quest for a better experience because "there has to be something more." In short, it’s time for a road trip, and Pippin’s takes him into battle, revolution and assassination. A stint as a king with socialist leanings earns him the disquieting realization that he can’t make everybody happy. Abandoning the kingdom, he goes agrarian but hates working with his hands. He meets a lonely widow and considers settling down, but he can’t decide if he should simply accept his dissatisfaction and stay with her or continue his elusive search for something better. The strength of the musical—and of this Chance Theatre production—is that even when he thinks he’s found an answer, Pippin’s decisions always come back to bite him—and, by implication, the audience—on the ass. ... More important, Ramm understands Schwartz and Hirson’s
through line and never shies from its dark conclusion. Because she doesn’t
hold her audience’s hand by lightening things up, she delivers the
final message in all its bleak glory. At play’s end, when Pippin
chooses a life with a family that makes him "feel trapped,"
standing in the shadows, stranded and stripped, it’s hard not to
see yourself standing there with him.
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AOL DIGITAL CITY Expanding its missive of bringing unusual theatrical
offerings to Orange County, the theater is putting on the most elaborate,
expensive and commercially appealing piece in its existence. Pippin, from
composer Stephen Schwartz, who went on to do music for Pocahontas and
The Prince of Egypt, tells the story of Prince Pippin's search for true
happiness. The son of Charlemagne, he sees the need to eliminate his father,
but complications including a pretty woman he falls for, get in the way.
Featuring acclaimed songs like "Spread a Little Sunshine" and
"There He Was," this production is the first at the Chance to
feature an Equity actor (Rovin Jay Dickinson) in the lead. They've also
lined up two-time Dramalogue award-winning director Martie Ramm to helm
the show, with rising local actress Erike Ceporius as the female lead.
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