1981 Pippin "Corner Of The Sky": William Katt
1981 Pippin "Corner Of The Sky": William Katt
#11981 Pippin "Corner Of The Sky": William Katt
Posted: 6/15/14 at 11:27pm
He had a decent voice...not great..not bad.
1981 Pippin
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#21981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 6:09am
I'm guessing you don't know that the whole show is available on DVD.
It's worth it just to have Ben Vereen's performance, but the original production (or this version of it) doesn't hold a candle to the current revival.
....but the world goes 'round
#21981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 10:45amI know that it's available on dvd. But there are some who might have not seen much of the 1981 production.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#31981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 12:14pm
Never liked his voice- it's really weak. But he's cute. LOL
Darreyl with an L!
#41981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 12:33pmIts sad he was relegated to doing soft core porn with Shannon Tweed in the later years of his career.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
LostinTranslation
Chorus Member Joined: 3/13/14
#51981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 3:16pm
And yet I like his version much better than Matthew James Thomas, who changes the melody around in what feels like a deliberate attempt to change the melody around. I want to hear a great version of the song and he changed it in ways that I don't care for.
William Katt was cast in a day when (and it still is the case) roles were filled by people who could act first, then their singing and dancing. Does anyone think that Rex Harrison would ever be cast today as Henry Higgins and yet his performance is memorable because he was an actor. He's an adequate singer and dancer, but a better actor.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#61981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 3:30pmUnfortunately his acting in it wasn't much better than his singing.
#71981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 4:34pmI wouldn't call Rex Harrison an adequate singer...not by any stretch of the imagination. I dare say that even Lauren Bacall sounds better than Rex Harrison.
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
#81981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 4:39pm
This production was a one off reproduction, staged in Canada specifically to filmed. Katt wasn't cast because he could (or couldn't) act--he was cast because he was a TV star at the time.
I still wish the complete cut (the tv edit as we've discussed here endlessly cut about 15 minutes, including the entire I Guess I'll Miss the Man which is pretty essential) was out on DVD, though I guess we'll have to make do with the poorer quality bootleg of it.
#91981 Pippin
Posted: 6/16/14 at 5:20pm
The two original Pippins I saw on Broadway were far, far better than William Katt:
John Rubinstein
Michael Rupert
And here is the 1975 TV commercial with Michael Rupert:
Michael Rupert as Pippin (1975 Commerical)
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