Interview: Tyler Jacobson, of PIPPIN, Coming to the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside

The national tour of PIPPIN is coming to the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside, for two shows only, on Saturday, June 3, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, June 4, 2017, at 1:00 p.m. Naysh Fox plays the title character, and Housso Semon showcases her powerful voice as the "Leading Player."

The touring production is the new version of the show that won four Tony Awards in 2013, including Best Musical Revival. Featuring choreography by Chet Walker in the style of Bob Fosse and acrobatics by Montreal circus troup "Les 7 Doigts de la Main," the show combines traditional Broadway arts with feats usually found in a circus.

Broadway World recently interviewed one of the show's acrobats, Tyler Jacobson, by email.

Broadway World: Please tell us about your background, and how you came to be in the show.

Tyler Jacobson: I started my acrobatic experience at the Great Y! Circus in Redlands right before high school. Beginning with handbalancing and contortion, I soon expanded my interests to hula hoop, aerial hoop, aerial silks, and diabolo, quickly falling in love with all of the new skills and performance qualities nurtured by the Y!'s program. After graduating high school I transferred to Walla Walla University, where I received degrees in English and Spanish while also taking two and a half years abroad to study in Argentina, Paris, and at Oxford University. During this time I kept up my training to the best of my ability but longed for experienced coaches to help guide my technique and foster my developing sense of artistry. For that reason, after graduating college I chose to pursue circus full-time instead of going straight to grad school. I moved back home to SoCal and enrolled at Kinetic Theory Circus School in LA, where I trained for a year and a half before landing my contract with PIPPIN through an online audition process.

BWW: Are you a dancer who learned acrobatics, an acrobat who learned dancing, or solely an acrobat?

TJ: I consider myself an acrobat who is cultivating an interest in dance. My primary training has been in circus arts-specifically contortion (under Stephanie Abrams), handbalancing (assorted coaches including Olga Pikhienko and Andrii Bondarenko), aerial work (Eric Newton), and object manipulation (self-trained in hula hoop and diabolo). This versatility is what got me into PIPPIN-the show demands so much of all of the acrobats that we all have to be able to multitask. In my own personal artistry however, I was fascinated by the potential to use acrobatic vocabulary to tell stories and found dance an invaluable tool to help express ideas physically rather than simply stringing skills together. Learning ballet under Francine Kessler also cemented my technical foundation and helped me to be able to keep up with all of the dancing required by PIPPIN.

BWW: What is the difference between acrobatics and gymnastics?

TJ: Circus arts (acrobatics) and gymnastics can be distinguished in a number of technical ways, but one measure I often use is the role of performance. Gymnastics is very competitive and orients itself on how to develop the most difficult skills to perform in a competition. Circus arts, on the other hand, are developed in order to be performed as part of a show in front of an audience, and that philosophy of performance shapes how we approach shared skills such as handstands. Additionally, whereas gymnastics has also been formalized as the version everyone watches at the Olympics every year, acrobatics is a much broader field incorporating a variety of disciplines on the ground and in the air.

BWW: Do you do other kinds of shows, such as circuses?

TJ: Most acrobats find work either through independent entertainment events or with professional circuses like Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize-PIPPIN itself in the circus world is considered to be a show of the "7 Doigts de la Main." My own aspiration is to continue to work with contemporary circus companies to use the vocabulary of acrobatics to both amaze and connect with audiences.

BWW: Have PIPPIN and the Cirque du Soleil shows increased the public's appreciation for the artistry of acrobats?

TJ: I definitely think PIPPIN and other acrobatic shows have increased public appreciation for the work of acrobats-after all, it's hard to appreciate something when you don't know it exists! I think PIPPIN is a particularly special case though in that it is primarily a Broadway show and therefore attracts crowds that might not have thought to attend a purely circus show. PIPPIN is remarkable in that the acrobatics have been integrated seamlessly into Stephen Schwartz' original musical-they are always used to enhance parts of the story and in so doing show that acrobatics has become so much more than just the traditional idea of a ring-curb circus.

BWW: What advice do you have for young people who might want to follow in your career footsteps?

TJ: My advice would be to make sure you are doing what you love. It's important to have a vision for what specifically you want to achieve or what you want your artistry to look like, and it's similarly important to have the drive and commitment necessary to realize those dreams, and making the right connections along the way of course never hurts, but all of these things come easily when you have that underlying passion for what you're pursuing. There will be obstacles on the way to any goal worth achieving, but when you love what you do, those challenges become easier to handle and the reward is so much more meaningful because it is yours.

* * *

Ticket prices range from $56 to $81, plus fees. Call 951-779-9800 with any questions. Tickets may be purchased online at www.riversidelive.com or at the Fox Performing Arts Center box office Tues-Friday from 12pm-6pm and Saturday from 12pm-4pm. The Fox is located at 3801 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501, about 120 miles from San Diego, 70 miles from parts of the San Fernando Valley and West LA, 57 miles from Long Beach, 55 miles from Palm Springs, and 45 miles from Anaheim.

The Fox's web site is www.riversidelive.com. The web site for the PIPPIN tour is www.pippinontour.com.

Photo Credits: Denise Trupe (Production Photos), Scott McFarlin (Portrait of Tyler Jacobson)