Still Magic to Do - PIPPIN Heading Back to Broadway!

Michael Riedel reports in the New York Post this morning that Stephen Schwartz's PIPPIN is headed back to Broadway in a new revival that's expected to open on Broadway in the 2012-2013 season after a pre-Broadway stop at the ART in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The show will be produced by Fran and Barry Weissler, with direction by HAIR's Diane Paulus and will also feature the Montreal-based Sept Doigts company of jugglers and acrobats as the wandering troupe. Appearing in a reading this week were Gavin Creel as Pippin, Natalie Cortez as Catherine, Jayne Houdyshell as the Old Lady and Tracie Thoms as the Leading Player.  

The show was last seen on Broadway in its original production which ran for 1944 performances and 4 years. A large concert version was staged in 2004 and a production in Los Angeles at the Center Theater Group took place in 2009. 

"Pippin" is the captivating coming of age story about a young man's search for meaning in his life, as told by a lively band of troubadours in the Roman Empire. The episodic quest of Pippin, the son of the powerful Charlemagne, takes him through battlefields, orgies, revolution, and finally, love and domesticity, as he tries to find a place for his "spirit to run free," for his "corner of the sky."

Diane Paulus is the Artistic Director of American Repertory Theater where last season she directed Johnny Baseball, The Donkey Show and Best of Both Worlds. Her recent theater credits include The Public Theater's revival of HAIR on Broadway (2009 Tony Award winner for Best Revival of a Musical, nominated for 8 Tony Awards including Best Director, as well as winner of a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama League Award for Best Revival of a Musical), London's West End, and national tour. She is the creator and director of The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which ran for six years Off-Broadway. Other recent work includes Kiss Me, Kate (Glimmerglass Opera) and Lost Highway (ENO co-production with the Young Vic.) Opera credits include Il Mondo Della Luna (Gotham Chamber Opera at the Hayden Planetarium), Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Turn Of The Screw, Cosi fan tutte; and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, L'incoronazione di Poppea, and Orfeo at the Chicago Opera Theater. Upcoming work at the A.R.T. includes Death and The Powers: The Robots' Opera, a new opera by Tod Machover in collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Chicago Opera Theatre, and Prometheus Bound, a new rock musical by Steven Sater and Serj Tankian later this season.

Stephen Schwartz is best known as the composer and lyricist of such Broadway hits as Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked as well as The Baker's Wife and Children of Eden. He co-adapted Working and wrote lyrics for Rags. He is the songwriter of the films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt and Enchanted, and the Disney television movie Gepetto. Mr. Schwartz is the recipient of three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards. In 2009 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Mr. Schwartz is a producer of The Blue Flower, which is currently in rehearsals at the A.R.T., and begins performances on December 1 at the Loeb Drama Center.