Pippin

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 1:55pm

Am I the only one who loves this show and thinks it is long overdue for a revival??

[Duane Reade]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:12pm

I, too, love the show, my dear friend. It's the Fosse issue. Do you do it in the Fosse style, which I think looks more '70s in Pippin than any other show, or do you reinvent? Did you see the Paper Mill revival? Rob Ashford reinvented (pre-Millie) and I thought he did a great job. But the reviews were MEAN.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:13pm

I think you might be, broadwayguy! (Just kidding. I know a lot of people love this show.)

I, personally, can't stand it.

You know how you grow up loving a show, then finally get the chance to do a production of it, and you NEVER want to hear the music ever again for the rest of your life?

PIPPIN is one of those for me. I'd be happy to keep it locked in the dreadful musicals of the 1970's vault...

I'm sure it'll be revived at some point, though.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:13pm

I wish I would have seen it at PaperMill.

Restaging his choreo or reinventing is a tough and fine line to walk.



"Magic To Do" is a song that REALLY sticks in you rhead. :)

[Duane Reade]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:14pm

It's a show of good moments more than a good show. I find the video version VERY hard to watch.

[scooter38432]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:18pm

Yes, "Magic to Do" really does stick in your head.

Some may consider that a good thing because they like the song.

Some (like yours truly) thinks it's unbearable when a song you dislike gets stuck in your head ... and won't go away (think "Copacabana").

Now, if I find myself singing "Magic to Do" ... someone's gotta pay! : )

(Her name was Lola....)

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:19pm

The video doesn't capture it very well at all.

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:21pm

really? I liked the video, maybe I'm partial to Chita, and Ben Vereen, or the simple fact I haven't seen it live, lol.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:22pm

The video is DECENT. Chita and Ben are there usual selves, but it doesn't do justice to what you see on stage.

[bongoboy]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 2:23pm

I love the show. I grew up with the cast recording. I HATED the Paper Mill production and the video. I hope it becomes a movie and I would welcome any attempt to revive it.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 10:14pm

I would like to see a production where the Leading Player is broken up among cast members. This was the original intent before Ben Vereen's audition.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 10:22pm

The only saving grace in the video, for me, is Vereen and Rivera.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 10:28pm

I think a lot of people like the music from 'Pippin' better than the show. Some of the songs are nice but I don't think the whole thing makes a particularly great piece of theater.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 10:28pm

I love the music from the show.

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 7/8/03 at 10:47pm

I haven't seen the video. I'll have to watch it.

[SONDHEIM8]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 2:49am

The night I saw PIPPIN Ben Vereen was out
The show worked very well without him.
And yes MAGIC TO DO is hard to erase from your mind.







LINK: Tracy, you look beautiful behind bars!

TRACY: It must be the low-watt institutional lighting!

[Cadriel]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 4:10pm

I have to disagree with John Popa; I've only seen a college production of Pippin, but I think that the show makes for great theatre. Pippin is really a great embrace of the concept musical, and your enjoyment of the piece will be contingent on whether or not you care for that form. I found that it was all worth it in that brilliantly written finale. Pippin really belongs to the stage, and I like it there. It'd be cool to see a really daring director tackle it.

-Wayne

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 4:15pm

I enjoy concept musicals. I didn't enjoy 'Pippin.' It seemed to be two different musicals trying to co-exist and I found that distracting. And I think the score, while showing some great songs, tends to get more irrelevant and forgettable as the show wanders toward its eventual ending. It takes its best shots early.

[Cadriel]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 4:47pm

Could you clarify the "two different musicals" remark? I don't remember getting that impression when I saw Pippin. And the entire show kept me involved, so I guess I have to just disagree with you on a gut level with regard to the score toward the end.

-Wayne

[TEACHEROFTHEATER]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 7:18pm

i loved Pippin, i saw original production with Vereen, Rubinstein, etc.........

I have read that Miramax is developing a film version of Pippin as it is one of Harvey Weinstein's favorite shows. I believe that was mentioned on playbill.com a while back:)

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 9:54pm

I saw the original production with John Rubinstein and Ben Vereen and I vaguely remember Jill Clayburgh being in it?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/9/03 at 10:26pm

I don't mean to attempt to trump anyone's opinion of the video with name dropping, BUT (lol) after speaking/studying with Stuart Ostrow and Leslie Denniston (Catherine in the video), it is common thought that the video is not a good representation of the original Broadway production of Pippin. The video is terribly cut. It is, however, a lovely memento of most of the show, choreography, and is certainly a bit of a "dream cast" with Chita's playing Fastrada in addition to Ben Vereen. I think the musical is sublime. Magic to do, indeed. But, I do not wish to discourage the criticisms mentioned regarding the musical as there is some truth to 2 concepts colliding in this musical. Stephen Schwartz did not write a "bawdy" musical when he wrote Pippin. It was Fosse who "imposed" a "bawdier" take on the story. (I think to great success). But this may explain one's seeing "2 concepts". Allegedly, Schwartz has wanted an animated film of Pippin created for children--straying from Fosse's concept.

I think it is also of interest that Ostrow was offered the chance to revive Pippin in the 90s. A great man of principles, he scoffed at the multi-million dollar budget, knowing that the original had cost less than a million in its time. He wished to be no part of mere commercialism to cash in on another "Fosse revival". I would imagine, knowing that a revival couldn't possibly compare to the original.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 12:49am

I think the concept aspects don't seem to mesh with a lot of the straight-forward musical theater numbers that Schwartz had written. It's as if Pippin's story is just a musical and then there's all this arch stuff with The Leading Player. I don't think the creators settled on their angle and instead tried to have both this concept show that knew it was in a musical while, at the same time, having a standard musical. For me, I thought the scenes were inconsitent to one another and the show didn't come together as I'd have hoped. It felt like pieces looking for a whole.

[alterego]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 3:31am

Was the Paper Mill production the one where the whole show is set in a back alley peopled by bums and Berthe comes on in a motorised wheelchair? I recall reading a review sometime ago in Variety and that was what was described, that would not be a production (of Pippin) I'd want to see of this show.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/10/03 at 6:41pm

Pippin was the first Broadway musical to get a television commercial. They showed a two minute clip and then said, "If you want to see the other 118 minutes, you must come to the Imperial Theater"