Interview: Amber Knicole of PIPPIN at Short North Stage

  

Amber Knicole will have to keep her feet on the ground as she returns to the Leading Player role in the Short North Stage’s production of PIPPIN. The show runs Aug. 7-30 at the Garden Theatre (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus).

Knicole, the lead singer of Columbus’ own neo-funk group MojoFlo, showcased her aerial skills on the lyra in the SNS’s 2019 production of the Stephen Schwartz musical.

“Unfortunately, I don’t get to do that this time,” she said with mock disappointment. “The theater itself has been undergoing extensive renovations, so right now, it's best I stay on the floor with everyone else.

“However, there are some surprises we get to work with for this show that add to the magic.”

“Add to the magic” is not just an expression; it’s a promise. The production won't feature the aerial acrobatics audiences saw in 2019, but director Edward Carignan replaces them with 14 stage illusions as the company reimagines PIPPIN as a traveling magic revue.

“Our concept is heavily reliant on magic illusions to tell the story,” Carignan said. “I, as a kid, was fascinated by magic, especially Doug Henning's magic from the 1970s. And a lot of this show is built around the storytelling the way Henning (who was a magic consultant on PIPPIN in its 1975 Broadway debut) did with his illusions.”

To make the magic happen, the Short North Stage searched across the United States and Canada for magicians selling their illusions. Some came from illusionists who were selling off parts of their stage shows or from collectors of Henning’s original sets and props. The theater also collaborated with Scenic Solutions in Dayton to build their sets.

Carignan wanted to open the Short North Stage’s 15th season with an ambitious production, so naturally he returned to PIPPIN.

“It’s not super common (to repeat shows) because we like to produce as much new stuff as we can, but every season, we have a show that’s in what I call ‘the legacy spot,’” he said. “It has a feeling of mystique. There is something about it that brings out this yearning in you to also be on the stage or be a part of that group. It's no secret that this is my absolute favorite show of all time.”

As a teenager, Carignan remembers discovering a DVD of the show in his local library. The production “blew my mind,” the director said.

“I started to process what my taste in theater was,” he said. “When I found PIPPIN, INTO THE WOODS, and some of the (Stephen) Sondheim musicals, I started to think, 'Oh, this is different.'

“It's an opportunity for us to up our game with more resources. It’s going to be so different because (SNS) is in a different spot than it was (in 2019).”

Still, seven members of its 2019 cast return for this production, including Knicole and Corbin Payne (reprising his role as Pippin). However, Carignan promises something completely different from 2019 when he set the musical as if it were taking place in an abandoned circus tent.

“We had a lot of Cirque (du Soleil) elements in the show,” Knicole said. “I got to incorporate my lyra act, hula hoops, and some of the other stuff I enjoy doing with MojoFlo. One of the interns was on silks. It was fun being introduced to all these new aspects while being able to incorporate things I was already doing with MojoFlo.”

Knicole said she understands her character much more than when she was first handed the script seven years ago. After reading through the script over and over again, she asked Carignan, “Is the leading player a villain or something else?”

“He said, ‘It’s whatever you think it is,’” she laughed.

The Leading Player serves as Pippin’s puppet master as he tries to find fulfillment through the battlefield, sexual dalliances and political power. The role requires Knicole to be morally ambiguous. The character doesn’t see actions as good or bad, but whether those activities will be entertaining for the audience.

“PIPPIN takes you on this journey where he goes from having all of these ideas about the way things should be and the way things are,” she said. “He goes out to make it the way he thinks it should be and then he sees how things turn out.

“I enjoy getting to decide who the Leading Player is for me and what this character's motivations are. It’s fun to play someone the opposite of who I'd like to show up as in life.”

While she is mainly known as a singer, Knicole was interested in acting when she first took the stage as Asaka in ONCE ON THIS ISLAND as a freshman in high school.

“I was forever changed as a person and as a performer (by ONCE ON THIS ISLAND),” she said.

She spent the summer between her junior and senior year of college performing six or seven shows a day, six days a week, in MADAME RUBY’S SALOON at the Cedar Point amusement park.

“I've always known I wanted to be a performer, but you either love (performing) or hate it by the time the summer’s over there,” she said. “I keep (Gretchen Wilson’s country classic) ‘Here For The Party’ as my back pocket karaoke song. No one expects it to come out of me.”

Since joining Short North Stage, Knicole has become one of the company's most recognizable performers, earning a Theatre Round Table award for DREAMGIRLS while appearing in productions like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, THE WIZ and SPAMALOT. “I’ve been blessed to be able to return to the Short North Stage,” she said. “Musicals are a completely different vehicle to tell a story.

“I love being able to flex those (acting) muscles and tell a story every night. It lets different parts of my brain be active.”

Throughout her career, Knicole said there are other parts of her brain that need to be quieted. Perhaps that's why she enjoys playing the Leading Player—and why audiences still relate to PIPPIN more than 50 years after its debut.

Knicole describes her role as “an amalgamation of the voices that tell me I can't do it at the end of the day.”

 “I might go so far as to say my personal Leading Player is anxiety because it's still keeping you safe, but it's hindering you from finding fulfillment and joy,” she said. “The reason why this story is so relevant even now is we're all constantly going on that journey. As long as people are discovering themselves and going through growing up, there'll always be a place for a story like PIPPIN.”

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