There are the warhorse musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin; there are the lavish productions befitting Phantoms in opera houses and French revolutionaries and revisionist fairy tales (and you know the ones I mean); there are the Disney powerhouses; and . . . there are musicals of a quaint, mind-nudging nature that don't quite fit into any category. Certainly THE FANTASTICKS comes to mind, and -- at least in the previous productions I have seen -- Stephen Schwartz's PIPPIN. Somewhere in my video collection is a filmed version of the musical with William Katt, and just a few years ago PIPPIN was the first musical staged at the shiny, new Playhouse on the Square (with Alvaro Francisco stepping in for a sidelined Jordan Nichols). I sometimes think that small-scale musicals are better suited to venues less grand than the Orpheum; I needn't have worried, however, as PIPPIN has acquired the kind of theatrical, Cirque du Soleil-style atmosphere that perfectly suits the show's opening number, 'Magic to Do.'
The circus is in town and I ain't talking about Barnum & Bailey! The national tour of the 2013 revival of PIPPIN made its way to the Bayou City and I'm hippopotamusly happy to see this tour! When creative geniuses such as Bob Fosse and Stephen Schwartz are at the helm of the original material, there's no denying that a musical theatre maven such as myself would be overzealous.
Pippin brings the audience into a traveling circus who are performing a tale of Pippen a prince of a land who is struggling with finding himself. Pippen believes he is extraordinary and wants an extraordinary life but find out that an ordinary life may actually be the thing he has been looking for. The same can be said for this production. Pippin the musical really wants to be extraordinary when in fact it is just ordinary. The plot is just so so and none of the musical numbers are catching. There was one very big bright spot however and that was the circus acts.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Papal Productions/ Michael Chase Gosselin are pleased to announce POPE! An Epic Musical, which returns to New York City as an Official Selection of the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival's Next Link Project.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Papal Productions/ Michael Chase Gosselin are pleased to welcome Gilbert L. Bailey II (The Book of Mormon), Sam Bolen (It's a Bird...it's Superman), Britney Coleman, Jason Edward Cook, Jarid Faubel (Yank!), Brian Flores, Megan Lewis (If/Them, Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark, Grey Gardens), Vasthy Mompoint (Rocky, Mary Poppins, Good Vibrations), Dylan S. Wallach and Ken Land (Victor/Victoria) to the cast of POPE! An Epic Musical, which returns to New York City as an Official Selection of the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival's Next Link Project. The company just performed a sneak peek concert for BROADWAY SESSIONS, and BroadwayWorld has photos below!
