PIPPIN

Pippin is a musical with a book by Bob Fosse and Roger O. Hirson with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Set in 780 A.D in the Holy Roman Empire Pippin follows the “life and times” of Pippin, the first born son of King Charlemagne.

The musical uses the premise of a mysterious acting troupe, led by a Leading Player, to tell the story of a young prince on his search for meaning and significance. Pippin originally opened on Broadway on the 23rd of October 1972 and ran till June 12 1977. The original production was directed and choreographed by Bob fosse, earned Ben Vereen a Tony Award for his portrayal of “The leading Player” and was the 30th longest running show on Broadway.

MLOC is a small company, performing out of the Phoenix Theatre in Elwood. I would consider MLOC to be community theatre as, in “Pippin”, the performers were of a variety of ages and levels of ability, all of whom seemed to be enjoying their experience on stage.

The set in this production was well constructed, painted well and added to the atmosphere of the production. Although some of the actors had trouble “finding their light”, the lighting ( by Yaz Sesta) was very effective. I particularly loved the “Chapel scene” where the space was solely depicted with a very well placed shaft of purple light, simple but very affective.

Costumes ( by far too many people to mention) were quite hap hazard, at times they looked detailed and well constructed, only to be let down with obvious BLOC dance runners. The make-up of the performers was great, but it lacked consistency with some characters with very little while others in the ensemble had very bright and complex designs. On the whole I felt that the costumes didn’t really help tell the story, they didn’t aid the audience with know who the “Players” were, or have a consistent “look” which would have help tie the ensemble and the leads together.
 

Musical Direction by Danny Forward was good and the cast seemed to know their parts well. Being opening night I am sure some of the problems will be ironed out but the main problem I found was the entry into and exit from songs. Actors were left standing on stage waiting for their intro to finish before they could sing, or left waiting at the end of a song for the music to finish before they could continue with the rest of the scene. As an audience member this was extremely frustrating and distracting.

Direction and Choreography was done by Lyn Laister, who has a lot of experience in both, I did feel however that both areas struggled in this production. Pippin is a show that juxtaposes dark and challenging themes with whimsy and tom foolery, but this show really only demonstrated the latter. At times I felt I was watching more a production of “Spamalot” then “Pippin”. The overall look of the show seemed to lack vision and had little attention to detail. There was no complexity in songs such as “Glory” which ended up being a lack lustre sword fight rather than an ironic look at the horrors of war portrayed via a song and dance routine. The role of the “Players” was undefined and lacked the sinister edge which would ensure the finale of the show works. The Choreography like the direction lacked relevance,  parts looked like random dance school moves rather than movement that advanced, commented, or complimented the themes of the songs. Overall though I feel the actors have done a good job.

Drue Goodwin took the role of Pippin, Goodwin has a strong voice and his energy matched the character well. He had some major pitch issues during “Love Song” and always sang in an American accent, which was odd as he spoke with an Australian one.  Amy Anderson played Catherine, who was a very welcome addition to the second act. She sang well, had perfect comedic timing and was able to demonstrate the ability to show pathos during “I Guess I’ll Miss The Man”.

John Davidson played the Leading Player, Davidson has a great voice which suited the 70’s style of music well, but I did struggle to understand a lot of what he was singing. His characterisation was good, but felt manufactured and at times didn’t fit with the rest of the production.

The duo of Lewis and Fastrada were played by Daniel O’Donoghue and Helen Giannakis. Helen is a good dancer and I enjoyed her portrayal but she did struggle with some of the vocals in “Spread A Little Sunshine”. The character of Lewis, normally portrayed as a super “Manly Man” as suggested in the script,  was portrayed in this production as a super camp almost “drag” type of person which really worked. His character was very funny and it allowed for many comedic moments, I commend Daniel for this brave choice.

MLOC’s production of Pippin runs until Saturday, 25th Jun 2011 at the Phoenix Theatre, Elwood.
Bookings: 9570-4052 or online at www.mloc.org.au