Audiences are popping in their pants for Pippin, and I simply don’t get it.
Let me just say that the original Bob Fosse version was not ingrained in my psychi, despite having seen highlights of the DVD several times. Nor have I ever done or attended a highschool production of Pippin, which possibly explains my lack of affinity as that of its Broadway fan-base.
The story, about a young man trying to find excellence and achieve something remarkable, is really a metaphor of an affluent white man whose got everything that it takes to do great things. While the pretentiousness of the entire plot has always been disguised by big production numbers, this has been taken to another extreme with some overused acrobatic tricks and circus performances.
What I can praise about this production is the wonderful cast that has been assembled, compromising of A-list Broadway performers. While they have maintained the Lead Player as an African American, they have opted for a female performer, here slickly acted, danced and sung by the powerhouse that is Patina Miller. Andrea Martin plays Pippin’s grandmother, Berthe, and is both the comic relief and spectacle, cracking jokes and doing some crazy stuff on a harness. Charlotte D’Amboise plays Pippin’s slutty stepmother, Fastrada, who tries to get her own son first line to inherit the crown. Her real life, husband, Terrance Man plays King Charles the Great. Charlotte does what she does best, she dances her tits off, while channeling Roxy Heart from Chicago.
If you like Pippin, and would want to evoke a sense of nostalgia, then this is a good show for you. It has the visual aspects and tunes you’d come from the original, but also a slicker and more technicolor touch-up.
The Seat Snob 