Director Diane Paulus (Hair, Porgy and Bess) took a fresh look at Pippin, a 1972 Broadway musical that has never been revived on Broadway, and she jacked it up to not-to-be-missed status. Realizing there’s “Magic To Do,” Pippin,at the Music Box Theater, offers that magic with a circus, a melodic score by Stephen Schwartz, and the chance to witness genuine show-stopping moments.
Pippin’s stylized staging and fantastic thrills are astounding to watch although, with three rings on one stage, it is often difficult to know just where to look. Scott Pask designed a blue universe with white stars as a backdrop for this amazing circus company whose energy drives Roger O. Hirson’s book, which is set during the Holy Roman Empire. Pippin (Matthew James Thomas) is a Prince (the son of King Charlemagne) searching for a life with meaning. Called “The Leading Player,” the Ringmaster (stunning Patina Miller, of (Sister Act) note) offers calculating guidance that drives Pippin’s experiences in a quirky war, a revolution, a lackluster bucolic farm life and his final realization of his “Corner of the Sky,” Pippin’s soulful anthem.
Gypsy Snider of Les 7 Doigts de la Main has created magical circus stunts with gymnasts' and aerialists' sensational leaps, rolls, juggling, twists and heart-stopping balances, a reminder that life’s events never cease even as Pippin focuses on his adventures. Dazzling costumes by Cirque du Soleil’s Dominique Lemieux add to the sparkling circus mode.
Previously seen in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Matthew James Thomas portrays a sensitive Pippin, demonstrating his nuanced singing voice and showing impressive trapeze moves of his own. He more than holds his own in a smashing song-and-dance duet of “On the Right Track” with Patina Miller. The latter, lithe in black spandex, is a powerful singer and limber dancer in choreographer Chet Walker’s intricate Fosse moves. She re-invents the role that won a Tony Award for Ben Vereen in the original production. Hers is a tougher, sexier characterization than Vereen’s more subtle interpretation.
Pippin’s father, the King, is played by Terrence Mann, and the talented Charlotte d’Amboise is Fastrada, the manipulative Queen, propelling the agenda of her own inept son, Lewis (Erik Altemus). D’Amboise has a chance to strut her own musical stuff with an agile “Spread a Little Sunshine.”
As Pippin’s supportive grandmother, Berthe, veteran comedienne Andrea Martin’s rendition of the spirited and optimistic, “No Time At All,” stops the show. But that’s not all. She tops it off with her own trapeze pièce de résistance, in a glam costume and singing a final chorus upside down.
The very busy book has some haphazard, silly spots and lightly drawn characters without much depth. Berthe, for example, only steps in to sing her song before fading back into the ensemble. From nowhere, Catherine, Pippin’s eventual love interest, suddenly shows up in the languid Act II, played by Rachel Bay Jones with a combination of ethereal pluckiness. Yet, while it’s not perfection, Pippin is extraordinary entertainment and a ka-ching coup for Diane Paulus.
