There's nothing like a bit of newfound relevance to undermine a good beheading joke. When the musical-comedy version of King Charlemagne pledges to lop the top off anyone who doesn't convert, audiences in 1972 had about a thousand years between them and this style of dark-age ministry. Those behind the Broadway revival of Pippin would likely prefer not to find contemporary connections on this particular topic, but the drive to make relevant again this under-appreciated musical delivers on the promise of its opening song.
There is definitely "Magic to Do" at the Golden Gate Theatre, where the touring production of the hit revival is in residence, as a cirque-sensibility bewitches us as a surprisingly Faustian tale unfolds. Director Diane Paulus, who indeed went on to direct a Cirque du Soleil production, brought in the services of Quebec's Les 7 Doigts de la Main, another new-age Canadian circus company, to provide acrobatic splendors that enhance the story of a prince in search of a purpose.
Although Pippin grew into an audience-pleasing hit in its original run, the material was dismissed as largely a vehicle on which Bob Fosse could affix his own brand of razzle-dazzle to Stephen Schwartz's songs and Roger O. Hirson's historical fantasia. And so its reputation remained, as countless schools and community theaters staged the musical, with little thought given even by revival-hungry producers to bring the show back to Broadway. But when Paulus staged Pippin at American Conservatory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, where she is artistic director, the reaction was so positive that a Broadway production became inevitable.
Fosse's signature moves are quoted by choreographer Chet Walker, but neither he nor Paulus are slavish to the original. Perhaps this lets Hirson's book, the least respected element of the original production, find more clarity. The script hasn't been much changed for the revival, but still a lot of it feels fresh, as the fourth wall is regularly broken and the ringmaster known as the Leading Player increasingly loses control of her players.
The revival is running in New York at the Music Box Theatre, one of Broadway's smaller theaters, but its theatrical pageantry expands well to fill the much larger Golden Gate. Beyond that, I can't speak to how the touring company stacks up against the Broadway version, though there is nothing on stage here that suggests anything other than a full-out production with top-rate performers.
In fact, several veterans of the Broadway cast have moved into the touring company, including Matthews James Thomas, who originated the title role in the revival. When the Leading Player tells the audience to forgive this actor his tentative ways because this is his first night in the role, you might think for a moment that it's a fact, as Thomas is convincingly callow as Pippin, before exuding increasing confidence in the role that leads to a breakout dance number.
John Rubinstein, Broadway's original Pippin in 1972, is now playing Pippin's father, Charlemagne, with a kind of King Lear buffoonery. Lucie Arnaz basically has just one scene as Pippin's grandmother, but it's a doozy of scene. (Arnaz will swap out the role with Andrea Martin from the Broadway company for the latter part of the SF run.) The Leading Player was a star-making role for a silkily seductive Ben Vereen in the 1972 original, a role that has now been turned into a domineering and edgy interlocutor. Sasha Allen, a recent finalist on The Voice, forcefully establishes her domain in the touring production.
In the end, Pippin's quest to find the meaning of life sets up an impossible goal for the musical: basically, to find the meaning of life. After exploring sex, war, power, and other worldly temptations, he makes the most conventional choice as if it's the best of a bad lot. Even if Pippin ends up affirming a mainstream choice of comfortable domesticity, we arrive at that destination happy to have been bedazzled by this cardboard world covered in glitter.
Pippin will run at the Golden Gate Theatre through Oct. 19. Tickets are $45-$210. Call (888) 746-1799 or go to shnsf.com.