IBDb = Internet Broadway Database11 of 22
PIPPIN - London run: Her Majesty’s, October 30th (85 Performances)
Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz
Book: Roger O. Hirson
Director-Choreographer: Bob Fosse
Musical Director: Ray Cook
Producer: Robert Stigwood
Cast: Norman J. Calloway (Leading Player),
Paul Jones (Pippin), John Turner (Charlelemagne),
Bobby Bannerman (Lewis), Diane Langton (Fastrada),
Elisabeth Welch (Berthe)
Songs: Magic to Do, Corner of the Sky, Morning Glow,
Simple Joys, On the Right Track
Story: A modern free-wheeling account of the life of Charlemagne’s son, Pépin (Pippin)
who, yearning for glory, becomes involved with war, women and social causes. Throughout
his search for his own “corner of the sky” he is under pressure from rivalry with his brother, Lewis, and his scheming stepmother, Fastrada. Above all, there is pressure from the “Leading Player” who sometimes seems to be acting as a representative of Heaven and also from Hell. Eventually after rejecting the final glory of self-immolation, he takes the advice of his wise old grandmother, Berthe, and settles down to an ordinary life of domesticity with
his wife Catherine.
This was an anti-war story in a commedia-dell-arte style, reminiscent of the “flower power” philosophy of the recent past, and was a great success on Broadway, running for 1,944 performances. The London production was an expensive flop in
1973. I enjoyed it very much, though.
Photo by Philip Ingram
Photo by Reg Wilson
Paul Jones 28