was this the perfect Pippin?! ★★★★★ review of the west end concert starring Alex Newell, Jac Yarrow
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
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OHMYGOD HEY!
Earlier this month I caught PIPPIN in concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the West End. The show, which was originally directed by Bob Fosse, features a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson.
In celebration of the musical's 50th anniversary, the concert starred Alex Newell (Shucked, Once on This Island) and Jac Yarrow (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as well as Lucie Jones (Waitress, Wicked), Zizi Strallen (Mary Poppins), Cedric Neal (Guys and Dolls), Patricia Hodge (Miranda, Private Lives) and more.
Check out this brand new video review to find out why this extraordinary concert production took me by surprise...
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00:00 | introduction
02:38 | history / synopsis
09:19 | how was the concert?
17:05 | highlight moments
21:21 | performances
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I saw the original cast of Pippin at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC (circa 1971) because I’m old! I also saw the Patina Miller revival on Broadway.
So lucky! ❤❤❤
I was lucky enough to have seen the Patina Miller, Matthew James Thomas and (the show stopping) Andrea Martin version on Broadway TWICE. Loved it so much. Has some of my favorite songs from a musical. Apparently, I love Stephen Schwartz cos i love Wicked too.
Sooo lucky! I'm so jealous.
Team Schwartz too. Hunchback of Notre Dame is so underrated. I hope you liked the Wicked trailer. Ariana Grande is totally mimicking Chenoweth, and I'm not mad at it. She's using her powers of impression for good (no pun intended).
13:26 this level of detail makes your reviews so appealing. I love that you address the small but crucial details. The costuming looked amazing, especially for a concert. Charlemagne looked so good!
I saw the 2013 revival on Broadway, and when the leading player was taking away stuff in that they took away the whole circus tent so you could see the backstage area where they were storing props and everything. Really cool moment that sticks out to me.
That part really stuck out to me like it really broke the fourth wall
It was an amazing night. I'd never seen Pippin before, although I quickly realised I knew a lot of the songs. Quite apart from the amazing cast (Zizi Strallen and Lucie Jones on stage together) and the amazing performances, I just fell in love with the show itself. Also, was seated in the same row as Bonnie Langford. At intermission, I had to shuffle past her and (I think) Stephen Schwartz who popped over to say hi. Or at least someone who looked like him. And afterwards I spotted Mickey Jo himself outside. A star studded night indeed.
wow, just wow!
I remember falling in love with this score during lockdown and I agree that this is a very underrated musical! For me as a director, I would do anything to stage a production of this! Diane Paulus’ version is probably the best version in my opinion. The circus theme really helps tell the story. Really hope we can see a new fully staged production in the near future!
I remember in my own high school production of Pippin I was the player who was hanged at the beginning by Charlemagne and my director decided that the 2nd hanging peasant would be another student. I even talked to him about this and he said it didn't matter. Glad to hear that it is a pet peeve elsewhere too. I even told him that if he wanted the other student to say it later in the show then that student should also be the one who says it in the beginning but he didn't make any changes. I still have no idea why that was done and it bothers me to this day lol.
Regardless, an excellent and insightful review. Gutted that I was not able to see this but there was no chance to fly to London for two nights. Thank you for providing your thoughts
Went to both nights of the show and thought it was amazing. Never knew the story but thought it was easy to follow. Cast was amazing and having Jac behind me both nights when he got picked to play pippin was great added to the story. My opinion was that Alex & Jac were my favourite performers their voices were amazing. Getting to meet Alex after the show was amazing such a lovely person.
Saw it at the Charing Cross Theatre a couple of years ago. Absolutely loved it.
That was a wonderful production.
There was a great one at the Southwark Playhouse not long before that, too.
I went the first night, and at the intermission booked tickets for the second night too. An unforgettable theatre moment. Now, let’s all manifest the proshot they were very unsubtly filming…
I just finished up playing Pippin recently and I'm still obsessed with the show🥺I miss it
My local Theatre is doing this in 2025 with a Southern Tent Revival theme.
Ooh interesting!!!
Thank you for such a brilliant discussion about Pippin. I directed a high school production of it back a bazillion years ago (also saw the original on Broadway). Your thoughtful and intelligent discussion is worthy of a workshop!! Thank you.
Mickeys giving 90’s boyband curtains just lately 🙈😂
I saw both the original production and the 2013 with Patina Miller because unlike you I AM old
I saw Pippin on Broadway in 2014 & loved it. Though I can't really be objective about it, since I've loved the music since I was a kid - Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, The Supremes all recorded songs from it, which makes the score instantly familiar.
P.S. just found my Playbill - the cast I saw included Kyle Dean Massey, Charlotte d' Amboise, Lucie Arnaz, Rachel Bay Jones, + Ariana DeBose in the ensemble (she's sure come far, right?!)
Underselling Bob Fosse at the time this show originated - was the year he won Oscar/Emmy/Tony for Best Director for "Cabaret" "Liza with a Z" " Pippin" respectively
As a Pippin girlie, that you loved this concert makes me so happy!
The original production was filmed for television, so you should be able to dig that up somewhere, if that interests you. It used to pop up on public television here in the US quite a bit.
Suicide isn't just allegorical - that basically is the "final perfect act" that the Players goad Pippin into wanting to do. It's a big swing for a show that has been broadly allegorical and comedic, for the most part. I saw the show in middle school (shout out to my parents for being cool enough to take me to Pippin around age 12!) and at the time, I didn't grasp the end. I saw it again around age 20, and everything made perfect sense. I think the larger story is the cycle of life and death, which is somewhat consistent across cultures. I feel like the suicide part was a very 70s/let's be shocking thing. I do think it works, but it was rather jarring that an allegorical show became so grounded in a real and tragic action.
Side note: Alex Newell is from the town where I live! Go Alex!! We are very proud of Alex's hugely deserved success.
It's funny that you release this video now- I've been spending the past couple of weeks doing a lot of digging into the 2009 Deaf West version of this show. Unfortunately, because it was a regional production 15 years ago, it's been taking quite a bit of detective work to figure out how that production was interpreted & performed, but it's also giving me greater insight into what the internet was like then (so many personal blogging websites & forums!).
Ooh, I was at the Drury Lane concert (on the Monday) and I went in knowing nothing about Pippin. Absolutely loved it (and didn't realise that I did know the music as it turned out). Totally agree with everything you said. It was just outstanding and Zizi Strallen was a force to be reckoned with - those legs! That voice! That personality! But they were all superb. Sally Frith in the ensemble was incredible ('d seen her up close a week or so earlier when Mason Alexander Park brought her on stage during his show at the Underbelly Boulevard). Obviously, I've gone from being a Pippin virgin to a total evangelist. I feel so privileged to be able to say that I saw that concert.
There used to be a RUclips video of (I think) Cortney Wolfson singing I Guess I'll Miss the Man at University of Michigan. She accompanies herself on piano after the Leading Player takes everything away. I always thought it was a really beautiful interpretation. Sadly I don't think the video is up anymore.
I discovered Pippin when I watched your Schmicago reaction videos (R.I.P. 😭 They had all the third season songs written and everything!) when you mentioned "Welcome to Schmicago" and "Doorway to Where" are basically "Magic to Do" and "Corner of the Sky". I absolutely love most of the score (Similarly to you Morning Glow can make me emotional, especially during the build up at the end!) I watched the original production on RUclips; I wasn't the biggest fan of the plot but did love Ben Vereen, I really enjoyed how sinister he was, as Tituss Burgess was in the show. I agree that it's a really important trait of their character.
I saw the broadway revival the year it came out and to this day is still the only show I’ve seen on broadway.
The 2013 Broadway Revival is my favorite revival!!!
I would like to see you comment on Dame Judi and Sir Ian's commenting on trigger warnings. LOVE the score of Pippin. The original Fosse production was a huge influence on Laura Linney and Jason Alexander
I don't know the musical very well, and it's not one of my favourites, but I was blown away by the production. So much more than I expected from a concert version, especially the dancing! We were in the gods so couldn't see some of the details like when they picked Pippin out of the audience or the banners that came down, but strill really good. The whole atmosphere between the audience and performers felt energised and just joyful to an extent I don't think I've ever experienced before!
But I'm curious that no one seems to be mentioning the weird way the dates and location were changed without transferring people's tickets. I had booked for 2nd April at the Palladium, and only found out it had changed when the friend I was going with spotted a poster advertising the later dates. I got in touch and was told I should have had an email giving me a refund voucher, but that their email system hadn't worked properly. Then they sent me an invalid voucher. Then when I got the voucher I had to buy new tickets, at a higher price than I had originally bought them for (and if I hadn't been able to go to the new dates I would have been left out of pocket and with a voucher I might not be able to use) I've had shows I've booked be rearranged before, but never had it be such a mess!
The broadway revival was amazing 😻 I wish I could have seen this version your talking about
Pippin is one of my favorite shows. I saw the ART version which went to Broadway with Terrance Mann.
I think I have seen the VHS with Ben Vereen a million times.
Do you think this will be filmed like Chess and us in the states are able to see it?
Well, you have to share what eye cream you use now
I'm sorry I didn't get to see this
My high school used the voices as pressure from social media.
Oh that's quite fun, I like that!
Wasn't there a recent Charring Cross Theatre production too?
Concert fatigue indeed - that is why I didn't go.
I loved the last two productions I saw - Charing Cross and Southwark Playhouse - but was utterly bewildered by that Menier one. It very nearly put me off it as a show for good.
You accidentally said that Alex was playing the emcee at 21:59 -- I think Cabaret's emcee is interesting comparison to Pippin's leading player. They both take the role of a sort of narrator who starts out as sort of a fun character before becoming malicious.
Is there going to be a cast recording?
Isn’t frozen at theater royal drury lane too?
Did they use Stephen's rewritten finale.?
I think so, do you mean with Catherine's son doing a reprise of Corner of the Sky?
They have to, Stephen hasn't allowed the original finale to be performed for years. Of course, some regional productions still do it because you can't fiscalize them all. But a major one like this wouldn't perform the original ending. In Stephen's opinion 'if you don't like the new finale, then you don't get the message of the show'.
They used the new rewritten finale from the revival where he jumps into the fire. It also features the Theo ending- you’re not allowed to do the original ending anymore, but some recent productions have gotten permission to do the revised finale from 2000.
Did the record this for those of us across the pond to enjoy?
There were lots of cameras so I'm hoping it was recorded for release rather than archives!
It is a concert...not a show on the west end. That is the only thing that sucks about this wonderful event
2:26 I thought you were like 18 when I first came across you 🤣 so I get why you were ID 🤣
I am currently an entire decade older than that 😅
@@MickeyJoTheatre haha omg 🤣 clearly you age well then , oh shit that sounds slightly creepy 😅
Pippin is a great opening number in search of a good musical which just ain't there. I saw the original and also the 2013 Touring versions. While the reimagined 2013 version was leaps and bounds better than the original, they both lose steam fairly soon into the performance and make for a long night in the theater. Lots of trite lyrics in this show "rivers belong where they can ramble, eagles belong where they can fly" seriously?? that sounds like some 7th grade poetry writing there.
Moral: even a wonderfully engaging opening number can't carry a 2 hour musical by itself
Really? I thought it was terribly put together! I saw it on the first night so maybe there were some adjustments for the Tuesday. I didn’t know the story so couldn’t follow it, and I was quite bored at points. Some great performances from Patricia Hodge and Lucy Jones, but altogether so disappointed!