Pippin
Charing Cross Theatre • 30 June - 14 August 2021
How we’ve missed the presence of live theatre and its ability to transport us to different times and places for a myriad of memorable and exciting adventures. Having wondered just how long we might have to wait to have the pleasure of those unique experiences again, it’s been a real joy to finally see Londons theatres slowly coming back to life having remained dark for the best part of 16 months. The press night for this latest production of Pippin was definitely up for the task of transporting it’s audience who, crossing the threshold of the auditorium at the Charing Cross Theatre found themselves immediately taken back to the America of 1967, its walls having been draped in vivid multicoloured tie-die cloth (as were the soon to arrive cast) and the sound of Scott McKenzie singing ’San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)’ accompanying us to our socially distanced seats through a waft of insence. Whilst this heady brew might have conjured up images of west coast hippies enjoying the summer of love, the accents on stage appear to be rather more East Coast, but I guess New York did have Woodstock.
It was actually around the same time McKenzie’s song hit the charts that renowned composer Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Wicked) was starting to pen Pippin, although it wasn’t until 1972 that the musical got it’s Broadway premiere. The director of this latest production, Steven Dexter has also been on quite a journey with the musical, finding himself now directing it for the fourth time, the last being 2020’s production at the pop-up Garden Theatre in Vauxhall for Lambco Productions, (see Jack The Lad issue 24). Having acquired special dispensation to produce that production with just six cast members, this latest iteration finds that number boosted to eight, but despite this increase of actors on stage, this remains a fairly stripped back affair, the sheer energy of the performances as well as the impressive lighting design (Aaron J. Dootson) more than making up for the minimal set. Dexter once again returns to the traverse staging he had used prior to his Garden Theatre run. It’s a risky strategy given that it’s unlikely to be able to please all of the people all of the time, it being inevitable that at some point during the proceedings one side of the audience would be watching part of the action either from behind or at a distance, but both director and choreographer (Nick Winston) work the cast hard to keep the audience on both sides of the theatre both fully entertained and engaged with the action, which for the most part flows well. But what of the musical itself.
Pippin has actually aged incredibly well for a musical about to reach its fiftieth anniversary, which is in part due to it’s lightness of touch and the way it finds itself breaking the fourth wall from time to time, to great comic effect. For this we forgive the apparent ambiguity over who this group of minstrel like players actually are and why they are reenacting the story of King Charlemagne’s eldest son Pippin, but with there leading player (Ian Carlyle) assigning the various roles to his band of players right at the start, the story of Pippins search for fulfilment begins. “I’m extraordinary, and I have got to do extraordinary things” he declares as we watch the story take him on his search for meaning through power in the high octane first half, and a more reserved search for passion and inner peace in the second. This tonal shift between the two halves brings with it a certain unevenness to the production as a whole, but it’s hardly cause for complaint as the energy still remains high, and the repeated promise of a big finale does bring with it a real moment of dramatic tension towards the end. (No spoilers).
As you might expect from someone of Schwartz’s calibre, the songs are impressive throughout, the quality of the writing matched in the delivery of the songs by a top quality cast. Ryan Anderson reprises his role as Pippin from last years Lambco Productions Garden Theatre production, and suits the part perfectly as the wide eyed, quizzical son who is restlessly looking to find more meaning in his life. A special mention also needs to go to Genevieve Nicole who almost steals the show for her ten minute turn as Pippins Grandmother, her hilarious performance being a definite highlight of the first half as she manages to nail every laugh the script has to offer, and one suspects even manages to add a few more of her own as she takes the part and runs with it, which includes one of this musicals real toe tappers.
With live theatre only just returning after a long absence throughout lockdown, it’s hard not to see everything through a post-COVID lens, and despite having been both written and set in the late sixties, there was more than one occasion where comments made felt equally as relevant for an audience finally (and gratefully) coming out the other side of the pandemic, and when Pippin declares “When the king makes cuts, the arts are the first to go”, the audiences amused response is in recognition of just how badly the art sector has been treated during lockdown by the current government. At another point Pippins declaration that “I want life to be something more than long”, must also have found new resonance for an audience that have just spent 15 months in lockdown with nowhere to go and nothing to do. There was even a neat little ‘blink and you miss it’ nod towards social distancing all of which helped give this production a fresh relevance in 2021 whilst still remaining true to it’s original spirit.
★★★★
