Pippin
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Movie Reviews of Pippin
Movie Review: Broadway Baby Says WAAAAAAAAAH!
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw Pippin years ago on Broadway and loved it... I was so excited to renew my aquaintance with it when I bought the DVD! Unfortunately, while preparing to put this film on digital medium, well, they skipped the preparing part. The dvd sounds and plays like a worn out old VHS tape. It's still fun to watch but just so dissapointing...Movie Review: The Magic is Gone
Summary: 2 Stars
Background: I've seen Pippin 3 times on B'way, worked as make-up artist for over a dozen regional productions, and taught the play for years as the culmination of a course on poetry. In its original incarnation, Pippin is a production rich in allegory and metaphor, both visual and verbal, which becomes more meaningful with each viewing.
That said, executive producer David Sheehan's truncated televersion of the play cuts--no, slashes--so much of the production that it becomes devoid of both continuity and logic. First, the music: almost every number has a verse deleted, and one complete song (Catherine's "I Guess I'll Miss the Man") has been excised. As this song immediately foreshadows the events of the finale, its elimination is unforgivable.
As for the book, various exchanges among characters are missing. Some of the gaps are relatively minor, others glaring. After the battle sequence, Pippin's poignant discussion with the head of one of the enemy is missing. After his ascension to the throne, Pippin's sequential proclamations that lead to the realization of the flaw in his idealism have also been struck, which makes his final declaration of a "limited police action" too sudden and illogical. Catherine's lament for her late husband is missing. The most startling omission, though, is the death scene of her son's pet and its aftermath, during which Pippin gains an inkling of his epiphany in the finale and honestly earns Catherine's love. With this sequence removed, Catherine has no reason for loving him. Nor does the audience have reason to identify.
The play's cut-and-paste editing was no doubt done to conform to television time limits. Was it not possible, then, to restore the complete version for DVD? Or was it simply not worth the time and effort? Other reviewers have commented on the grainy quality of the image and poor sound reproduction, another pair of minuses. All in all, the magic is simply gone.
Postscript: Some 25 years after the show closed, Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson re-staged Pippin at NJ's Paper Mill Playhouse. The characters were dressed in 1970s attire, the choreography was disco, and Pippin himself was pulled from the audience and handed a script. It was a dark and joyless production, made more so by the fact that it was the very authors themselves who transformed a Broadway icon into a travesty of a high school musical.
Movie Review: Fosse show marred by a lackluster Stephen Schwartz score
Summary: 2 Stars
"Pippin" is a musical that has something to say. This musical is a celebration of the individual going through life and having to see what is your calling or what you are meant to be. Pippin is a young man on this quest. Fresh out of college, Pippin is very unsure of what to do with his life, or where to go with it. Through the course of this musical, he dabbles in war, sex, politics, love, and domesticity. This journey leads up to the eerie "grand finale" goaded by the Leading Player.So there you have it, a commendable story. Unfortunately, the Stephen Schwartz musical score does a horrible disservice to a show that Bob Fosse directed so masterfully. To me, a musical is NOTHING without a solid score. I'm not just saying a musical has to have a million catchy tunes that you can whistle afterwards, but it wouldn't have hurt to have more than just two. "Magic to Do" offers an enticing opening for the audience. Everything falls FLAT after that, the only exception being "No Time At All"--a funny heartwarming anthem about "seizing the day." Not even Bob Fosse's visionary direction and choreography can make up for such a bland, uninteresting score.
Some performances do rise above this problematic production. Ben Vereen and Chita Rivera, veteran Fosse disciples, really shine respectively as the Leading Player and Fastrada (Pippin's sex-pot stepmother). Leslie Denniston gives an underrated performance as the "ordinary" Catherine. The rest of the performances are so-so. You just want to boot Christopher Chadman off the stage for his cheeky, unbelievably effeminate portrayal of Lewis--Pippin's stepbrother. William Katt offers a "teeny-bopper" quality to his portrayal of the title role, but not much more. Martha Raye was nice as Berthe, Pippin's granny, but I would have rather seen Irene Ryan (may she rest in peace).
The DVD suffers from the lack of sound quality and seems hastily produced. On a decent sound system, there is no consistency in the sound balance. Intensity of sound fades in and out, and at the worst times. The video is decent, for the early eighties, but with the technology we have today, I expect a lot better.
If you really want to know the real spirit of "Pippin," I wouldn't look here. Try the original cast recording, or see an actual live production if you can.
Movie Review: Poor Quality DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
Warning to those who expect great recording on image and sound, this is not a superlative disc...it didn't even include a one-sheet inside with chapter titles. The direction of the project is spotty, too many close-up shots and not enough establishing shots make following the visual flow of the production difficult. And, unfortunately, the cameramen must not have thought too highly of Fosse's choreography because they cut away from it as much as possible to facial closeups. Also, the audio is horrible. On the bigger cast numbers, it actually 'blows out' on group notes. As for quality of filming and DVD presentation, this is an awful disc... But -- for those who love live theater, it's still a record of an interesting show with great performances by Vereen, Rivera, and Raye. It's definitely not a kid-appropriate piece, however. A long sex dance and a rather graphic war dance pull it out of the parent comfort zone for preteens.Movie Review: Terrible edit
Summary: 2 Stars
Unfortunately, and as usual, idiotic directors and editors have ruined a great show! Panning, zooming, cutting...God it's awful. I remember hearing that Bob was upset by it and apologized to the cast. The really sad thing is that the show, staged by Kathy Dobie, Bob's long time assistant, was beautifully recreated and then ruined by those fools filming it.. During the big "Sex Ballet", the shoot from behind with glaring lights so that you really have no sense of what the dance is. The sound it bad, the cutting is bad and Kat stinks. All that said, it will be your only chance to see what Broadway dancers used to look like. Get it for the history. By the way, if you want to see another show that was totally ruined by bad cutting, see Sunday in the Park with George. This beautiful show was destroyed by idiotic editors!