Stephen Schwartz, composer of Godspell and Wicked, originally wrote Pippin in 1967 whilst he was still at College. It was a big success when it transferred to New York in 1972 and its success was due entirely to Bob Fosse’s brilliant production and choreography, which drew on commedia dell’arte and burlesque. Much darker than the college original, it had such flair, wit and imagination that Broadway audiences didn’t seem to mind the triteness of Roger O Hirson’s book and the archness of the in jokes and it ran for 1,944 performances. When it came to London the following year, it ran for only 85 performances and hasn’t had a major production here since.
Pippin is the idealistic son of Charlemagne, who goes in search of the meaning of life. Hoping to find fulfillment, he tries such things as War, Sex, Revolution, Murder, Humanity, God, Love, Marriage, only to find none of them satisfies him. The Menier has a good track record with its musical revivals. Unfortunately, Mitch Sebastian’s high tech revival is a disaster. The crucial mistake is to drag what is essentially a 1960’s American student’s hippy and anachronistic take on the Middle Ages into the 21st century with highly distracting video-gaming and robotics. The hero remains as bland as he always was and the book now seems even more squirm-making than ever, especially in the second half.