Pippin

Pippin, a musical by Stephen Schwartz, is an unconventional tale with an anachronistic and defamiliarized feel. The story focuses on Pippin who becomes a soldier for his father’s army. He grows upset by the killing and murders his father to stop the war. Now King, he is even more lost and unsure about what he wants in life and turns away from everything, including love, before discovering that what he has been searching for has been there all along.

This production of Pippin posed many challenges, as it was in a nontraditional space. The show was performed in a church basement in Boston, affording no luxuries ordinarily found in a theatre – including lighting instrumentation of any kind. The show’s “exposed and blatant” feel put the audience close to the action and often involved members. The players are aware of their theatricality, and thus the lighting of the show was an element that was even referenced by some of the characters in the show.

An intimate show with varying ranges of theatricality and emotions lead to an interesting and enjoyable project.