My Corner of the Sky

Last time we chatted, I discussed the not so wonderful tech week your young author was experiencing. Guess what? I survived the ten hour Saturday rehearsal! It wasn't bad at all, just lots of stress, fast-paced scenes, and cookies. Oh yes, you heard me, we had loads of cookies backstage. We're not through yet folks, I've still got three more dress-rehearsal-like days to go before the show opens on Thursday. More on that later, I've got foibles and fables to portray, specifically about Pippin.

Image courtesy of
New York Guest

Pippin

Over my excruciatingly tiring weekend I actually had the spare time to see a musical, surprising right? I didn't have many expectations for the musical, truthfully, it was my first time going to see it. Pippin is a popular musical for junior high and high school level performances, it was recently done by my high school only a few years ago too. The story is based off of the stories of Pepin the Short and Charlemagne a little but not much. Imagine a risque, tap-dance filled, sketchy history lesson with lots of musical numbers and you basically have Pippin.

 

The musical breaks the fourth wall from the beginning with three Leading Players inviting the audience to tell their story about a young prince, Pippin, and his journey to find meaning in his life. Pippin decides to tell the king, his father Charlemagne, about his quest. Pippin joins the war against the Visigoths with his idiotic brother, Lewis, only to find that war is not where he belongs. The Leading Players convince him to overthrow his father on the thrown. He murders his father while he is praying, takes over his thrown, and finds yet again that he doesn't belong there either. The Leading Players try to persuade Pippin to be apart of The Finale, he refuses and continues looking for his "corner of the sky".

Image courtesy of StageZine

He falls into despair, literally falling on the floor until a young woman named Catherine and her son Theo take him into their estate. Since everyone in the show is supposedly a player in a troupe, one of the Leading Players is scared by the attraction Catherine actually has for Pippin. At first he's reluctant, but eventually he enjoys being a member of Catherine's family... until the duck dies. All it took was the death of Theo's pet duck to make Pippin run away, realizing that he wasn't meant for this ordinary kind of life.


The Leading Players come back to Pippin, telling him that it is the perfect time for Pippin to complete the most extraordinary thing he can: The Finale. To do the act he has to jump into a box of fire and become one with it. (Sketchy right?) Catherine convinces him not to, to the outrage of the Leading Players. They instantly take away all the magical, wonderful, and beautiful things in Pippin's life including everything colorful onstage. The play ends with Pippin standing in a completely black theatre with Catherine and Theo where he is "trapped, but happy."

Grace's Song of the Weekend: "Magic To Do" from Pippin