Pippin (musical)

Pippin is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse also contributed to the libretto. The show purports to tell the story of Pippin (or Pepin) the son of Charlemagne.

Synopsis

The play begins with a leading player of a troupe and the actors in various costume pieces of several different time peroids. The Leading Player invites the audience to join them in a story about a boy prince searching for fulfillment. Pippin tells the scholars of the time of his dreams and they happily applaud Pippin on his ambitious quest for an extraordinary life. Pippin then returns home to the castle and estate of Lord Charles, his father. Charles and Pippin don't get a chance to communicate often, as they are interrupted by nobles, soldiers, and couriers vying for Charles' attention. Pippin also meets up with his step-mother Fastrada, and her dim-witted son, Louis. Charles and Louis are planning on going into battle soon, and Pippin begs Charles to take him along as to prove himself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Once in battle, the Leading Player reenters to lead the troupe in a mock battle using top hats, canes, and fancy jazz as to glorify warfare and violence. This charade of war does not appeal to Pippin, and the boy flees into the country. The Leading Player tells the audience of Pippin's travel through the country, until he stops at his exiled grandmother's estate. There, Bethe (his grandmother) tells Pippin not to be so serious and to live a little. Pippin takes this advice and decides to search for something abit more light-hearted. He chooses sex. After some glorious intercourse, Pippin realizes the true nature of sex as an all consuming entity, and begs the Leading Player to halt the troupe in their erotic dances.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Leading Player then tells Pippin that perhaps he should fight tyranny, and uses Charles as a perfect example of an unenlightened tyrant to fight. Pippin plans a revolution, and Fastrada is delighted to hear that perhaps Charles and Pippin will both perish so that her beloved Louis can become king. Fastrada sets up the murder of Charles, and Pippin falls for it. He kills Charles while praying, and becomes the new king. However, after petitions from the masses, Pippin finds himself being just as tyranical as Charles. He begs the Leading Player to bring his slain father back to life, and the Leading Player does so.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pippin then travels as an exile and stumbles upon an estate owned by Catherine, a widow with a small boy. Pippin thinks himslef above such boring manorial duties as sweeping, repairs, and milking cows, but warms up to the lovely Catherine. However, as time goes by, Pippin realizes that he must leave the estate to still find his purpose.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All alone on a stage, Pippin is surrounded by the Leading Player and the various troup members. They all suggest that Pippin complete the most perfect act ever--the Finale. They tell Pippin to jump into a box of fire, light himslef up, and "become one with the flame." Pippin is reluctant, but agrees that perhaps suicide is the best way to go, but he is stopped by one actress from the troupe--the woman playing Catherine. Catherine and her son stand by Pippin and defy the script, the Leading Player, and Fastrada. The Leading Player gets furious and calls off the show, telling the rest of the troupe to pack up and leave Pippin, Catherine, and her son alone forever, trapped on an empty and dark stage. Pippin realizes that he has given up his extraordinary purpose for the simplest and most ordinary life of all, and is finally a happy man.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~