Pippin
★★★★☆ Fulfilling
Paradise in Augustines (Venue 152): Mon 19 – Sat 24 Aug 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Edinburgh University Footlights’ Pippin, at Paradise in Augustines for the Fringe’s final week, has an infectious enthusiasm and energy that are impossible to resist.
The 1972 musical (music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson and originally directed by Bob Fosse) is very much a product of its time. The setting – a troupe of travelling players tell a story loosely based on early medieval French royalty, with much fourth-wall breaking – is driven by a good deal of conspicuously post-hippy stuff about self-actualisation.
Dan J. Bryant as Pippin. Pic: Andrew Morris.
What is perhaps most striking about the musical is that (even after you’ve seen several productions) you don’t remember that much of its specifics. Aside from first act openers and closers Magic To Do and Morning Glow, few of the songs stick in the mind, and the plot tends to come as a surprise every time you see it.
This may be because it is largely composed of a series of picaresque wanderings, as young Prince Pippin looks for meaning in life. Dan J. Bryant is fresh-faced and sympathetic in the title role, with his attempts at finding fulfilment resembling nothing so much as one of the more endearingly bewildered contestants on Taskmaster.
constantly endearing
The perennial problem for Pippins – that the role demands a taxing vocal range – is occasionally in evidence, but this is a constantly endearing performance.
Allison Lavercombe is similarly likeable as sometime love interest Catherine. Emma Bland, as her son Theo, gets the difficult business of playing a child just right.
Aside from Pippin, most of the other characters tend to come and go, with one featured number and then nothing. Someone who makes the most of their time is Orly Benn as Pippin’s grandmother Berthe, whose song becomes a riot of (sanctioned) applause-milking and audience participation.
Gemima Iseka-Bekano as Leading Player. Pic: Andrew Morris.
Minnie Cross (Pippin’s stepmother Fastrada) also seizes their opportunity with a striking vocal performance. Ewan Robertson’s Charlemagne has a regal authority, and Benji Atkinson has comic and vocal presence as Pippin’s step-brother Lewis.
Atkinson also provides some nifty hand walking, which is noticeable as elsewhere the circus tricks that often characterise the musical are not overly evident. However, the ensemble are otherwise superb, with the inventive choreography of Rose Roberts discharged with energy and skill.
That ensemble (Lyss Britton, Bella Cripwell, Rosie Fletcher, Fiona Forster, Juliet Gentle, Marie Keinde, Elham Khosravipour, Rue Richardson, Hannah Shaw) certainly all deserve a mention for their sterling efforts.
star quality
They are under the command of the Leading Player (Gemima Iseka-Bekano), whose manipulation of them and the audience effectively makes them (despite the title) the musical’s main character. Iseka-Bekano certainly rises to the task, dominating the stage physically and vocally, performing with a sure touch and a good deal of star quality.
Amy Stinton’s direction is sympathetic and full of invention, while Falk Meier leads a 12-piece band with drive and pace. Tom Beazley’s lighting and Martha Barrow’s sound are both thoroughly impressive, while the design of Holly Stephens makes good use of the acting space. A word, too, for Eva Mortensen’s costumes, which add greatly to the visual impact.
At times it gets just a little too frenetic, with the band threatening to run away with themselves and the odd bit of choreography seeming just a shade too demanding.
The spectacle always wins out, however, in a production of real accomplishment and sparkle.
Running time: Two hour and 30 minutes (including one interval)
Paradise in Augustines (The Sanctuary), 41 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EL (Venue 152)
Monday 19 – Saturday 24 August 2024
Daily: 2.55 pm
Details and tickets at: Book here
Website: https://edfootlights.squarespace.com
Facebook: @edfootlights
Instagram: @eufootlights
The cast of EU Footlights’ Fringe production of Pippin. Pic: Andrew Morris.
ENDS
