REVIEW: Two of Us Productions Puts on a Dazzling Rendition of Pippin
Through 11/16 @ The Copake Grange, Copake
Photo by Stephen Sanborn
“This production could absolutely turn your head around on what is necessary to produce the most successful Pippin.”
Pippin is the 1972 Tony Award-winning Best Musical about the son of King Charlemagne’s quest to live a fulfilling life. It won Tonys for its director and choreographer Bob Fosse and its composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. The musical uses a traveling band of players who employ song, dance and magic to tell this eighth century parable.
53 years later it is getting a modestly sturdy production from Two of Us Productions at The Copake Grange. Fosse was the preeminent choreographer of his time who required exacting discipline of his dancers down to the elbow, shoulder and eyebrow. The great Constance Lopez performs double duty for this Pippin, keeping it moving as choreographer and playing the Leading Player with charm and an unsettling demanding manner as the play draws to its conclusion.
Two of Us Productions performs a wide variety of shows from murder mysteries to radio plays to morality plays to farces to full blown musicals. That they can juggle all these genres and pull them off so successfully is some kind of magic. Kudos to Connie Lopez and Stephen Sanborn who are the ‘Two of Us.’ Sanborn is the technical and stage director as well as conductor of the great sounding, 10-piece house band. Now, come on! That’s more difficult than making an elephant disappear.
Debra Tice Hughes cuts a striking figure as Fastrada, Capital Region illusionist Jeffrey Jene pulls many tricks out of his hat as Charlemagne, and Lily Troche as Thea is adorable with her stuffed duck. Mason Lowe, who hasn’t performed onstage since high school, creates a strong presence and we hope he doesn’t let so much time lapse before his next stage appearance.
Christine LaPaix stops the show and changes it up with her sparkle-in-the-eye enthusiasm for the singalong anthem, “No Time at All” (helpfully printed on the back of the program). The ¾ full house gave it a spirited go but surely could have been improved by a rehearsal with Vocal Director Zachary Nayer, who also plays Pippin with a most powerful and pleasing voice. Schwartz knew what he was doing, placing his most beautiful song “Corner of the Sky” early in the show.
Most successful and beguiling in her fresh presence was the widow Catherine played by Karissa Payson. She most persuasively brought home the play’s theme of ‘a life well lived is full of small, simple pleasures.’ This production could absolutely turn your head around on what is necessary to produce the most successful Pippin — there is a simplicity, modesty and authenticity that makes the story of one man’s spiritual journey crystal clear.
Pippin plays through 11/16 presented by The Two of Us Productions at The Copake Grange. Tickets: www.thetwoofusproductions.org or 518-329-6293.
