You may have seen the classic Stephen Schwartz musical “Pippin” (1972), but you likely have not seen the version opening Friday at Quad City Music Guild, 1584 34th Ave., Moline.
Boasting the unforgettable songs “Corner of the Sky,” “Magic to Do,” and “No Time At All,” this new production is the 2013 Broadway revival, with a re-written book and a female Leading Player (a role made famous in the original by Ben Vereen).
With a score by Schwartz (“Godspell,” “Children of Eden,” “Wicked”) – a four-time Grammy winner, and three-time Oscar winner – “Pippin” is the story of one young man’s journey to be extraordinary. Winner of four 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, this updated circus-inspired version continues to captivate and appeal to the young at heart throughout the world.
Heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment, a synopsis says. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power (after disposing of his father, King Charlemagne the Great).
In the end, though, Pippin finds that happiness lies not in extraordinary endeavors, but rather in the unextraordinary moments that happen every day.
QCMG’s production is directed and choreographed by Christina Myatt, and she’s never done it before. In a Monday interview at the Prospect Park theater, she said she didn’t like the original ending, and prefers this version, approved by Schwartz.
“I love it,” she said. “They make it that cyclical, everybody-goes-through-it story. We all go through it. We all have to discover who we are and what our calling is…It makes the show much more universal.”
The 2013 version was written for a female Leading Player (including the song keys), Myatt said, here played by Jordyn Mitchell.
“It’s important to have that woman in that state of control,” Mitchell said Monday. “She is in control of everything in the show. I appreciate that it’s a woman too, to have a woman in that power spot. She’s almost cat-like to me – always plotting and very meticulous about it.”
“Everything has a very specific purpose and I like the way that a female can portray that,” she said.
The new version has Leading Player more as a puppet master, Myatt said. The players in the show within the show represent the “different aspects of our psyche,” she said. “Anger and jealousy; the motherly voice we hear in the back; it’s greed, it’s the ‘Am I good enough?’ kind of thing; all the voices we hear in our head.”
Pippin’s job – when we live in a society that pressures us to do more, be more, be better – is finding joy in ordinary, everyday things, Myatt said.
“That’s what Pippin chooses. Pippin ignores those voices and goes with his gut – picks this relationship with Catherine, which is the realest thing that he’s had,” she said. “It’s this power struggle between this reality and the super-ego thing.”
One of the show’s songs is Pippin’s “Extraordinary,” which he thinks he wants.
“We have to make it big, be a smash. I’m in theater so I have to be on Broadway,” Myatt said of those typical attitudes. “Success is different in everybody’s terms, and success is what we name it, not what someone else does. I think Pippin’s been told, you have to be this, follow in his father’s footsteps, and that didn’t work out.”
He finds an ordinary life with Catherine, and in the end, he says it’s this “real thing, where I felt appreciated and loved,” she said. “A kind of bond that was much deeper than these other things.”
Inspired by Bob Fosse
“Pippin” was originally directed and choreographed on Broadway by the legendary Bob Fosse. Myatt has choregraphed the iconic Fosse musical, “Chicago,” but never “Pippin,” and the new production has some nods to Fosse moves and looks. There isn’t any strict re-creation of his choreography for “Pippin.”
“You have to put it in there because people expect it,” Myatt said of brief moments. “It’s different than ‘Chicago’ because the ensemble functions in a different way.”
In “Chicago,” the chorus has to be a unit, dancing together precisely the same, but “Pippin” allowed Myatt to do more in segmented ways, based on actors’ ability levels.
“Not everybody is like, ‘I’m the Quad Cities’ best dancer,’ and that’s not necessary,” she said. “That’s really cool.”
Mitchell, a 2023 Bettendorf High grad, said “Pippin” is her favorite musical, period. She recently perfomed the title role in “Carrie” at Rock Island’s Center for Living Arts.
“When I got Leading Player, it was crazy,” she said Tuesday. “I was in ‘Pippin’ when I was in 7th grade at the Center, and since then, watching our Leading Player, I have always wanted to play Leading Player. It’s been amazing.”
“It has been so accepting. Normally, going to another theater, it’s hard to make your way in,” Mitchell said of Music Guild. “The first rehearsal, we all felt so comfortable with each other. There’s no theater drama; theater people can be crazy sometimes. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Leading Player is a perfect part, she said.
“It has all the flashy theater stuff – the dancing, the cool vocal moments, the comedy, too,” Mitchell said. “Deeper than that, there’s this emotional intensity of it. There’s so much power behind the role. Everything about it is just a perfect combination of what theater people like to do.”
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“Pippin” itself is a delicious stew of everything she loves about theater – super entertaining, but with deep meaning and inspiring messages, she said.
“I think everyone can relate to, especially artists and theater people,” Mitchell said. “Wanting to be something extraordinary and amazing. I just always related to it.”
“This has been a cool experience. I love the show, to work with Guild for the first time,” music director Rishi Wagle said. The revival added a lot of dance break music.
“There’s much more instrumental music, so it really gets to showcase the pit as well. And our pit is amazing,” Myatt said. Wagle conducts an orchestra of 12.
“It’s nice to be music directing in the place I grew up, because that’s been a new experience also,” said the 2020 graduate of Brown University, who’s working on his master’s in music education at University of Iowa.
“It’s been really fun, I like everybody in the cast,” Wagle said. “I hope to continue using productions like this to build community.”
Coming back to Guild
Jackie Madunic – who plays the feisty grandmother Berthe — is in her first Music Guild show since 2009’s “All Shook Up.” She was encouraged to audition by Guild veteran Melissa Anderson Clark, who takes the same Jazzercise class Madunic does (and who plays Fastrada in “Pippin”).
“I didn’t know anything about the show, besides I knew Ben Vereen,” she said. “I remembered ‘Magic to Do,’ that’s it. But I trusted Melissa.”
“It has been amazing,” Madunic said. “This is a great show to come back, because it’s a smaller role, not a lot of lines. Dancing is not my forte. But it’s a lot of fun, and that’s my intention. That’s why I do this. It really brings joy and there is something about connecting with audiences and really feeling their energy.
“And knowing you’re helping create something that is meaningful and can potentially improve somebody’s life in a way,” she said. “I think this show will do that. It is truly magical in that respect. I think people will be emotionally impacted by it.”
Madunic has a blast singing “No Time At All” – whose refrain says:
It’s time to start living
Time to take a little
From the world we’re given
Time to take time
For Spring will turn to Fall
In just no time at all
“I want to be her,” she said of Berthe, noting she’s now a real-life grandmother, to a one-year-old granddaughter, Olive, who lives in Dixon, Ill.
Coming back to Prospect Park is like coming home, Madunic said.
“It is truly like family,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how long you are away, you’re always welcome.”
Other principal cast members are Red Schneider in the title role; Olivia Hedden as Catherine; Mark McGinn as Charles, Tatum Kilburg as Theo and Mike Diehl Jr. as Louis.
Learning as assistant
Kathryn Weber is assistant stage director for “Pippin,” the same role she had last summer for Music Guild’s “Jekyll & Hyde.”
“Christina offered me a really big opportunity to really help with the planning and execution of it,” she said of “Pippin.” Often, the assistant director is more an administrative function, taking rehearsal notes and sending them to the cast.
“I also direct shows at United Township and want to get better at directing,” Weber said. “Christina allows me, any time I have an idea about character, or blocking or movement, I can say them, and see if they work and if they work, we keep them. It’s been a really fun opportunity to work individually with cast members and a large group.”
It helps Myatt especially to have a more responsible assistant director since she’s done choreography. It’s often the case where shows have a separate director and choreographer, as was done with June’s “Singin’ in the Rain” at Guild.
“One of the things that Guild is trying to do, there are only so many people who are directors, and we need to cultivate new directors,” Myatt said. “She’s one of our up-and-coming directors, but it’s scary to just step up without having been with somebody who really gives you some guidance and allows you to do that.”
It’s been great to have someone like Weber as integral to the process, and wants to learn about the process, she said.
Every actor in the show (except Pippin and Leading Player) plays two roles, Myatt said.
“We’ve had some really cool moments,” Madunic said, noting she’s both the grandmother (very loving and supportive) and the aging actor who has a lot of insecurities. Of that character, “I don’t know long I get to play Berthe and I really want to do a good job,” she said. “I’m watching constantly, worried about things.”
For this show, her first musical in 14 years, “it is a little daunting,” Madunic said. “The talent in this cast is amazing. Jordyn is mind-blowingly talented. The dancers are fantastic.”
“Then I realize, what a joy to get to share the stage with all these amazing, talented people,” she said. “It makes you want to do better, you know?”
“Pippin” will be performed Aug. 4-13, with 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday matinees.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for kids (12 and under), available by calling 309-762-6610 or visiting the QCMG website HERE.
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