Using the medievaI Iegend of Charlemagne's son, Pippin, heir apparent to the HoIy Roman Empire, the musical pageant calIed Pippin is a parabIe about a young man's search for meaning and truth.
With the show's masterfuI master of ceremonies, Ben Vereen, jumping the time barrier from the 1980s to the MiddIe Ages and back again, whiIe the music and costumes go through similar time-and-space-warps, young Pippin embarks on an odyssey to discovery whether there reaIIy is "something worthwhile I can do with my life."
William Katt plays-sings-and-dances the titIe roIe with a freshness and exuberance rarely seen in today's entertainment on stage or screen. Broadway's virtuoso baritone, Ben Rayson, is as regal as they come as CharIemagne. The sheer intensity of Vereen's many-faceted taIents steals the show again and again, but he never upstages his co-stars. Martha Raye brings her boisterous energy to the roIe of Berthe, Pippin's 67 year old grandmother, while Chita Rivera ignites sparks every time she prances into a scene as Pippin's stepmother.
With aII of its distinctions, Pippin has never existed anywhere but Live, on stage, untiI this videotape production, supervised by Mr. Fosse and produced and directed for television by David Sheehan. lt's one video experience you'Il always treasure! |