Seeing is believing
Taper’s ‘Pippin’ is a fabulous fusion of song, dance and social commentary for the hearing and hearing-impaired
By Jana J. Monji 02/12/2009
The Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre’s joint production of “Pippin” at the Mark Taper Forum should dispel any doubts that Los Angeles has an incredible theater community.
This is their third joint venture at the Taper. The first was “Children of a Lesser God,” which went on to Broadway and was made into an Oscar-winning movie of the same name. The second, “Big River,” broke other barriers and paved the way for this current production. Before them, who would have thought of a musical with actors who couldn’t hear or sing?
This version of “Pippin” makes you wonder why no one thought of bringing hearing-impaired actors and American Sign Language in before. The elegant and precisely articulated arm movements and gestures are part of the expressive choreography.
Alan Champion and Linda Bove provide the ASL adaptation while Jeff Calhoun directs and choreographs.
Calhoun also directed the 2007 joint Center Theatre Group (Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theatre) and Deaf West Theatre production of “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, as well as its Tony-nominated 2002-2003 production of “Big River.”
With “Pippin,” Calhoun’s conceit is a magic show with illusion design by Jim Steinmeyer. This is markedly different from the anime-inspired version of this Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz musical at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo last spring.
In the Mark Taper Forum’s production, Pippin (Tyrone Giordano) is given a voice (Michael Arden) when he is put in a box and sliced into two. Ty Taylor is a virile and commanding Leading Player in his red and black-striped tux with tails jacket and tight, glossy leather-look pants. Troy Kotsur plays Pippin’s father, Charles, with a heavy serving of humor and charm. Set and scenic designer Tobin Ost has created a delightfully modernistic and politically pointed throne.
Harriet Harris is lusty as Pippin’s grandmother while James Royce Edwards is goofily narcissistic as Lewis, Pippin’s half-brother, and Sara Gettelfinger is artfully scheming as his ambitious June Cleaver-façade mother.
Hirson based his book on an actual historical figure. Pippin was the firstborn son of Charlemagne (747-814), who, in the fickle way of kings, discarded Pippin’s mother to make a politically advantageous marriage. Charlemagne later took one of his legitimate sons and had him re-christened as Pippin — also the name of Charlemagne’s father (Pippin the Short). He then disinherited his eldest son, who was nicknamed Pippin the Hunchback. As in Hirson’s book, the eldest son was part of an unsuccessful rebellion against his father. The real Pippin was sent to a monastery, where he died two decades later.
Here, Hirson’s book swerves to a happy ending for us, though not for the Leading Player.
This production had a few technical glitches opening night, but that’s a minor quibble when everything else has so much snap and polish. The magic created here isn’t just the magician’s illusions, but the fabulous fusion of song, dance and social commentary and the seamless melding of two communities — hearing and hearing-impaired — on stage for an intermissionless yet fleeting two hours.
“Pippin” continues at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, at 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays through March 15 at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. Tickets are $20 to $65. Call (213) 628 2772 or visit centertheatregroup.org.
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