Gabrielle Mc Clinton in Pippin as the Leading Player

So, I finally saw Pippin today and I was thrilled to see that Patina Miller was out and Gabrielle Mc Clinton was in as the Leading Player today. I had seen clips of Patina in Pippin and I got to see her in Sister Act, and her voice and style of acting didn't work for me. So I was happy to see she was out. Now I wanted to see if the show lives up to the hype. And to be honest, it sure did. Gabrielle was perfect in every way I could have imagined, she is such a perfectionist, her acting, her dancing, her movements, her amazing athletic body, everything about her was simply perfect. She is a 10 out of 10. Hopefully she will take over the role once Miss Miller leaves the show.

I particularly enjoyed the number of the cage, I thought it was so well done. I was afraid of not enjoying the show, because I am not a big "cirque de soleil" fan, and this show looked a bit too circusy for me.

Charlotte d'Ambroise's dancing number was an absolute delight.
Tovah Feldshuh was great, Matthew James Thomas was also very enjoyable, Terrence Mann delivered his funny lines very well and Rachel Bay Jones...well, she is very talented, I just disliked her character and the show went downhill once she joined in my opinion. I didn't really like the ending, but the show was so great until then, I feel overall it was a great show.

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Updated On: 10/26/13 at 06:30 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0dSwdvPDTw

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I don't get the impression Patina is out much, though she was out for a couple of shows a few weeks ago -- which, unfortunately, happened to be when I was visiting New York and saw the show with my mom.

I have to disagree with the OP's assessment. Compared to the videos I've seen of Patina, McClinton's Leading Player didn't have the same style and spark. McClinton's voice is not the same caliber, but the real difference is in the dancing. Unless something has changed in the past two weeks, McClinton doesn't have the same ease of movement, particularly in the hips, that Patina does. You can see it a bit in the video with Eric Altemus; he is much more fluid a dancer than McClinton.

I'm not saying McClinton was bad; she just was not at the same level as I've seen in the videos. After the show, I showed my mom some of the YouTube videos from the Tony's and talk shows of Patina doing Pippin. My mom said, almost immediately, that McClinton was "good," but Patina "is a star."

Patina has been in and out of the show due to filming a part in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.

According to her twitter, she had a scheduled vacation the last week of October, which she announced a few times a while back. She missed a week to film Mockingjay earlier this month (I believe the week of the 7th) in Atlanta then she had another day she had to fly down (all according to her twitter) to re-do a scene I believe. I was nervous I would miss her when I went October 16 but luckily, she returned to the show the 15th. I think she is doing her best to balance the two (Pippin & Mockingjay) --she flew down to Atlanta & back and still did the show; I think that shows she has amazing work ethic.

I must disagree with your assessment of Gabrielle McClinton. I have seen both her and Patina. Miller is a star. We definitely agree on that. McClinton will be a star. They both bring a different style to playing the character. Patina is more dark and foreboding, whereas Gabrielle is not quite as dark and a little more playful and definitely a whole lot more sexy. Bottom line they are both excellent. McClinton is more than a suitable replacement and her vocals are on par with Miller. I enjoyed them both and it would be tough to chose. Glad I don't have to. As a side, I saw McClinton in Los Angeles as Whatshername in the National Tour of American Idiot. That girl clearly has it, which is why she is Patina's understudy. The show loses very little. Whether Miller or McClinton, the show is equally enjoyable.

Fisherman Bob, give me a break. Way too judgmental with nothing to judge. Comparing the clip on Youtube of Broadway on the Hudson performed outside to a taped track to the actual Pippin theatre performance is not even comparing apples to oranges. This is why I normally don't read the blogs. Spend the money and see the performance. If I understand the playbill correctly Gabrielle is only 2 years out of college, has 10 Broadway performances (which is quite an achievement), whereas Patina is a old pro with over 200 performances under her belt, not including Sister Act. Give me a break. Absolutely agree Patina is great. She is absolutely a star. But Gabrielle clearly has the chops to be a star. And her performance as understudy is clearly Broadway caliber, that I am sure Patina would agree. Its unfair to even try to compare the two. They are both accomplished actors in their own right, once experienced, the other not so much, but getting there. But, since you haven't seen the show, you really have nothing to compare. Again, spend the money, see the show and then try not to be so biased. Enjoy.

I saw the show, enjoyed it a lot, and watched this video which reinforced my belief that Chet Walker is an awful choreographer. The majority of the steps in this production were lifted right out of the original and he seems to have just made up steps to this number with no meaning behind them at all..it's a poor man's Fosse...watch the video of the original if you wanna see what this number should be. The circus choreography is thrilling. Bravo to Gypsy Snider, who made the show work in this context. Gabby- ok in the clip but without the dynamics of costumes, sets, lights, in a theater, it's hard to tell. Chet deserved to get shunned for a Tony.

JonasKnight, I'm attacking you? You're a clown, dude. I bought a ticket and saw the show already, with the woman who won the Tony for the role. Why would I buy a ticket again to see an understudy? Seriously, I hope your future posts if any, are done with more intelligence and common sense and a lot less defensiveness than your first few. And make sure you tell sis Hi!

Updated On: 10/28/13 at 01:12 AM

What FishermanBob's noticed about McClinton from the video is exactly what I noticed about her after seeing her in the role two weeks ago, so I don't get why his observations are unfair. (My original comments about McClinton were posted in the Pippin understudies thread and I had not see the video.) Her lack of fluidity compared to Eric Altemus is pretty evident in the video, and it was noticeable on stage, particularly in the Manson Trio, where McClinton was outdanced by the other dancers. Maybe McClinton had improved a lot in the past two weeks, but that would be an extremely dramatic improvement.

For what it's worth, I must have seen McClinton in American Idiot in LA also, but have utterly no recollection of her in the rule. I don't know what that says about her "star" quality.

If you're using TKTS, you basically have to take what they offer as the "best available seat". You don't really get a choice. But I used TKTS when I went. My seat was last row Orchestra right in the middle of the row. It's such a small theater and the sight lines are so good, even there I felt I had a great view. Can't speak to the extreme sides or the balcony but from what others have said most seats have a great sightline.

I don't think so, it's selling pretty well that they only need to send over to the booth whatever tix are left over.

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I think the comment about work ethic was intended to imply that she has a high level of work ethic for being so young (Patina is only what like 27)?