Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN?

[macbeth]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN?#1

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:35am

A mutual friend of Paulus says that he remains her top choice for her PIPPIN after doing the readings, but isn't he getting a little 'long in the tooth' for the role?

Where's Michael Arden these days?

[henrikegerman]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #2

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:44am

^In 9th century Europe, a 37 year old guy was probably considered very long in the tooth.

[WayTooBroadway]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #2

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:50am

Last I heard, Creel was going to be on a mission.

"When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written." -Stephen Sondheim

[ReggieonBway]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #3

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:58am

Bearing in mind that Gavin just finished playing Claude two years ago, I think he's just fine age-wise - plus, he can sing the crap out of anything.

[AC126748]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #4

Posted: 3/10/12 at 2:31pm

Michael played Pippin as recently as two years ago, but he's not exactly a kid anymore either. He's turning 30 this year.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[wonderfulwizard11]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #5

Posted: 3/10/12 at 2:50pm

Personally, I'd love to see Jonathan Groff play it- I think he's a good fit for the material. Not that Michael Arden or Gavin Creel would be terrible either.

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

[CATSNYrevival]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #6

Posted: 3/10/12 at 7:23pm

Gavin doesn't look 37 except in some really unflattering and badly lit pictures. The fan girls (and boys) would go crazy when he takes his shirt off. Plus, his voice never ceases to amaze me. There's nothing he can't do with that voice. He'd be perfect for Pippin.

[dramamama611]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #7

Posted: 3/11/12 at 8:39am

He definitely doesn't read 40 on stage. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. (Not saying it will actually STAY suspended, but I think he could pull it off -- and yes, I'd love to hear him sing that score.)

Have to admit: I like both the other suggestions, too (Groff and Arden).

To be fair -- I'm just dying to see this on stage. (And I'm IN Boston, so I'll get to even if it doesnt make it to the Great White Way!)

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

[Rage and Love]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #8

Posted: 3/16/12 at 12:44pm

Oh! Are there any rough dates for this? I've seen local productions of Pippin as a kid and would love to see this in NY!

"And that was that or so it seemed. Is this the end or the beginning? All I know is, she was right. I am an idiot. It’s even on my birth certificate in so many words. This is my rage. This is my love. This is my town. This is my city. This is my life."

[algy]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #9

Posted: 3/16/12 at 1:04pm

I'd never seen Pippin until I saw the Menier Chocolate Factory Production last month - really did not know what to make of it at all.

Would be interesting to see what concept is used for Broadway - the Menier had gone for a video game theme.

[LizzieCurry]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #10

Posted: 3/16/12 at 1:11pm

I saw Deaf West's production of Pippin and it was all truly puzzling. The cast was fantastic, but the show itself just strikes me as plain old bizarre.

"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

[newintown]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #11

Posted: 3/16/12 at 1:14pm

"The fan girls (and boys) would go crazy when he takes his shirt off."

Just... ugh.

Does anyone remember that one reason Pippin worked so well the first time was because Fosse was smart enough to cast an actor who could sing in the lead? Creel and Arden certainly have nice voices, but master actors they definitely ain't. They would turn it into Six Flags Over Pippin in nothing flat.

[algy]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #12

Posted: 3/16/12 at 1:34pm

Lizzie Curry: Me too! Albeit with a different production. When my mum asked me what it was about, I had real trouble summing it up in a sentence...

[darquegk]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #13

Posted: 3/16/12 at 2:14pm

This would be the kind of role that Darren Criss's agent should be suggesting for him, not triple-threat jazz-belter roles.

Pippin is a starring role, sure, but it's a relatively undemanding sing, with potential for dance and physical comedy (evidently Criss's strong suits) and the primary acting requirements for the role are a goofy, self-effacing charm and, at least usually, good looks.

Something like this would suit him WAY more than Finch did, as well as bringing the all-important non-theatre-junkie crowd to a show that doesn't have a "name sell" to anyone but people who are already Fosse or musical theatre aficionados.

[ChildrenwillListen]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #14

Posted: 3/16/12 at 2:14pm

I would actually see the show if he did it.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #15

Posted: 3/16/12 at 4:01pm

I don't know if Pippin, singing-wise, would be any sort of ideal role for Darren Criss. No, it isn't the hardest thing in the world, musically, but the character sings a great deal of the score and barely ever leaves the stage. In a sense, its quite similar to Finch actually, but I think Pippin's music is much harder.

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

[newintown]

Gavin Creel to Play PIPPIN? #16

Posted: 3/16/12 at 4:06pm

Maybe Criss would like to create his own big role next, rather than eating everyone else's sloppy seconds.