PIPPIN

pippin was amazing....after party was even better....stephen schwartz rocks and john is so frigin cute......yeh so the concert was reallie good...Michael Arden who played pippin was great except for when he forget the end of extraordinary..but he made up for it...4 out of 5 leading players were awesome...but rosie is still rosie so i love her...I LOVE TERRENCE MANN hes such a idol...miss amercia 1998 kate shindle was also amazing....all together a great cast...a great night..and a great after party...so happy i got to see it

best part of night...seeing john use rod as the decaptated head after war is a science

im really drunk also so im goin to bed...nightt yall

Updated On: 11/30/04 at 01:56 AM

more details please!!! you're holding out on us.... how was Julia Murney!? And i must hear more about jTags!

Murney was her usual fantastic self. Sexy and adorable with a voice that could cut through reinforced concrete (the woman does NOT need a microphone).

Ben Vereen looked and sounded amazing (I think he could STILL pull off the Leading Player, though they didn't let him dance -- he was the only one totally off-book though he hasn't done the role in probably two decades), as did Michael Arden as Pippin (he did very very well considering how long and demanding the role is and how little rehearsal he had -- love his voice), Terrence Mann as Charlemagne, Billy Porter, Kate Shindle and Darius de Haas who traded off Leading Player duties, little Harrison Chad as Theo, John Tartglia is various roles and Charles Busch as Berthe (though, as much as I love Charles, part of me was wishing Elaine Stritch or some other older actress could have done it).

The only real disappointment for me was Rosie O'Donnell who got to open the show with "Magic To Do" .........the horror ...... the horror. She can't sing -- as we ALL know -- so why did they give her that song of ALL songs to sing??????

They had a great dancing chorus that did Andy Blankenbuehler's choreography's extremely well (good choreography, but I missed the Fosse originals, ESPECIALLY for the Manson Trio), and an enormous choir of 80+ that blew everybody away with "Morning Glow" and several other numbers.

A fun night.

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Updated On: 11/30/04 at 02:09 AM

A round of applause to Jamie McGonnigal (ack, I fear I just butchered that name), Kate Shindle and all of the behind the scenes folks who made tonight happen. A second round of applause for all of the members of the chorus for such sweet sounds that blended together so well and well executed dancing sequences.

Cameron Mathison did a fine job being thrown in with a bunch of heavy hitters.

Julia Murney's voice was fantastic, ditto Laura Bennanti (though she seemed to be having mic problems).

Terrance Mann... such an entertaining actor.

The Leading Players, all of them made a seamless transition from one to the other, especially to welcome Ben Vereen at the end of the show. It was good to see him doing what he loves to do and I think the audience appreciated it more than they could express.

Last but not least Michael Arden as Pippin, a few minor issues but given how quickly this all came together, truly remarkable and enfused Pippin with such a boyish sense of wonder at the possibility of it all. His Corner of the Sky and Morning Glow were unbelievable. Major kudos to him and hopefully this will get him noticed for a nice, big role in a show down the line!

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I can't say enough good things about Pippin tonight! In fact, I don't even think I have anything bad to say. It was so good. Congratulations on a job well done to everyone involved!

Why didn't they let Rosie do Bertha? And OPEN with Ben. THAT would have set a nice tone. Was this recorded?

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There looked like a pro-shoot video set up in the back (though there wasn't anyone near the stage for closeups or any lighting adjustments for the cameras). It wasn't a true multi-camera shoot. I'm just guessing, but it looked to me like it was a basic taping for the producers of the event, but wasn't the kind of setup that would give you the sort of a high quality, first rate preservation one would expect if a video release was anticipated (but you never know......).

Equity, Schwartz et al would have to sign of on any commercial release and given the very rough overall quality of the performance (lots of fun to experience live, but not the sort of thing the creative team would want mass marketed, what with most of the actors having scripts in their hands) I highly doubt the tape would ever be released to the public. Not to mention, a professional taping of "Pippin" with Vereen, William Katt, Chita Rivera et al is already available on DVD and it is an outstanding representation of the show.

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But Sweeney was professionaly filmed with 4 or 5 cameramen and every moment captured from multiple angles, flawless sound and lighting adjustments being made to ensure a ideal videography conditions. Pippin was shot with one or two stationary cameras on tripods at the back of a looooong hall -- basically what's going to come out will be of the sort of mediocre quality you see of plays featured on NY1 On Stage or clips (with no camera angles and poor sound) that you see on tv news shows. This was not a professional commercial shoot, but a preservation for archival purposes.

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What about an audio recording of the show? That's a CD I'd love to own. I thought I read somewhere that the CD was to released in February.... I'd provide a link but I have no recollection of where I saw it, so sorry about thatI could be completely wrong.

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So what were the costumes like? Were there costumes?

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You guys said it all. It was a brilliant evening, and all for a good cause!

Just sorry I didn't catch up with more of you...

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For people who've seen Pippin before, did they cut any songs out from last night's concert?

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What a fun concert to watch...it was so good to see everyone having a good time. Here are the things that especially stood out to me: JULIA MURNEY. She is just fantastic. Very funny, and what a voice! DARIUS DE HAAS. Again, what a voice...even though toward the end of "Simple Joys" we started crossing the very fine line between riffing and completely rewriting melody, but he sounded so great I doubt even the composer would have argued with him. JOHN TARTAGLIA. Such a talented and funny actor, and so intelligent about what he does. TERRENCE MANN. He's just fun to watch. He doesn't really believe in consonants anymore, so it's kind of hard to understand what he's saying (or singing), but very funny and good to hear his still strong set of pipes. BEN VEREEN. Still lights up the stage. Voice is still going strong, and he still moves with the beautiful awareness of a Fosse dancer. And kudos for being completely off book.
And those are just the highlights. All in all, a fun concert for a great cause.