Pippin DVD

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:33pm

Is this a full stage musical, or just a Pippin in concert?????? I think I want to get it, but want to know more about it. Tell me what you guys think about it......

[theatreboi11]

Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:40pm

I know there is a recording of the full show. I remember renting it from blockbuster when I was way younger. Not sure if they have brought this to dvd yet or if there is more than one version.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:42pm

There was a video recording of Pippin and it is indeed the entire show. I believe it was taped in LA circa 1980. It stars Ben Vereen, William Katt (Greatest American Hero) and Chita Riveira. I definately enjoy it and fans of the show, Schwartz, Vereen or Riveira should definately own it.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/3/05 at 11:43pm

I should have mentioned it in my first post, but that is indeed the one I'm talking about, Thank you!!!!!!

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 2:07am

Yeah....it is and I own it and watch alot...I think it was filmed in Toronto though....Im not sure...I don't like the ending though.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 8:26am

Bob Fosse was not happy with this filming and actually apologised to people about it. There are some strange cuts in it,but it is still enjoyable, especially Chita Rivera.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 8:53am

It's the show in an abbreviated form. There were many cuts made.

[Justice]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 9:34am

Actually, the cuts were made for the video...however, the DVD features the entire unedited version.
Also, this was the national tour production.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 9:43am

Is all of Fastrada's dance on the DVD? It's butchered on the video.

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:15pm

Okay, I bought the DVD, so I should get to see the entire show, right??????

Unmasked05, the ending that you don't like......is it different from the normal Pippin ending??????

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:22pm

The ending is the same, but it is one of the worst endings for any show I've ever seen. It's like nobody could figure out how to end the show. Once you see it you'll know what I'm talking about.

[gustof777]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:48pm

i LOATHE the ending to this video....it is the WORST ending ever to a musical and its soo sad because up to that point i love the show...when a neighboring school did it this is how it ended.
SPOILER
The company after trying to get him to take the fire or whatever stripped him and then he said just like the video and starts to walk off but the little boy sings accapella the first few lines of corner in the sky and the company surrounds him and the lights go down with the audience knowing that they'll try the same thing with him like they did pippin it was really creepy and cool!!

[cturtle]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 1:01pm

the only DVD edition i know of is the one with WILLIAM KATT. yes, there are cuts and some poor editing. but the worse thing about it is the poor sound quality
pippin dvd on amazon

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 1:25pm

That's the one I got, but I assume that it's the only one, so it isn't supposed to be cut

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 1:35pm

I just did some research on this. The DVD only has eight more minutes of footage than the video. It is still an incomplete performance. As some others have hinted, it IS poorly filmed.

[Hogarth]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 5:01pm

It's better than NOTHING. But it does have a LOT of cuts. There is a revised ending now that is the one sent out the theatres doing the show.

The DVD is a performance that was done in Australia.

I think the saddest loss is that we don't get to see Irene Ryan do her Tony-nominated performance as Berthe. Martha Raye is fine, but I love the way Irene sounds on the Cast Album.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 5:03pm

"The DVD is a performance that was done in Australia."

Why was I thinking this PIPPIN production was shot in Canada?

[Justice]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:04pm

I coulda sworn it was the national tour.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:08pm

Didn't Irene Ryan die during the B'way run? Is that right?

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:10pm

No, sorry, it was Canada. Definitely not Australia. And I believe it was a production put together for the video.

Yep, Irene Ryan died during the Broadway run.

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:18pm

I am leaving my cheese to sour and going to rent this right now!

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 6/4/05 at 11:53pm

I heard that Irene Ryan died backstage after singing her number......BTW, was she alive by the Tony Awards??????

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 12:18am

It was filmed in the early 80s in Toronto. It wasn't a tour but a production assembled for video performance, though it does feature a lot of people who did the show either originally or in the national tour. Supposedly the entire show was filmed. There have been at least three different edits of it: 1) for television 2) for video release 3) for a second video release (with much of the sex removed).

It's a shame the dvd didn't restore the entire production and do some sound correction, but its still a pretty invaluable doccument of one of the most inventive Broadway staging of the 1970s.

[Hogarth]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 2:34am

Hmmmmmmmmm.....wonder what I have it mixed up with. I thought the intro showed the exterior of the theatre and it was that Australian theatre....

I went to check, and of course, I loaned my copy out. A local group is having auditions this weekend and everyone comes to me to borrow stuff....grrrrrrrr!

Sorry if I misled anyone. Maybe it was the name of the theatre that stuck in my head. Now I will have to wait until I get it back. *sigh* I will just sit here in my corner of the sky.

[Hogarth]

Posted: 6/5/05 at 2:40am

Oh - Irene did suffer a stroke onstage during a Saturday matinee. She never returned to the show, but was taken to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California (her home was in California), and passed away a few weeks later. I met Donna Douglas once and asked her about Irene, and Donna said that she couldn't speak or respond to visitors, but was aware that they were there.

Irene Ryan was an old vaudeville veteran and I don't think there could have been a better way to go, if she had to go....singing a solo in a big Broadway show.