The meaning of Pippin

[Phil B]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 12:38am

Just got back from Pippin at the Music Box. It was a truly amazing cast and production (but that's another thread....)

On the way back, we were discussing the meaning of the story, and had interpreted it differently. So I was interested to know what others felt:

By the end of the story, is Pippin satisfied and content with the simple life which he has established with Catherine, or is he disappointed that he isn't leading an extraordinary life (and has simply taken a safe option)? If he himself is satisfied, does the piece suggest that this is a disappointing outcome, and that in life, people should aim for more?

Maybe there are other interpretations....

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 12:49am

It's simple:
He grows up.

[John Adams]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 12:53am

It's been many years since I've seen Pippin, and I haven't seen this new production, but as I recall it, the Leading Player plays Devil's advocate in the end. He (she) forces him to look closely at what he has accomplished in his life by tempting him with the opportunity to abandon his current state of disappointment and (literally) go out in a blaze of glory.

From what I took away (and again, this was the original production), Pippin matured in that moment and came to the realization that his "simple" existence with Catherine and family is what's "extraordinary" in life.

_____________________
Just saw CurtainPullDowner's response... What he said! Updated On: 4/25/13 at 12:53 AM

[missthemountains]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 12:56am

CurtainPullDowner, I disagree. It is not that simple. Pippin does not simply "grow up".

Phil B, I think you are largely right. In many ways, I interpret Pippin to be Fosse's love and hate letter to musical theatre. I think the LP tries to convey to Pippin that his life won't have meaning unless it has a lot of spectacle in it-- for instance, he must become a hero in war, or have sex with lots of women, or if nothing works out, he should at least go out of this world with a bang ("an unparalleled finale"!).

Pippin runs from every option he chooses to go with his life, insisting that everything he tries is in someway flawed and unfulfilling. However during the finale he realizes that if he keeps running from things, he may avoid being tied down, but he's also prevented from being truly free. He realizes that he doesn't need a glamorous life in order to be happy ("I wanted magic shows and miracles/mirages to touch/I wanted such a little thing from life/I wanted so much"), and that sometimes the best things in life are the simple things, and that everyday life can be meaningful if you chose to be extraordinary in it. However, even though he DOES decide to ditch the fancy circus show biz life, by staying with Catherine, he does still feel a little bit of regret that he gave it up--thus making him trapped, but happy.

But hey, that's just my two cents.

Updated On: 4/25/13 at 12:56 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 12:59am

missthemountains, you have perfectly described growing up.
Simple joys.

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 1:02am

missthemountains, what an excellent post! Thank you for that. I agree wholeheartedly. :)

[Phil B]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 1:10am

I don't think it's as simple as saying that he grows up; the fact remains that some people do achieve extraordinary things (as Pippin attempts), even once they have grown up. Is the implication that Pippin has failed in life by not achieving these things, or that he has found the true meaning of life (and that extraordinary things aren't actually important), or that for most people, the reality is that grown-up life just isn't extraordinary?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 1:41am

I have heard that Pippin is somehow based or related to the Charles Manson trials...anyone care to explain that?

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 2:25am

For those who have seen it, does this production use the rewritten ending, with Theo singing "Corner of the Sky" and becoming the "next Pippin?"

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 2:46am

SPOILER*******************

I'd re-write the above with a Spoiler alert, by the way. Even just because it's....you know...THE ENDING. But it is the revised ending. See how easy that is without giving it away?

END OF SPOILER***********************


To the OP -- I think that its about life being what we make out it - Simple Joys CAN be extraordinary. Life without love/passion is unfulfilling. When we seek Glory for the sake of glory, it is empty.

Updated On: 4/25/13 at 02:46 AM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 6:43am

It is about Pippin growing up, but through a cynical and bittersweet lens rather than a happy one.

I always think about Franklin Shepard during the finale, especially when everyone starts calling him a compromiser. "Life isn't about doing the best, It's about doing the best you can. A goal is something you aim for more than something you achieve...Someday I guarantee you'll know 'practical' very well. Fate has a way of introducing us to practical eventually. And it's the same with the word compromise (Comprise?! I haven't even started!) Compromise is how you survive. (It's how you give up.) Compromise is the bottom line let me tell you."

Pippin has compromised all of his grand aspirations, and though I'm sure he's happy to be alive, he's not exactly jumping for joy about his fate with Catherine and the ordinary life. In fact he's trapped. Everything you do in life will be unfulfilling- when you find an option that's less painful than the others go with it and be happy you didn't get stuck with worse.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 7:04am

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!



Plays within plays always screw with my head. At the end of this revival, is the CHARACTER Pippin running away from the troupe with Catherine in tow, or is the ACTOR playing Pippin running away with the actress playing Catherine while the actor playing Theo stays behind to take on the role of Pippin?

[After Eight]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 8:37am

I don't think it has any meanng.

Certainly none worth exploring.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/25/13 at 9:58am

^ F**k you where you breathe, After Eight.

I see the meaning a little differently than just what's been stated so far in this thread. Yes, it's a quest for fulfillment and identity, but it's more than that. (My insights are partially based on Scott Miller's. Very insightful gentleman, though I know not all here agree with his views.)

=== SPOILER ALERT (thanks for reminding some of us to be more careful, dramamama) ===

Pippin is a young man with no idea what he wants from his life. Luckily, a traveling troupe of players appears who have helped other young men in Pippin's predicament. They offer to play out his life for him – with colored lights, music and dance, comedy and drama – so that he can try things in his search for fulfillment. With the players' help, his quest becomes a roller coaster ride of razzle-dazzle entertainment and seductively dangerous excesses.

What Pippin doesn't realize though, is that the players' only goal is for him to do their Grand Finale. They make sure he fails at everything so that the finale will be his only remaining opportunity to find perfection. But it's not until the big moment arrives that they tell Pippin what he has to do. They want him to get in a box and set himself on fire – "A glorious synthesis of life and death, and life again!" They want him to commit suicide, live on stage.

When Pippin resists, the Leading Player offers the opportunity to the audience. We can do the finale instead of Pippin. She says to us, "If you should decide to do so, we'll be there for you, waiting. Why, we're right inside your heads."

Up until that point, Pippin is a morality tale with the unpleasant lesson that complete fulfillment doesn't exist. Pippin thinks the world owes him happiness. When he can't find it, he's angry, confused, bitter. He's told he has to settle for an average life and the fulfillment of none of his ideals. But when Leading Player says to us, "Why, we're right inside your heads," suddenly it's a whole new ballgame. The players are in Pippin's mind. In fact, the whole show is Pippin's fever dream, a hallucination full of the magic he never found in his life, all happening in the moment before he kills himself. His family is populated by perverse stereotypes, his fantasies filled with frightening characters of his own creation. In reality, Pippin has been causing himself to fail at everything throughout the show, and he has been convincing himself to commit suicide.

=== END SPOILER ===