Clever circus staging reframes 'Pippin' as true spectacle

If ever there was a musical that desperately needed a visionary director to shape it into a triumph of style over substance, that would be "Pippin." And by all accounts, the national tour of the 2013 award-winning Broadway revival exceeds those demands as it inventively wows crowds at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre.

Diane Paulus won a directing Tony Award for hitting on the brilliant idea to reframe the 1972 musical within the confines of a diabolical circus. Paulus smartly teamed with circus choreographer Gypsy Snider of the Canadian troupe Les 7 doigts de la main to fill the stage with a near endless swirl of fearless performers doing daring balancing, contortion and other acrobatic feats. Paulus also honors Bob Fosse's original staging by bringing aboard former "Pippin" cast member Chet Walker to choreograph the dances in the iconic angular style of the late director-choreographer.

With so many dazzling onstage sights, it's easy to overlook how the writing for "Pippin" itself isn't all that distinguished. Ostensibly about the aimless son of Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne, who tries to find a life purpose circa 780 A.D., "Pippin" is really more of an artistic reaction to America's countercultural turmoil of the times in terms of war, protest, free love and general notions of nonconformity.

Book writer Roger O. Hirson's disjointed script is unashamedly hippie-dippy in its outlook. And though the pop score by Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell," "Wicked") is confidently tuneful, its overall content often feels slight. Nonetheless, one can take away contemporary resonances in "Pippin" with current protests over police brutality and the plight of Iraq War veterans trying to reintegrate into American society.

In addition to its clever circus trappings, this "Pippin" works thanks to its ensemble of engaging performers. For genuine emotional despair and uncertainty, Sam Lips succeeds in the initially innocent title role alongside Kristine Reese as his love interest, the insecure widow Catherine.

Meanwhile, John Rubinstein as Charlemagne, Sabrina Harper as the manipulative queen Fastrada and Erik Altemus as the warrior Lewis all masterfully embody styles of broad physicality and playfully self-aware exaggeration.

Sasha Allen, best known as a finalist on "The Voice" TV show, largely commands in the narrating Leading Player. While I would have preferred a crisper lyric articulation and slightly more choreographic command from her, Allen ultimately wins you over with her ringmaster fierceness.

Most impressive, however, is Adrienne Barbeau as the grandmother Berthe, who defies all expectations performing an aerial duet with Keven Langlois Boucher in the singalong song of encouragement "No Time at All." This number alone shows that anything is possible with this "Pippin" revival. So gloss over its inherent faults and enjoy its rousing ride.

“Pippin”

   ½

Location: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or

broadwayinchicago.comShowtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; through Aug. 9Tickets: $29-$92Running time: About two hours and 40 minutes with one intermissionParking: Area pay garages and metered street parkingRating: For teens and older; features stylized war violence, sexual situations and drug use