DVD/150: LIZA WITH A 'Z' (Bob Fosse, 1972, tv)

Three months after CABARET was released,  director Bob Fosse reunited with Liza Minnelli and composers John Kander and Fred Ebb for LIZA WITH A 'Z', "A Concert for Television".

Fosse refused to shoot on videotape, as was usual with TV specials, and used eight 16mm cameras to give it a filmic gloss.

Wearing designs by Halston with music co-ordinated by Marvin Hamlisch, Liza explodes with energy and is rarely offstage, usually surrounded by a chorus of Fosse's favourite dancers.

I was reminded of Pauline Kael's critique that it was hard to accuse Liza of going over-the-top as that was her default position and here she is pure showbiz electricity but the setlist allows her to show her vocal and dramatic range.

This setlist includes comedy, pop and easy listening numbers as well as a sizzling CABARET medley.

And of course, Fosse's distilled, sexy, magnificent choreography still dazzles.

Shelf or charity shop?  Shelf!  My brother had seen CABARET first and was so knocked out he bought the soundtrack of LIZA WITH A 'Z' which I soon appropriated.  The show is still a great achievement, Fosse managed to capture the pure essence of his star.  Remarkably after winning four Emmy Awards, the programme vanished from view after two repeats.  Liza owned the rights to it but assumed it was lost until she heard from Michael Arick, a film restoration expert, that he had found a print and after a lengthy restoration period, it was re-released in 2005 - he even found the deleted "Mein Herr" number from the CABARET medley.  Liza and Fosse's  Emmy Awards joined their Academy Awards  for CABARET; Fosse's Tony awards for PIPPIN in the same year made him the only director to win the Best Director awards in theatre, film and television in a single year.

50 Favourite Musicals: 27: PIPPIN (1972) (Stephen Schwartz)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

  

First performed: 1972, Imperial Theater, NY

First seen by me: 1998, Bridewell, London

Productions seen: Three

Score: Stephen Schwartz
Book: Roger O. Hirson / Bob Fosse

Plot: A strolling band of players invite us to watch them perform their show about Pippin, the restless son of King Charlemagne.  Pippin is unloved at court with his distant father and scheming stepmother Fastrada who is pushing her clueless son to become heir.  Pippin is caught in an existential quandary - where can he find a purpose?  War, sex, revolution, the simple life...  Pippin tries them all, but The Leading Player seems to know exactly what Pippin is there for...

Five memorable numbers: MAGIC TO DO, CORNER OF THE SKY, NO TIME AT ALL, SPREAD A LITTLE SUNSHINE, KIND OF WOMAN

Stephen Schwartz had written PIPPIN in the late 1960s while at university so with the success of 1971's GODSPELL, producers asked if he had any other shows.  PIPPIN was dusted off and rewritten but the 1960s echoes through the plot - a young man's existential crisis - but it's the ghost of Bob Fosse, the original director/choreographer, that haunts subsequent productions. Fosse threw Schwartz and Hirson's concept out and gave it what is now recognized as the Fosse style - needless to say, the rehearsal period was marked with frequent spats between director and composer.  1972 was the year Fosse won the three main Director showbiz awards: Academy Award (CABARET), Emmy Award (LIZA WITH A Z) and the Tony Award for PIPPIN.  He even directed a revolutionary TV ad for PIPPIN - a whole minute of star Ben Vereen as The Leading Player and two chorus girls doing a quintessential Fosse number 'The Manson Trio' - the voice-over then announced you could see the other 119 minutes of PIPPIN at the Imperial Theater; a simple idea but it was the first theatre ad to focus on just one song; the show ran for four and a half years!  In London, it famously flopped despite Fosse recreating his production.  That slinky, sexy Fosse style has been lurking in all three productions I have seen - with directors adding their own spin on top of it, throwing concepts on it to divert attention from the skimpy-but-bizarre book.  Although amusing enough, it cannot really contain the weighty themes it raises.  The eventual collapse of the players' make-believe world which leaves Pippin and his lover Catherine facing life with no coloured lights or music feels more like it just ran out of steam - the idea was better realized in INTO THE WOODS with fairy-tale characters, having sacrificed their Narrator, suddenly faced with having to create their own ending.  I don't think I have seen a fully successful production but what always has me returning to the show is Schwartz's score - his finest - which, although sometimes at odds with the book, features some dazzling Broadway show tunes: the wonderful seductive opening number "Magic To Do", Pippin's 'I Want' number "Corner Of The Sky", Berthe's infectious, sing-a-long "No Time At All", Fastrada's dissembling "Spread A Little Sunshine", the choral loveliness of "Morning Glow", Catherine's pop-infused "Kind of Woman" and her break-up ballad "I Guess I'll Miss The Man" are enough to make me overlook any other flaws - oddly enough the 1972 cast recording was on Motown Records, which explains why Michael Jackson and The Supremes covered songs from the score.

There is plenty of video representation of PIPPIN but you cannot improve on the best... here is Ben Vereen in his Tony Award-winning role as the Leading Player seductively enticing us to enter the unsettling word of his troupe of players with MAGIC TO DO, truly one of the best opening numbers ever.  This was taken from a 1981 performance that was recorded for Canadian Television but what it does is immortalize Vereen's magnetism and Fosse's choreography, directed here by his PIPPIN dance captain Kathryn Doby who - among other Fosse credits - was one of the Kit Kat girls in his film of CABARET.

PIPPIN at the Southwark Playhouse - Magic to do...

Stephen Schwartz first wrote PIPPIN in the late 1960s while at university.  With the success of his musical GODSPELL in 1971, it was natural that he was asked if he had anything else in the trunk...  The concept of PIPPIN was dusted off although none of the original songs survived.  The 1960s still hangs over the show's plot - a young man's search for the meaning of his life - but oddly enough it's the spirit of the original director/choreographer that tends to hang over it's revivals.

He was Bob Fosse and he continues to shape revivals in almost the same way as Pippin's nemesis, The Leading Player, shapes the show.  It really is quite fascinating... When presented with Roger O. Herson's book and Schwartz' score, Fosse threw their whole concept out and gave it what is now recognized as the Fosse style - helped immeasurably by Tony Walton's stylized sets, Patricia Zipprodt's playful Commedia dell' Arte costumes and Jules Fisher's imaginative lighting design.

The rehearsal period was marked with frequent spats between Fosse and Schwartz, who at one point tried to pull rank by reminding him he *was* the composer of GODSPELL.  Fosse threw him out of the rehearsal room.  This was to be the year when Fosse did the unique trick of winning the three main Director awards across the showbiz board: Academy Award (CABARET), Emmy Award (LIZA WITH A Z) and the Tony Award for PIPPIN.

Although it didn't receive the best reviews, Fosse had an idea how to perk up the box office; he filmed a television ad which consisted of a whole minute of star Ben Vereen as The Leading Player and two chorus girls doing a quintessential Fosse number 'The Manson Trio' - how did he get away with that?? - strutting and primping against a backdrop of the show's logo.  The voice-over said you could see the other 119 minutes of PIPPIN at the Imperial Theater; a simple idea to us now but then it was revolutionary and the show ran for four and a half years!  In London, it famously flopped, lasting only 85 performances despite Fosse directing a cast of Paul Jones, Elisabeth Welch, John Turner, Diane Langton and Patricia Hodge.

Fosse's sexy, dangerously slinky style has been in evidence in the two previous productions I have seen and the last Broadway revival dropped the Commedia idea for a circus troupe... it's almost like all is thrown at a production to divert attention from the skimpy-but-bizarre book...

A bunch of strolling artists, under the direction of the Leading Player, present the story of Pippin, the eldest son of King Charlemagne, who struggles to understand his place in the world and how he can possibly be a credible successor to his war-mongering - and distant - father.  He isn't helped by his scheming stepmother Fastrada who is ever watchful for her own son's advancement.  He goes to war with his father but finds it an ugly business, he visits his exiled grandmother Berthe and follows her advice to live for the moment but finds hedonism an empty experience too.  

Pippin then is led to believe that revolution is the way forward and is tricked into murdering Charlemagne, but the compromises he has to make in politics make him flee.  Eventually he finds a home with Catherine, a young widow and her son on her farm... but again, he leaves her, still unconvinced that is his lot in life.  Through all of this The Leading Player has been initiating the action so reveals to Pippin (and the young strolling player who is pretending to be the character) that his purpose in life is to provide a Grand Finale... to jump into a ball of fire.  Will The Leading Player get the Finale to their show... or does Pippin finally come to his senses?

For all the nods to Alienation and Meta-staging, by the time the show-within-a-show goes off the rails thanks to the young player not wanting to die for Art, I for one am fed-up with Pippin, who has been fairly tiresome all the way through it... I usually side with The Leading Player... anything for a Grand Finale and give the punters some bang for their buck.

Herson's book, although at times amusing enough, cannot really contain the weightier themes it raises or more importantly, use it's characters, in particular Fastrada, Charlemagne and Berthe, all of whom are more interesting than drippy Pippin.  The eventual collapse of the make-believe world when the Leading Player closes down the show and leaves Pippin and Catherine to face life with no coloured lights or music feels like it ran out of steam rather than pose any major break in the story-telling; this was accomplished much more successfully in INTO THE WOODS when the fairy-tale characters sacrifice their Narrator to the murdering Giant, only to find themselves lost in the story with no idea how to end it.

What always has me returning to the show is Schwartz's score - his finest - which again doesn't quite fit within the meta-world of the book, but features some dazzling Broadway show tunes: it's wonderfully seductive opening number "Magic To Do", Pippin's 'I Want' number "Corner Of The Sky", Berthe's infectious, sing-a-long "No Time At All", Fastrada's dissembling "Spread A Little Sunshine", the choral loveliness of "Morning Glow", Catherine's pop-infused "Kind of Woman" and her break-up ballad "I Guess I'll Miss The Man" are enough to make me overlook any other flaws in the show - oddly enough the original cast recording was on Motown Records, which explains why Michael Jackson and The Supremes covered songs from the score.

This production started life at Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre and it filled the Southwark Playhouse space well with Maeve Black's design of the faded glamour of the touring troupe's Victorian music-hall proscenium and thrust stage.  It was directed in a no-nonsense style by Jonathan O'Boyle which certainly played to the show's strengths: my only issue with his direction is that he really should have toned down his two leading ladies - Genevieve Nicole's Leading Player was overstated and too obvious while Mairi Barclay, in the twin roles of Fastrada and Berthe, seemed to be channeling Janette Krankie for the former and Su Pollard for the latter.

I did enjoy Jonathan Carlton's questing Pippin - although Maeve Black's costumes just seemed to accentuate both his and Ms Nicole's chunky backsides - Rhidian Marc was good fun as Charlemagne, Tessa Kadler gave Catherine a winning naturalness and I also liked Scott Hayward as Theo, Catherine's stroppy son; he also features in the show's coda which was added in 1998, Catherine and Pippin leave the dark stage to start life without coloured lights or music only for Theo to walk onto it and be immediately confronted by The Leading Player and the troupe... life (and death) begin again...  

A special mention for Aaron J. Dootson's impressive lighting and the equally impressive choreography by William Whelton - and to Bob Fosse for his original choreography for 'The Manson Trio' routine, you cannot improve on the best.

I last saw PIPPIN seven years ago in a not-very-good production at the Menier... I hope it's not another seven until I can see it again.

I suspect that the continued success of WICKED in the West End has played it's part in the Menier Chocolate Factory staging of Stephen Schwartz' 1972 musical PIPPIN. The Menier has now an established success with reviving musicals that deserve being revisited in different production styles from their originals - A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, SWEET CHARITY, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and most famously of all SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Timothy Bird's video-based production design, which made SUNDAY such a gloriously visual experience, features again in this production but sadly the effect is not as successful in the hands of director Mitch Sebastian.

PIPPIN was first seen on Broadway in 1972 in an acclaimed production directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. It was Fosse's golden year which also saw the release of his iconic screen version of CABARET and within a year he became the only person to win the Best Director Academy Award, Best Director Tony Award and Best Director Emmy Award (for the tv special LIZA WITH A Z).

John Rubenstein played Pippin, the questioning, drop-out son of Emperor Charlemagne, whose CANDIDE-like journey through his life was told by a 70s' style Comedia dell'Arte troupe of strolling players and narrated by the charismatic Leading Player which provided a perfect vehicle (and Tony Award) for the wonderful Ben Vereen.

The cast also included BEVERLY HILLBILLIES star Irene Ryan as Pippin's grandmother Berthe, Leland Palmer as Pippin's scheming stepmother Fastrada, Jill Clayburgh as the widow Catherine - a role understudied by the young Ann Reinking who was also in the chorus, in only her third Broadway role.

The show's pop/rock score - released on Motown of all labels - and Fosse's signature style caught the time's anti-establishment vibe and the show ran for a remarkable five years.

In London it ran a mere 85 performances when Fosse brought it to the Her Majesty's Theatre in 1973 despite a great cast of Paul Jones (Pippin), Elisabeth Welch (Berthe), Diane Langton (Fastrada) and Patricia Hodge (Catherine).

I saw the show when it was revived at the Bridewell Theatre in 1996 by Mitch Sebastian which starred David Burt, Michael Jibson, Mazz Murray and Juliette Caton which highlighted the troublesome book by Roger O. Hirson which strives for a Brechtian approach to telling Pippin's story but without a director like Fosse's ultra-theatrical style, it looks pretty threadbare.

So Mitch Sebastian is having another crack at it at the Menier, only now he has rehauled the show to give it the appearance of a computer game which, while intriguing to watch, can do nothing to hide the limited range of the book - indeed by the end of it it the show can't help but collapse under the weight of the concept. Retaining some of Fosse's original choreography only highlights the slight desperation of other part's of the concept - and sadly that's all it remains: a concept, not a thought through production. The show's structure of Pippin going through various different adventures can certainly lend themselves to the idea of going through computer game levels but it only serves to make the piece darker (in all ways) than it needs to be - the Leading Player's final twist to Pippin's tale comes as no surprise as we are now used to Sebastian's heavy-hand.

There are hidden gems lurking within the production however. Harry Hepple is an engaging Pippin with a fine singing voice, a charming playing style and it made you wish he was in a better production. Carly Bawden was a delight as Catherine, bringing a freshness to the show's jadedness.Ian Kelsey was anonymous as Charlemagne and Matt Rawle over-played the Leading Player to such an extent that he was practically unwatchable by the end. However Frances Ruffelle made the most of the scheming Fastrada and, in the performance of the show, Louise Gold made Berthe's solo number "Time To Start Living" into a real wake-up number, performing it in a Gracie Fields style. I have always had a fondness for Schwartz's score and the original Broadway score is a much-played cd - the songs just about came through unscathed in this production but the score's Broadway roots constantly strained against Sebastian's TRON effects.