Review: The Exciting Drury Lane Concert of Pippin Comes to Home Audiences

In April 2024, a band of traveling players embarked upon the Drury Lane Theatre in London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pippin, a musical collision of Stephen Schwartz’s idealism and Bob Fosse’s nihilism. Featuring a cast of West End and Broadway greats, a video of the concert is now streaming on BroadwayHD. This concert is not to be missed, thanks to Alex Newell, a powerhouse who blasts through Schwartz’s songs.

Pippin was a quintessential 1970s musical. It’s about the life of King Charlemagne’s son, Pippin—and yet, it is not.  The entire story is an exercise in convincing a young man how unfulfilling life is and that he should commit suicide in a ball of fire. That subversiveness is very Fosse, who turned the stage into a madhouse.

The score features delightful light rock standards: “Magic to Do,” “Morning Glow,” and “Corner of the Sky.” The book by Roger O. Hirson tells a simple story wrapped around a complex, evil machination of a troupe of demons who suck the life blood from young desperate men, only to be thwarted by the love of an ordinary woman.

Newell, who recently won a Tony for Shucked, has exuberant stage presence. Their voice contains a crisp belt, and they bring necessary maleficence to the Leading Player. Cedric Neal is charmingly pompous as the King, partnered with Zizi Strallen, who’s naughty and cutting as the “average housewife and mother” Queen Fastrada.

Patricia Hodge is a gem singing the Grandmother’s showstopping “No Time at All.” The one disappointment is the title character himself, played by Jac Yarrow. While the rest of the cast invest in their roles, Yarrow seems remote and uninvolved. He has a solid voice, but while everyone else is performing, he is merely singing.

Jonathan O’Boyle directs this concert with a passion expected in a full performance. Though there are no sets, the costumes by Polly Sullivan beautifully establish character, and O’Boyle directs the cast to full performances. The musical direction by Chris Ma and orchestrations by Simon Nathan, based on Larry Hochman’s originals, sound vital with a 25-piece orchestra and a backup choir of 50. Matthew Titterton of AdVision TV has captured the event for video.

As a whole, this production allows home audiences to feel the show’s magic. BroadwayHD deserves credit for letting this production shine, and I’d love to hear an audio recording of this event sometime as well.