Sunday, September 27, 2009

Pippin

THEATER 18
-summer 1988
Back to the Pennington Players and Washington Crossing for another summer show, this time the really cool musical PIPPIN. This was the play that Mr. Mankowski had directed my sister and baby brother in, back at P.H.S. in 83'. Judi directed, and i was a dancer once more. There were no trees for me to play this time, but we joked that i'd be the easel. I also played the severed head who speaks to Pippin on the battlefield. They built a box that my head popped out of. It was fun. Newcomer Amy Gilroy played Katherine, and dated newcomer Walt Cupit, who played Pippin. They were very good, and i got on well with them. And Diane Wargo, my otherworldly choreographer from high school, was the narrator. It was so great to be around her again, and she even flirted with me (though i couldn't quite imagine it was anything other than playfulness). But it's funny, her presence finally made me ever so faintly self-conscious about not having a larger role. Betty Henninger played the sassy grandmother Berthe, and i realized that this was a role i wanted to play someday. John Kling played the narcissistic Louis. John Blackwell, a fun guy, played Pippin's father. The fact that i remember more about four or five lines i had as a severed head, than i can about being a dancer for an entire show, is revealing. I had known all along that there were other area companies doing summer shows, but i'd never looked into them, with an eye to picking auditions with roles for me, because loyalty and family meant a lot to me.

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