Bruce-39 Review of Pippin: His Life and Times

Pippin: His Life and Times (1982 TV Movie)

Very disappointing to anyone familiar with the musical.

[4/10 · 15 November 1998]

This should have been great, but anyone familiar with the stage production will be disappointed. Great numbers are cut, (esp. most of Fastrada's "Spread a Little Sunshine" and all of Catherine's "I Guess I'll Miss the Man"). So are important lines, such as Pippin's discussion with the severed head after the poorly staged "Glory." When Pippin is king, he and others refer to critical lines that were cut, making the scene incomprehensible. They cut the death of Theo's duck, which is so important to that part of the show, and without which the rest of that that section makes no sense. They would have done better to cut all the ad libs and most of Martha Raye's pathetic (what's with the microphone?) appearance as Berthe. And to cap it all off, William Katt blows the final--and most important--line in the show, destroying the entire point of the production.