Pippin: His Life and Times (1981) (TV)

Director:

David Sheehan

Writer:

Roger O. Hirson (musical)

Genre:

History | Musical | Romance | War

Plot:

At the goading of the ominous and omnipresent Leading Player, Pippin, the eldest son of King Charlemagne, samples life's pleasures to discover his place in the world and the meaning of his life. |

Plot Keywords:

King | Stage Play | Love | Patricide | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ben Vereen	...	The Leading Player
William Katt	...	Pippin
Leslie Denniston	...	Catherine
Benjamin Rayson	...	Charlemagne
Martha Raye	...	Berthe
Chita Rivera	...	Fastrada
Joanie P. Oneill	...	Player
Debra Phelan	...	Player
Linda Haberman	...	Player
Kate Wright	...	Player
Allison Williams	...	Player
John Mineo	...	Sword Bearer
Charles Lee Ward	...	Peasant
Lee Mathis	...	Beggar
Frank Mastrocola	...	Noble

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Elkins Entertainment

Trivia:

The first Broadway musical to be videotaped in live performance for television broadcast. The Mary Martin version of "Peter Pan" was broadcast live in 1955 and 1956, and videotaped in 1960, but all these telecasts were done at the NBC television studios, not in a theatre before a live audience.

Quotes:

Charlemagne: Your brother Luis is an ideal soldier: he is strong and stupid.

Soundtrack:

Extraordinary

Wonderful, but strays from original

I'm in a production of Pippin (Player, Girl, Beggar, Courtier), and one day, my director sat us down and screened this movie for us. Well, Ben Vereen is fantastic!!! And Chita Rivera IS Fastrada. I don't think that anyone else can pull off being sexy in the same way that she does. The only one who blew it in my book was William Katt. He was a HORRIBLE Pippin. And what the heck was he doing bouncing around the stage like that yelling the line "GLORY'S IN THE AIR!" And the only thing that didn't tickle me like the rest of the movie did (the bedroom scene was HILARIOUS)was the cuts. They cut out Theo's duck dying and most of the lines when Pippin was made King. Some of the adlibs, I admit, were pretty funny, i.e. when the leading player yells at Catherine about flubbing the line ("But he touched my hand, they don't normally do that!" "I don't care WHERE he put his hands!"), but others were just really dumb. And the orgy scene made me blush furiously. Now, I admit, my production is cutting the bed scene and the duck dying, but it would've been better if we hadn't. The same applies for this. But other than that, this is a great movie.