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Pippin

Ben Vereen (Actor), William Katt (Actor), David Sheehan (Director) | Rated: Unrated | Format: VHS Tape

3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Actors: Ben Vereen, William Katt, Leslie Denniston, Benjamin Rayson, Martha Raye
Directors: David Sheehan
Writers: Bob Fosse, Roger O. Hirson
Producers: David Sheehan, Carol Scott, Hillard Elkins, Michael Pataki, Susan Haymer
Format: NTSC, Import
Number of tapes: 1
MPAA Rating:
Studio: Vci Video
VHS Release Date: Oct 10 2000
Run Time: 112 minutes

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

ASIN: B00004W5VH

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Product Description

Additional Features

In a 6.5-minute segment, video producer David Sheehan offers a retrospective of Bob Fosse's career along with a brief interview conducted at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, where Fosse's All That Jazz was honored with a Palm d'Or. Inconveniently, the DVD's scene-selection menu provides brief descriptions of each scene but only a few of the song titles, making it hard to jump to a specific song you want to hear.

Amazon.com Essential Video

Here's a Broadway musical about a young man who sets out to discover true meaning in his life, dabbling in war, sex, and politics before finding love. That may sound conventional, but it isn't. The title character of Pippin is the son of Charlemagne, the 9th-century emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and when Bob Fosse directed the original Broadway production in 1972, he transformed what had begun as a fairly innocent college project for composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz into a burlesque filled with broad comedy, bawdy characters, and magical but dark situations. Pippin (played by William Katt, of TV's The Greatest American Hero) embarks on his quest, all the way coaxed and goaded by a narrator figure known as the Leading Player (Ben Vereen) while his stepmother (Chita Rivera) schemes.

Schwartz's pop-rock score may not be as recognizable as his work for Godspell and various animated films (The Prince of Egypt, Disney's Pocahontas), but it does include the soul-driven opener "Magic to Do" (showing off Fosse's signature white gloves), the soaring "Corner of the Sky," the lovely ballad "With You" (indelicately presented in a brothel), and the romping "No Time at All" (by Martha Raye as Pippin's grandmother). Not as technically polished as newer shows preserved on video (Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), this live 1981 performance of Pippin is probably of greatest interest to Fosse fans as a record of his striking vision. (The original show won five Tony Awards, including for Fosse's direction and choreography and Vereen's performance.) Note, however, that this Canadian television production was supervised, not directed, by Fosse, and is missing some numbers from the original show. --David Horiuchi

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The cast is better than the CD, July 9 2004

Templeton C. Moss "Templeton Moss" (Taylorsville, KY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pippin (DVD)

That's right! I said it! John Rubinstein's voice is not strong enough to play Pippin. He sounds like Henry Gibson singing...anyone? Henry Gibson? "Laugh-In"? He was the voice of Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web?" No one? Okay, moving on...William Katt however not only sings "Corner of the Sky" he relishes it. He savors every note, and that's the way it must be sung. You wouldn't sing "Do You Hear the People Sing" unless you can handle it and you shouldn't sing "Corner" without some serious chops....or props...or snaps, or whatever the hell else it is that means "talent, abilities." I also think that Ben Vereen does better live than in the studio. That's right, I think Ben Vereen gave a better performance than Ben Vereen! Not even Ben Vereen could've matched Ben Vereen as a...no, this is silly. Look, the CD's fine, but the movie's better. The arrangements, the performances, and the fact that they cut my least favorite song "I Guess I'll Miss the Man."

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4.0 out of 5 stars Despite the quality a MUST have, Feb 7 2004

TJinPhilly "tjinphilly" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pippin (DVD)

I have been reading the many good and bad reviews and thought I should add something. I am an expert on Bob Fosse and his work. This particular production was pulled together by Kathryn Doby (Bobby's assistant for years). It was rather hasty in putting together as it was meant for a television broadcast. In the process of setting the time format for television many cuts were made to the original script, which unfortunetly are now not available. What is important about this version is it allows the closest view of Bobby's original work that we may ever have. Bob worked on this show while at great odds of the composer (Schwartz), to the point of having him barred from rehersals. It is amazing the show ever made it to where it got. The fact that we can still see the original art that was the choreography of Bobby, is the ONLY reason that this video should be in your collection. He won the Tony award for his work on this show (he also won the oscar for Cabaret and the Emmy for Liza with a Z this same year, the ONLY director to EVER do that) Enjoy!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good record of 1981 made for television performance..., Aug 10 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Pippin (DVD)

I had never seen Pippin before, so I don't have a stage comparison. Most of the complaints are about the video quality and the sound. First, this was filmed as a television production, not for screen or home video. Some of the reviewers have forgot that fact when complaining about the video and sound. VHS was just beginning to take off and very few cinemas had multi-channel sound. I have a VHS tape of a concert film made at that time, "The Last Waltz" and the sound from those live performances aren't too good either. If they ever release the video TV special "Liza with a Z", it will probably be of this quality too. But, it's the performances that are worth watching. Just seeing Ben Vereen's dancing in "Glory" makes this DVD worthwhile.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Broadway Baby Says WAAAAAAAAAH!
I saw Pippin years ago on Broadway and loved it... I was so excited to renew my aquaintance with it when I bought the DVD! Read more

Published on July 14 2003 by Catty

4.0 out of 5 stars Hit and miss.
The cast was a hit and a miss. Chita Rivera and Ben Vereen are wonderful. William Katt was wrong for the role, but he has the stage presence and personality to pull it off. Read more

Published on Jan 22 2003 by Edward C. Panusko