A Look At Pippin

Post date: Feb 21, 2018 4:1:41 PM

Published 2/16/18

Peepin’ at Pippin with Lydia Noll

Isabel Nissley, '20

Isabel Nisley: How long have you been involved with theater?

Lydia Noll: Oh my gosh. My first show was in fifth grade, at Wyoming Middle School. I’ve done as much theater as I can here and outside of Walnut as I can find and get involved in.

IN: How did you get involved with theater?

LN: Honestly, I wanted to be Miley Cyrus when I was really little and so I’d sing, and I was always very animated and loud, so my mom was like ‘you should audition for the musical’. I was like ‘Okay’, and then I got in and I never got out of it.

IN: It seems like you’ve been a part of a lot of productions before this. What are the top three WHHS productions have you previously been a part of?

LN: Top three which I have acted in would probably be: She Kills Monsters, Agnes was my favorite role I’ve ever played ever, this [Pippin] is probably number two, and number three, even though I was just in the ensemble and I had like two lines, Ragtime, just because that was so special to be a part of.

IN: How would you compare your role in Pippin to roles in other productions?

LN: There’s a drastic difference between Pippin and She Kills Monsters for me mainly because in She Kills Monsters I was doing so much stage combat that my shoulder still hurts, I have bruises still. That was so physically demanding. In this show, I’m the only character besides my son who doesn’t have to dance and I just get to play around much more with her [Catherine] than with Agnes. This show was just a break from all of that physical stress on my body.

IN: So what is your role in the play?

LN: I play Catherine. She is a lovely young widow with a large estate and she has a son named Theo. She keeps falling in love with these guys who are playing Pippin and they keep leaving her because she’s not enough for them. And so throughout the show she goes through all of these different obstacles and Catherine is kind of showing him what ordinary life is like. He decides that he likes that, but at first he thinks, ‘Oh it’s not extraordinary enough’, and spoiler alert, he ends up falling in love with her and they change the whole course of everything. She’s really cool.

IN: What has been the most challenging part of playing this role?

LN: The most challenging part. Hm, probably just figuring out exactly how I want Catherine to be because she can be interpreted in a lot of different ways. I’m trying to find my mold of previous influences and my own thoughts and opinions on her and kind of developing a character that way. Also, not breaking the bed set piece has been a challenge. Because that happened yesterday.

IN: Oh no!

LN: It’s fine.

IN: What draws you to this show?

LN: I love how unique it is and how meaningful it is, and how the characters, especially Catherine and Leading Player, are very complicated and there’s a lot of depth to them underneath everything that we’re doing and everything that we’re saying. Because it’s a play within a play, you’re probably totally confused…

IN: Oh, like a Midsummer’s Night Dream thing?

LN: Yeah, except the entire time is the show and the Leading Player is controlling everyone. It’s a play within a play, but it’s also a cult, but it’s also a metaphor. I just love to dive into and analyze how deep and complicated everything is.

IN: Would you say any of the themes from Pippin could be applied to life today?

LN: Oh my god, so much. It’s literally about Pippin trying to find what fulfills him in life, and he’s looking for all these extraordinary things, and he sings this song during my section of the show called ‘Extraordinary’. He sings about how fixing the chicken house isn’t enough for me and I want to do something that’s really important and impacts people, but in reality, the things we need to focus on are the people that we love and the people that really impact our lives in a positive way, instead of people who manipulate us like Leading Player. I think it’s a really important play for a lot of people.

Dance Dance Revelation

Delaney Owens, '21

ALLYSON GARTH/ CHATTERBOX

From left to right: Lydia Noll, ‘19, Peter Godsey, ‘21, and SENIOR Augustus Corder. Corder plays Pippin, the protagonist. Noll plays Catherine, Pippin’s love interest and the mother of Theo, played by Godsey.

From The Lion King Jr. to Ragtime, the students of the WHHS theater department have impressed audiences and Cappies critics alike again and again. This year they are back on stage to lure audiences in to the colorful, magical world of Pippin. The production takes choreography on the high school stage to a new level.

Pippin reflects its Broadway counterpart, beginning with the flashy opening number, “Magic to Do.” The audience is introduced to the Leading Player, played by Maya Robinson, ‘19, who invites them to join the magic of the show. Meanwhile, the featured dancers and ensemble showcase some of the production’s most extensive choreography. The number also includes elements of acrobatics like flips and splits, reminiscent of a circus performance as the story begins.

The title character, Pippin, played by SENIOR Augustus Corder, is the son of the king, played by SENIOR Declan Robison, and a young actor in the Leading Player’s troupe. “[Pippin] is a show within a show, so a lot of what happens kind of highlights a lot of the different aspects of musical theater and dance and music,” SENIOR dance captain Nina Riber said. “I think it’s kind of a good way to showcase it.”

The choreography of Pippin is essential to its plot, especially for the ensemble and featured dancers, who express their part of the story almost entirely in dance. “I think [dance] is probably one of the most important parts,” dance captain Molly Munn, ‘20, said. “As the players, we’re trying to seduce Pippin. The music is what we do best, music and dance, to get [Pippin] to do what we want him to do.”

The emphasis that Pippin puts on dance to bring the show to life sets it apart from other WHHS musicals. “It’s really based on dance and a particular type of musical theater or choreography called Fosse, which is definitely different from other shows we’ve done,” featured dancer Grace Davis, ‘19, said.

Fosse style dancing, named for Pippin’s original choreographer, Bob Fosse, can be described as jazzy and sensual. In 1973, Fosse won two Tony awards for his inventive work on Pippin. He is also known for the choreography in the musical Chicago. One of the most famous Fosse dances is the “Manson Trio.”

Two featured dancers, Kennedy Nadermann, ‘20, and Colby James, ‘21, join the Leading Player for an iconic Fosse number combining jazz hands and the theme of war. As seen in this dance, Pippin relies on its dancers to show the allure of performance hand in hand with its many darker themes.

The theater department has never been afraid to push the limits and try new things. From the casting of a female Caesar in Julius Caesar to the thrilling stage combat of She Kills Monsters, their productions are anything but predictable. Pippin plays from Feb. 15 through 17.

ALL PHOTOS: ISABEL NISSLEY/CHATTERBOX

Musician in Pippin, Maddie Schade, ‘19, literally saw the “Its something that I don’t think any other school would Oliver Vockell, ‘20, plays the part of Lewis, Pippin’s scheming half brother.

show come together from a different angle. “I’m in pit have been able to pull off as far as the people that we “The show’s a lot about finding yourself,” Vockell said.

orchestra. Before yesterday, we were in the band room, have here and the whole cast,” Maya Robinson, ‘19, “People should be able to take away from it that you don’t have to find

rehearsing. Then we did what’s called a sitzprobe, where said. In the origional Pippin, the Leading Player was yourself in others, you don’t have to find yourself in the fantastic and

the actors come in and sing, mostly without any of their played by a man. In the revival, the role was adapted the wonderful, you can find yourself in the small things.”

blocking, to work on cues. It’s pretty stressful and tiring, for a woman. Robinson is carrying on that tradition.

but it’s fun,” Schade said. Singing a part written for a man has made the role more

complicated, “But I wouldn’t trade it,” Robinson said,

“it’s a pretty fun role, it’s pretty crazy and it’s nothing like

anything I’ve done at Walnut.”

Stage manager Martha Dameron, ‘19, ensures that the “[Working behind scenes of Pippin] it’s really fun,” Lighting designer Maya Eberhardt, ‘19, and master

production runs smoothly. “My role in Pippin is to make Ajah Tasker-Moore, ‘20, said, “I like to see it all electrician SENIOR Alex Mattingly are on the lighting

sure that the production keeps moving,” Dameron said, come together and see all the bits become a whole.” crew for Pippin. Eberhardt designed the light plot and

“It’s to make sure people are doing what they need to do Artists on the makeup team like Tasker-Moore Mattingly has helped to make the vision come to life.

when they need to do it. On the tech side its a lot of ‘are use their makeup skills to add more personality to “There’s a lot of scenes where we want it to be really

we on track to get all the props, are we on track to finish the characters on stage. “[Makeup] gives the creepy,” Eberhardt said, “I don’t want to give anything

all our costumes on time’ and stuff. During the show I’m characters more of a character, more of an identity. away, but there’s a group of people and we want them

generally calling cues so like when you see light changes, It’s different from what everyone else would to be as creepy as possible, so they’re in low light.

that’s me.” wear in the show,” Tasker-Moore said. Obviously I’m a little biased, but I think it’s really cool.”