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Give 'em the old razzle-dazzle
'Pippin' is a glittering spectacle of smoke and mirrors

by Caitlin Berka

The musical "Pippin" is sort of like a caramel meringue from the fudge counter at Harrod's: delightfully pretty, exquisitely delicious, wrapped up in crinkly cellophane with a ribbon.

But after it's gone, you're left feeling empty and a little sugar-shocked.

Fortunately, this is exactly the message the show tries to get across as it follows the life of the eldest son of King Charlemagne in his quest for meaning and fulfillment.

Style mimics content in this gloriously self-indulgent collaboration between composer Stephen Schwartz of "Wicked" fame and the incomparable Bob Fosse. "Pippin," now playing at Foothill Music Theatre, plays out partly like a Punch-and-Judy jester show, partly like a variety hour, and partly like an orgy in a discotheque. Full of anachronisms and self-referential mumbo-jumbo, it manages to be meta-theatrical in its best moments and self-conscious in its worst. It may never find ultimate unity, but that's kind of the point.

Pippin (Nathan Baynard), a whiny adolescent searching for his purpose in life, comes home from school to find his father the king (Doug Baird) embroiled in a battle with the Visigoths. Pippin sets off for war to prove his worthiness to take over the throne, but discovers his conscience along the way and ends up shirking his inheritance in the name of his "true calling."

What follows is an onslaught of experimentation and self-reflection, aided by a band of vaudevillian chorus members who pop up to offer advice or distraction, until Pippin finally realizes what he wants out of life...or does he?

Though it takes place in the Dark Ages, "Pippin" is so steeped in the era of its creation that parts of it seem dated. The costumes and dance moves are pure '70s camp. The music is mostly mediocre and flashy. Everything is infused with a very Brechtian sense of alienation; the audience is made fully aware that this is purely for show.

For this reason alone, the intimate performance space at the Foothill College Playhouse is the perfect setting. It lets every overstated facial expression and every flourish of choreography be seen. The sometimes garish lighting, combined with the glitzy costumes and deep primary colors of the set, gives everything an air of unreality. That makes the surprising ending that much more effective.

One scene in particular, depicting one of Pippin's first sexual encounters, has him and his lady love rustling a bit beneath the sheets on a makeshift bed upstage, while a man and woman clad in body stockings and fig leaves perform a stylized sex-dance involving a lot of awkward leaping and missed catches.

And in a scene that comes remarkably close to "A Clockwork Orange," three of the ensemble members tap dance to saccharine elevator music while stylized battle scenes take place in the background. The screen on the back wall displays war statistics from the Visigoths, Vietnam, and finally Iraq. Subtlety, apparently, is dead.

Despite an experimental and sometimes abstruse script, the actors give laudable performances for the most part. Baynard's nebbish interpretation of Pippin is right on cue, if a bit shrill and grating at times. He is the embodiment of indecision, a rash idealist whose dreams end up falling flat as he is unprepared to take on reality. His balladic "Corner of the Sky" was slightly off key and included some weird flapping gestures but was nonetheless spot-on in terms of character development.

The true star of the show, however, is Rudy Guerrero as the Leading Player. A talented dancer and convincing actor, he exudes confidence and competence as he steers the direction of the plot like a puppeteer, walking the line between master manipulator and crazed control-freak with care and poise.

Doug Baird's Charlemagne is perhaps the most realistic character, and his performance definitely stands out in this contrived, insular world of exaggerated expression and camp. He manages to play the king sympathetically and is the true grounding center of the show, if there is one.

There are also some wonderful supporting performances, notably from Coco Dolenz as Berthe, Pippin's hedonistic grandmother who gets a cute, upbeat song about living for the moment. Carrie Madsen as Fastrada, the wicked stepmother who looks like a cross between Jezebel and Addison Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy," is delightfully bitchy. Her sniveling son Lewis (Andrew Ceglio) inserts some hilariously creepy Oedipal undertones into his dance numbers.

When all is said and done, nothing is really resolved at the end of "Pippin" -- but that is perhaps as it should be. Despite an overly self-conscious concept, a schizophrenic narrative, and a weird bit with a duck that I still don't quite understand, it is a show worth seeing and worth pondering. And maybe, just maybe, it really is built to last.

What: Foothill Music Theatre presents "Pippin"

Where: Foothill College Playhouse, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos

When: Through March 11, Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m.

Cost: $24 general, $22 for seniors, $18 for students, and $10 for children under 12.

Info: Call 650-949-7360 or go to www.foothillmusicals.com.