'Pippin' revival comes to Broadway

NEW YORK - The folks who brought magic to the new Pippin in Massachusetts are coming south to Broadway.

Producers on Monday said Matthew James Thomas would star this spring as Pippin; Patina Miller would be the Leading Player; Terrence Mann would be Charles; Charlotte d'Amboise would play Fastrada; Rachel Bay Jones would be Catherine, and Andrea Martin would play Berthe.

All starred in the show that ended its run last month at the American Repertory Theater outside Boston. Diane Paulus, who runs the theater, also directs the revival. Her revivals of both Hair and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess also went to Broadway and each won Tony Awards for best musical revivals.

A whimsical coming-of-age story about the son of the first Holy Roman Emperor, Pippin boasts pop-rock music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Schwartz's other hits include Wicked and Godspell.

Pippin opened in 1972 under the direction of Bob Fosse and ran for five years, winning five Tonys. It became a favorite with schools, summer stocks, and community theaters across the country.

Performances on Broadway begin March 23 at the Music Box Theatre.

Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, the Broadway original version starred Ben Vereen as the Leading Player, an emcee-like role that won him a best-actor Tony. John Rubinstein played Pippin, and the cast also included Jill Clayburgh and Ann Reinking.

In the new revival, the Vereen role is being filled by Miller, the Tony-nominated star of Sister Act. Thomas' credits include Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Mann was in Cats; Jones was in Hair; d'Amboise has been in Chicago and A Chorus Line; and Martin was in Young Frankenstein onstage and My Big Fat Greek Wedding on film.

 Gypsy Snider, an ex-Cirque du Soleil member who founded the Montreal-based collective known as 7 Fingers, has choreographed the circus parts of the show, and Chet Walker, who was in the original Pippin, has choreographed the dance parts in a Fosse style.