Baldwinsville Theatre Guild resurrects ‘Pippin’ with jazz hands and 1970s sensibility intact (review)

Long before his Broadway mega-hit “Wicked” hit the stage, songsmith Stephen Schwartz scored big with “Pippin.” His 1971 “Godspell” had been an off-Broadway triumph, but this new musical, produced on the Great White Way the very next year, was infused with the spirit of the era, not yet that far off from the summer of love. Now enjoying an exuberant production by Baldwinsville Theatre Guild, “Pippin” may show its age, but it’s still a very enjoyable rollercoaster ride of a show.
An episodic tale of a young man trying to find his way in life, the show resurrects an obscure figure from medieval history as its hero. We know very little about the historical Pépin le Bossu, the son of emperor Charlemagne and leader of an aborted rebellion against his father. “Pippin” the musical reimagines his character as the prototype seeker trying to find “his thing.”