Flashing lights, dancing acrobats, young and angelic voices, all from the performance of Pippin, East Meck’s 2024-2025 musical. Though the musical is about a two and a half hour watch (including the intermission), there are hundreds of hours of work put in backstage perfecting the musical’s original choreography, astounding vocal pieces and lighting.
While thoroughly entertaining, Pippin left many confused about the storyline. Most of the questions stemmed from the constant breaking of the fourth wall, times in which the actors address the audience. An example of this is when Olivia Myers, who played the “Leading Player,” frequently spoke and sang to the audience about their “Grand Finale.”
Some guessed there was a double storyline going, but according to Director Bernadette Macleod, and cast, it was simply the story of Pippin and his journey to find his meaning in life, told in a flashy, Cirque du Soleil-style performance.
There were many parts of the show the audience remembers after the curtains closed. For starters, it was an incredibly bright and engaging show. The punctuating and mesmerizing flashes of red, blue, yellow, and white intertwined perfectly with the costumes, set pieces and lights. It’s clear the stage crew of East Meck did an outstanding job and ran the show seamlessly.
Continuing with the high visual appeal of the show, Pippin’s dance and choreography was astounding. The mix and representation of different styles keep the dances exciting and engaging. The original style of dance that was incorporated into the show was “Fosse,” which is more jazz-centered style. However, this was not the only style in the show. Ballet and tap dancing made appearances as well. To align with the circus theme, acrobatics were also heavily incorporated into the choreography.
What was fascinating to discover was that the acrobatics, tap dancing, ballet pieces and entire choreography was original; stemming from the creative minds of dance captains Lucy Grace Toth and Elon Dixon, student choreographer Nyla Wells, and East’s dance teacher Rebecca Messer.
This is Messer’s second year involved with the high school musical. For her first musical “Mean Girls,” the dancers used the choreography that came with the musical and went from there. So when they chose to go with original choreography for Pippin, she said she “actually got to create.” Messer says this was challenging, however, because she’s used to taking choreography and adapting or cleaning it up. With the huge task of choreographing the entire show, she recruited experienced student dancers and choreographers to help her build the choreography.
The visuals from Pippin were wonderful, but overlooking the beautiful voices songs would be disregarding half of the magic of the musical. Some of the most outstanding voices on stage were played by Ali Fernandez, the Leading Player played by Olivia Myers, Fastrada, played by Fiona Mehltretter, Pippin’s grandma, Berthe, played by Jordan Moore, the King, played by Gabriel Johnson and Catherine, played by Cassidy Macleod.
Pippin was a circus of fun and an exciting, thrilling watch. A standing ovation for the cast, crew, directors and staff is deserved for this fantastic performance.
