Pippin
Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

THERE is a profound line towards the end of this all-singing, all-dancing show (not a spoiler, promise) “if I’m never tied to anything I’ll never be free,” sung by Pippin as he resolves his search for fulfilment and the meaning of life — as you do — or did, as a European prince of the Middle Ages.  

Charlemagne’s France is the setting and Pippin is his son.  

Pippin tries war (against the Visigoths), love and sex, and even monarchy after a Regi — fratricidal episode. But neither fighting, f***ing nor “frone” do it for him.  

Pippin’s journey is a coming of age one — in this adult panto come Commedia del Arte musical.  

The intro sets us up nicely as the actor/dancers tumble, wheel and wander into the performance space — a steampunk set of scaffolding, jumble sale curtains and breezeblock battlements.  

The finale is a sacrificial attempt at perfection, involving “the source” aka the sun.  

As the Vedanta has it — the Universe veers away from perfection as it is a dangerous place. Yes, the musical is that deep — and it’s funny. Great reality suspension too. A speaking head in a box of body parts after a battle, as Pippin wonders what to do next.  

Likewise, the implied sex scenes, devoid of intimacy. Along the way are fine cameos, Clare Brice as Grandmother in a performance worthy of Cabaret. Mia Quimpo’s Catherine, the widow with a kiddie, holds the second half together as she finds and loses another love in meeting Pippin. Her Kind of Woman is a great song.

But the troupe’s the thing, with Leading Player Emily Friberg holding it all together, acting as siren and temptress. Friberg’s voice is terrific. Lewis Edgar’s Pippin, all fragile strength, is superb. Oliver Wood as Charlemagne is very funny.  

Plenty of cracks in the fourth wall too as characters eyeball or grin at the audience.  

Director and choreographer Amanda Noar nails this with daring, skill and irony, as she did with last year’s You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, at the Gatehouse.

Writer Stephen Schwartz, also the write of Godspell and the Bakers Wife, is still going strong with Wicked. Pippin, based on a book by Roger O’Hirson, was first performed on Broadway in 1972 and seems to speak to us throughout our modern and contemporary ages.

I quote from the programme, Pippin is “…a thoroughly contemporary fable about youth, ambition and the shimmering disappointments inherent in pursuit of the life extraordinary. The show endures because its questions about how meaning and purpose are manufactures, marketed, sold and withheld remain painfully current. Lying to young people about the rich possibilities of a largely downward trending future has, after all, become a multibillion industry. Urgent questions about the ways meaning is manufactured, marketed, withheld and sold are woven into this metatextual narrative.”  Aye to that.

As a Christmas morality tale, it’s too dark and sexual for youngsters, but great for adults and their teenage “children.”  As my gen-Z companion said: “It seems chaotic, but it works.” And she, like me, was smiling all the way through.

Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate until January 11. Box office: (020) 8340-3488, www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com.