CDW Drama Club: Pippin Synopsis
PIPPIN SYNOPSIS
Pippin is the story of Prince Pippin, son of King Charlemagne. The show begins with the Leading Player and the other players inviting the audience to watch their Magic as they help to tell the story (Magic To Do). They then introduce Pippin as a young man just out of a university. He tells us how he is searching for the meaning of his life (Corner of the Sky). Next, Pippin's father welcomes him home from school and Pippin tells his father he wants to go to war with him. His father eventually agrees with him and we soon see them and some soldiers learning their battle plan (War Is a Science).
The leading player goes on to tell the audience about the virtues of war and about King Charles victory. The soldiers join him in "saluting" their King (Glory). Next, the leading player sings a song about how people need some small amount of happiness in life that wealth and fame can't bring you (Simple Joys). By now, Pippin has decided that being a war hero is not what he wants to do with his life. So, he goes to his grandmother, Berthe, and asks her what she thinks he should do. She tells him to just live life to the fullest and to enjoy his youth because time goes by so fast (No Time At All). Pippin next looks to women to see if they are the answer to his life (With You). The act ends with Pippin deciding to lead a revolution against his father.
After this we see Pippin's step-mother, Fastrada, as she plots to get her son, Lewis, to be the heir to the throne instead of Pippin (Spread a Little Sunshine). Pippin is now trying out a political life, revolting against his father and considering assassinating him. When he does this and becomes the new King he decides that a peaceful time, is long overdue (Morning Glow). When he realizes that this isn't the right job for him, he removes the sword from his father’s back and satirically he brings King Charles back to life.
Pippin at this point feels he has failed in his search for a meaning to his life. The leading player tells him not to worry, he's on the right road to finding what he is looking for (On the Right Track). At the end of this number he collapses in a tantrum and a pretty young woman, Catherine, takes him in and begins to care for him. She tells him that she is just an "average" girl (Kind of Woman) with a young son, Theo, and a large estate. Pippin comes to live in her house and do household chores which he finds degrading because he thinks he is above that kind of work (Extraordinary). But Pippin and Catherine fall in love (Love Song). Still, when Catherine asks Pippin to become "the head of the household," he runs away and the audience sees a grieving Catherine (I Guess I'll Miss the Man).
Now, Pippin has come to the end of the road and has no idea what to do next. The leading player tells him that the only way that he will be remembered now is if he creates something spectacular by being engulfed by the sun. This represents peer pressure by all the players taking part in pushing him to do it. Pippin is afraid to because he knows that if it is the wrong thing to do, then it will be too late for him to do anything else. They tell him to think about his life and all of the things he wanted from it (Finale). Pippin is almost convinced until Catherine and her son show up. He decides that love and family are by far more important, as is having the strength to resist the pressures of life.
