PIPPIN

[mrssondheim]

Quick random question. 
Anyone know if there is a book about the making/creation of the musical PIPPIN? Original and/or revival!

[scenicdesign71]

I haven't read it, but Defying Gravity has a chapter on Pippin -- presumably from Schwartz's perspective, which may or may not suit your purposes (the biographer seems to be, quite literally, the president of his fan club).  Apparently the book was updated for a second edition last fall, so it likely also includes some new material about the 2013 revival.

From the "Look inside the book" preview on Amazon:

"My attitude toward [Pippin] has changed over the years, probably because I am no longer twenty-four years old... I have come to appreciate the theatricality and subtextual richness of undercutting both expectation and sentimentality, which is something Bob Fosse understood better than I at the time.  Indeed, I have come to joke that in many ways, I have ironically become the guardian of Bob's vision, and that somewhere he is looking up and laughing."

There's a recent interview on that fan site in which Schwartz discusses Fosse, Pippin, and Fosse/Verdon:
http://www.theschwartzscene.com/2019/04/25/stephen-schwartz-comments-on-fosse-verdon/

And the site also includes this list of Pippin-related resources (scroll down for "More Books on Pippin"):
http://www.musicalschwartz.com/pippin.htm

Also, the Pippin section of Schwartz's own website includes several Q&A pages about the show and its history (see "Resources," at lower right):
https://www.stephenschwartz.com/works/pippin/

[KathyB]

I think Scott Miller has a chapter on Pippin in one of his books. Can't find which one on Amazon. I'll have to go home and look.


UPDATE:
There's a chapter in From Assassins to West Side Story. Although the book is subtitled "The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre," there's quite a bit in there about the original production and Fosse's vision.

[mrssondheim]

Thank you guys! Great resources!