I watched the Pippin and Ragtime episodes yesterday. Pippin was outstanding and, as others have said, was all the more enjoyable because a number of years had passed, in this case 35, since the high school production. Since the cast had gone to a performing arts high school, they all were quite talented. It was great that Stephen Schwartz attended a rehearsal and gave such thoughtful comments to the person playing Fastrada, who was very moved by what he said to her.
In Ragtime, they had a great Coalhouse and a super-talented Sarah, but the high school production was done in 2008, I think, so this was a younger cast than that of Pippin. The young man who played Father had some difficulty but gave it his all and felt confident he had done a good job.
In both episodes, I would have liked to see more of the actual night the versions were being performed before an audience. I so enjoyed seeing how proud the families were of those who'd come back to perform after a number of years and how much the experience of reuniting with old friends and revisiting their parts from high school meant to them. |
