Searching for one’s purpose proves an ages-old struggle consistently redefined and explored not only in the arts, but also in the lives of college students everywhere.
UCLA musical theater alumnus of 2007 Aleks Pevec not only understands this struggle as a graduate finding work in musical theater, but also is seeing it come to life in the Center Theater Group and Deaf West Theater’s revival of composer Stephen Schwartz’s 1972 musical, “Pippin,” playing at the Mark Taper Forum through March 15.
“I’ve been taking it one day at a time,” said Pevec, the voice of ensemble characters in the play and understudy for Pippin. Pevec played a supporting part in the Pantages Theater Company’s performance of Schwartz’s “Wicked” last year and starred in a recent revival of “The Who’s Tommy.”
“Things will work out if you have a passion for what you do. You’ve got to love doing this, because if you don’t it can be really hard at times.”
The story of Charlemagne’s son coming of age and finding love, “Pippin” reflects the universal desire to live meaningfully and passionately. However, in the Center Theater Group’s production the actors reflect the desire to live life with passion not only through song and dance, but also through interactions with deaf actors and signing the show’s lyrics and dialogue.
“Most of us came in not knowing sign language at all, so we spent the first week and a half just working on American Sign Language the entire show,” Pevec said. “A hearing actor voices for the deaf actors with leading roles. The only way we communicate with them is by sign, so we’ve all learned a new language over the last 10 weeks.”
In the past, Schwartz has not supported Broadway revivals of “Pippin” because directors did not aim to recreate the show in a significant way. Originally directed by Bob Fosse, audiences were familiar with the show’s distinctive use of white gloves and jazzy choreography to express the show’s themes.
“Directors wanted to do it the way it was done when it was directed by Fosse, and (Schwartz) saw no point in reviving that version,” said Steve Landau, the musical director for this production of “Pippin.”
“The American Sign Language and the spoken English are both right on stage rather than off to the side with this interpretation. I think he saw that there was value in that.”
Pevec agrees with Landau that the Center Theater Group’s interpretation revitalizes the choreography established by Fosse.
“It’s almost like a tribute to Bob Fosse rather than just his original choreography. We use our hands, which was a big thing in all of Fosse’s work. It was all about legs and hands and limbs and how they’re all disconnected. I think that just compliments it beautifully.”
The integration of deaf actors and American Sign Language into the production was not only the way in which the Center Theater Group had to revitalize and update “Pippin” for modern audiences. Musical director Landau worked with Stephen Schwartz and producer Jeff Calhoun to make “Pippin” sound fresh.
“We wanted to update the score because when it was originally orchestrated, it was very much rooted in ’70s sounds and musical idioms of the day, with everything from the wah-wah guitar to how the tambourine plays,” said Landau. “
While Landau and Schwartz mostly agreed on musical choices made, Landau had to decide how to work not only with some of the new musical arrangements, but also how to integrate the music with the new American Sign Language choreography.
“There are a few things I have to do a little bit differently if I’m cueing a deaf actor, but it’s basically just like working with the other actors,” Landau said. “When you get to the end of a song, sometimes it helps to have that music come back again and provide an undercurrent to the scene almost as if you were listening to a music score with the same kind of emotional and propelling force that the music in a movie does.”
The inclusion of music as an undercurrent for the sign language rather than the Bob Fosse choreography influenced Pevec’s performance as well.
“There’s really not any dancing in the show; most of it has been replaced by the sign language,” said Pevec. “But (sign language) is like a dance. You use your hands, your arms, and your whole body sometimes.” While Pevec claims that most of the audience members so far have seen past productions of “Pippin,” both Landau and Pevec assert that the efforts to reinvent “Pippin’s” universal story will continue to appeal to even audience members who are not familiar with the show.
“It’s one of those first musicals that is just about a young man searching for his purpose in his life and all of the obstacles he has to complete to find it,” Pevec said. “It’s good that we all look for bigger things out there for us and that we should be thankful for what’s in front of us.”