Directed by Bob Fosse, Pippin premiered on Broadway in 1972. This musical about the quest of the son of Charlemagne to find his true calling in life has a pop-rock score by Stephen Schwartz.
In 2012, a revival of Pippin popped up at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA, and has now transferred to Broadway’s Music Box Theatre, directed by Diane Paulus with sets by Scott Pask, lighting by Kenneth Posner, and sound by Jonathan Deans and Garth Helm, all of whom have nabbed Tony nominations.
A little more than 40 years separates these two productions, during which time enormous strides have been made in terms of sound design. “I actually think the main thing is not so much the type of gear but more about the audience, production, and performance style that makes the bigger impact on the two productions,” says Deans.
Pippin Then
In 1972, sound design was considered the new kid on the block, with sound designer Abe Jacob literally inventing the design paradigm. As Richard Thomas notes in the USITT monograph, The Designs Of Abe Jacob, “For Abe Jacob, the most significant aspect of his hiring was that he was brought in at the very beginning of the creative process along with the rest of the design team for the first time in his career.”
Approaching Pippin as a rock musical turned out not to be the best solution. As Thomas notes, “Abe realized that it would require a style that was quite different from that of either Hair or Jesus Christ Superstar.” Pippin required a high-fidelity sound but without the problems caused by handheld mics and the cables that went with them.
“Instead,” continues Thomas, “Abe worked closely with Bob Fosse, scenic designer Tony Walton, and his friend, lighting designer Jules Fisher, to stage the action and bury microphones in the scenery in a manner that would give sound mixer Larry Spurgeon the quality sound sources he needed to produce a rich sonic experience for the audiences. Abe put five shotgun microphones across the front of the stage, and Bob Fosse would choreograph his singers to be right in front of them when they sang. Abe buried a few microphones in the floor upstage where Fisher was using aircraft landing lights to create the opening sequence, ‘Magic to Do.’ And when the team found themselves in a bind, they would either find a way to slip a microphone in a prop or scenic device, or restage an actor to an area where the sound would be better.”
As Jacob recalls, “We had 24 musicians (23 players + conductor) at the Imperial, so most of the orchestral nuance came from the players themselves acoustically. And Fosse got the sound he wanted from the musicians. Masque Sound, who supplied the equipment, actually built a wooden case to hold the six Altec 1567A mixers, with all interconnecting cables inside the box—a first kind of mixing console, if you will. I believe we had four 604Es and four other Altec speakers, two 604Es for stage monitors and the other six for front of house. I think the model was 9849.” That’s a far cry from what a musical “needs” today.
Pippin Now
“Pippin takes a different view of the material, compared to the original 1972 production, with production values and performances played for today’s audiences,” says Deans. “But can I suggest that we look at the audience and not a particular production? Today, the world offers us quite a different environment than, let’s say, 40 years ago. We can grab any information, make comments, and locate people instantly. This has changed our demands, values, and needs, and how we use our free time, social hours. Involvement, connection, touching the audience, emotions, and allowing ourselves to be comfortable sitting in a room with several hundred people all experiencing the same thing at the same time is theatre. We use currently available techniques to entice today’s audience so that our storytellers can deliver the heart, the story.”
Today’s Pippin tells another story gear-wise, as well. “We use body/RF microphones that actors wear, not because they cannot sing loud enough for the auditorium but because no one really wants to hear someone ‘belt’ every love song, ballad, or other standing from the edge of the stage unless it is for an effect,” explains Deans. The Sennheiser wireless mic system includes 34 channels of SK 5012 body pack transmitters, six channels of SKM 5200 handheld transmitters, and 40 channels of EM 1046 wireless receivers.
Today’s 11-piece orchestra is covered and not acoustically heard as it was in 1972. There is also an intermission, which the original did not have. “Smaller bladders these days or too many 32-ounce drinks?” queries Deans.
Helm notes that a major consideration in the current design is more about the music itself than the gear. “Pippin has such a powerful score, re-orchestrated by Larry Hochman, with arrangements by Nadia Digiallonardo and conducted by Charlie Alterman, that we had to get every detailed nuance out,” he says. “There is so much musical punctuation in this score, which is tied to Chet Walker’s choreography and Diane Paulus’ storytelling, that every little percussive note needs to be heard. All of the underscoring was just as important as a song.”
The sound rig from Masque Sound comprises d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers (E9 mains, E3 surround/fills, E8 under-balcony, E6 under-balcony delay, and Q-Series units) with Meyer Sound UPA-1Ps also under-balcony, and EAW JF80s and d&b E-Series speakers for stage foldback. The show is mixed on a DiGiCo SD7 console with processing via TC Electronic Reverb 4000s and Figure 53 QLab software for effects. “This show is more about the music than about SFX,” notes Helm.
“A better ‘sounding’ show is a relative concept. Certainly, what we did in 1972 was cutting-edge and created a show sound that was spectacular for its time,” Jacob notes. “But it was not in-your-face-present, as today’s Broadway shows are required to be. In 1972, I tried to create a design that would allow the entire audience to experience the aural presentation as it was produced, naturally and with sonic direction. I believe today, the audience expects a sonic presentation that is not dependent on the natural, live sound of singers and orchestra.
“Is Pippin better sonically today? It is absolutely correct for the expectations of the producers, the performers, and the paying public of the present time,” says Jacob. “‘Better’ is subject to interpretation.”
Pippin will be seen as part of the Broadway Sound Master Classes next month.