In the 2019 bio-series Fosse/Verdon, Sam Rockwell breaks out a vulpine smile in a rehearsal room scene, playing the groundbreaking choreographer and director Bob Fosse. As he outlines his outlandish plans for a new musical called Pippin, about the son of the holy Roman emperor Charlemagne, eyebrows are raised among his ensemble. “I know that look,” he says, spotting their scepticism. “Remember that look, ladies and germs. It means we’re on to something good. We’re gonna take what’s here and we’re gonna blow it all up and we’re gonna see what happens.”
What happened? A Broadway run of almost 2,000 performances and five Tony awards (from 11 nominations). Fosse’s production of Pippin opened in 1972 and when it closed in 1977 it was among the longest-running productions in Broadway history. Not bad for a meta musical which continually breaks down how it tells its story. With a book by Roger O Hirson, it spins a mordant existential picaresque set in the middle ages following a restless, rather whiny prince who learns life lessons from a colourful cast and, at one point, a sickly duck named Otto.
