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Chris Goodwin

Professor Jacob Brent

Jazz III

16 February 2017

Magic To Do

The opening number of Stephen Schwartzs musical Pippin has reached worldwide

recognition and exposure since its inception in 1972. Countless productions ranging from

professional theatres to colleges to middle school drama clubs have taken a stab at performing

Pippin, leading Magic To Do to a point where it can easily become overdone and stale. This

poses a challenge for a new director and choreographer how does a creative team retain the

original style set by the distinct and revolutionary Bob Fosse while still breathing a new life into

the piece?

When Diane Paulus, Chet Walker, and Gypsy Snider mounted a Broadway Revival in

2013, they did just that maintained Bob Fosses character of the piece while reimagining and

heightening the magic and spectacle that is necessary for Pippin. Through the addition of circus

choreography and acrobatics, several tableaus of different choreography, and specific moments

of unity and stillness, the revival choreography of Magic To Do sets the number apart from all

original versions.

Gypsy Snider was brought in from Montreal to assist in creating circus choreography

with her circus troupe Les 7 Doigts de la Main. Sniders goal as an artist is to make circus art and

musical theatre blend together as a performance medium. In an interview with The Chicago

Tribune about circus artists, Snider remarked that "We move onstage and they say we're not

dancers. We speak onstage and they say they we are not actorsI am just trying to get people to
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stop thinking we're a bunch of talented monkeys doing tricks. It's not the tricks; it's the people

behind the tricks." The revival choreography does just that. Magic To Do exists not to further

the plot but to invite the audience in to a world that is heightened by the use of circus work and

acrobatics.

To take this world of magic and circus arts and meld it with Bob Fosses choreography

meant having multiple vignettes occurring simultaneously in the opening number. For example,

while a trio dances in a triangular formation, circus artists are being thrown across the stage and

the leading player is suspended in midair doing silk tricks. This not only gives the audience a

variety of things to focus on but also paints the picture that this world we are entering is chaotic

and spectacular and the normal environment for the characters is much more absurd than our

day-to-day life. Due to the amount of variance, when the entire stage joins together in unison

movement, it stands out. The unison choreography at the end feels much sharper than it would if

everyone was dancing together the entire number. The important thing to note with this is that all

of the different choreographic and acrobatic elements do and must work together harmoniously

to tell a story we as audience members feel like we are behind the scenes of a circus seeing the

players get into their groove as circus artists something most of the audience is foreign to but

feels accustomed to by the end of the number.

These new elements, coupled with Bob Fosses extremely specific and subtle

choreography, make for a steadfast introduction to an unforgettable revival. Chet Walker and

Gypsy Sniders fusion of musical theatre and circus art successfully drew the audience into the

world of Pippin in Magic To Do through the use of varied choreography, clean movement, and

a purposeful use of unity and stillness.