Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Slideshow: 'Pippin" a song of youth. Click image for slideshow.

Pippin is a confused young man who makes an unlikely hero. And "Pippin" is an unlikely musical, a fantasy set in a neverland, dramatized by a band of shape-shifting troubadors.

But last week in the hands of the South Park High School Drama Club, "Pippin" proved to be a visual feast and a telling parable of idealistic aspiration and realistic accommodation.

With a libretto by Roger O. Hirson and lyrics and music by Carnegie Mellon grad Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell," "Wicked"), "Pippin" debuted in 1973. Its greatest achievement was the sleight-of-hand direction and choreography of wizard Bob Fosse, which seemed (as in the musical's own story) to summon something out of nothing and significance from make-believe.

But "Pippin" has never been among the famous musical comedies that everybody loves, and it certainly isn't one of the handful that high schools do incessantly, like "Bye Bye Birdie" or "Grease." That's understandable when you consider that it's less comedy than tragedy and more philosophic parable than either. Even its supposed historical subject is mainly a mirage.

But on closer look, "Pippin" is a natural for high school students. It takes the shape of a search by a medieval Everyboy for the meaning of life, a theme of interest to thoughtful adolescents just starting their own journey. Both its hopeful idealism and pragmatic cynicism are familiar to the young, who often swing between those extremes, occasionally dropping into an intermediate funk.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Cast members perform final number of the first act, the coronation of Pippin, in South Park High School's "Pippin" last Thursday before a backdrop painted for the production. Click photo for larger image.

That's just what happens to Pippin, who has the advantage (or disadvantage, as it turns out) to have a grand historical stage on which to act. The play makes him the eldest son of Charlemagne (742-814), who united much of modern France, Germany and Italy into the Holy Roman Empire, but that's largely fiction -- it's not even clear which of several historical Pippins (or Pepins) the play has in mind.

No matter, the point is that our musical Pippin, who is really a post-1960s youth with longings for social justice and personal expression, gets to experience sex, war, religion and government on a grand scale and even has a brief chance to rule, whereupon his simplistic idealism crumbles in the face of ugly reality.

Terror, bloodshed and slavery, his father teaches, are necessary to maintain order. He learns that "sometimes men raise flags when they can't get anything else up." So he sinks into depression, from which he's rescued only by the love of a good woman with a young son who needs a father.

Pippin's education-by-fire is conducted by a band of players with a demonic leader. They entice him with magic that turns out to be superficial stage illusion, and they drive him toward a grandiose climax of self-sacrifice. But Pippin has learned to resist, having made the transition to more comfortable goals.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette The swirling choreography puts dancers through the paces from a soft-shoe battle sequence to ballet and jazz. Click photo for larger image.

The disappointed players then abandon him. But at the very end, they swarm back to begin the assault of fantasy on Pippin's stepson, since every generation is susceptible to dreams.

South Park was at its best here, as the disgusted Leading Player withdrew his band and left Pippin to his domestic compromise on a bare stage. A triumph of the ordinary, it had the force of revelation. But then the Player and his band came swarming up through the audience toward their new victim.

It was a chilling ending that more than justified director Michael E. Moats' decision to stage what has been thought a period piece, a sappy post-1960s parable justified mainly by Fosse's stage magic.

South Park had its own magic in the swirling choreography of Shaun J. Rolly and the large stage drops designed and realized (not rented) by Moats and John Pisarcik. These were augmented by such simple elements as streamers, banners, confetti and balloons, while the cast of 39 mutated from clown-faced mob into individual characters, transformed by Jennifer Moats' colorful costumes and makeup.

William Rossetti led a largely student orchestra that captured the romantic lilt of Schwartz' best songs, "Magic to Do," "Corner of the Sky" and "Morning Glow."

Tim Morgan was a winning presence as Pippin, with a face bemused and wistful, plus a personable if not soaring vice. As the Player, the flexible Sean Papinchak had the right aggressive edge. Ian Pisarcik was a stalwart and comic King Charles ("now we rape and pillage") who looked great in the kingly robes that sat uneasily on Pippin.

Jamey Dixon's grandma Berthe "and the boys" had comic fun with "No Time at All," and the show received a jolt of personality from Melissa Moraes' entrance in Act 2 as the sprightly widow, Catherine.

Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Cast members watch from the wings during a performance of "Pippin." Click photo for larger image.

A particular attraction was the dozen dancers, running the gamut from a soft-shoe battle sequence to ballet and jazz. Rolly arranged them and the ensemble in big rhythmic patterns, but the dancers also vamped sexually with vigor. The show's famous hand mime was well realized, assisted by Chris Fuller's lights.

I especially appreciated the energetic stage crew, which ran on and off, changing sets on the fly while the show continued.

South Park has a huge auditorium, completed just days before last spring's "Guys and Dolls." Although comfortable and well-equipped, its stage wasn't designed with theater in mind (a common failing), witness the awkward light positions and lack of backstage crossover. It's also big enough to display the whole Holy Roman Empire, which is both opportunity and snare, allowing grand display but making intimacy difficult -- Moats sometimes used more of the stage than a scene could sustain.

But "Pippin" showed that the spring musical tradition at South Park is in good hands.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette The cast celebrates after the curtain falls on a successful production. Click photo for larger image