THEATER REVIEW:Strong cast in ‘Pippin’ offers 1970s nostalgia

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, it seems, is caught up in a 1970s time warp. Its season opened with “Sweet Charity,” down the road a few weeks is “Annie” and the current production — this week only — is “Pippin.”

For those with short memories (or age spans), “Pippin” was composerlyricist Stephen Schwartz’s 1972 follow-up to his more notable “Godspell,” plucking a tale from the history books and retelling it in more contemporary terms. Like “Charity,” the original also featured choreography by Bob Fosse.

The show won a handful of Tony awards the first time out, yet today its rib-elbowing, fourth-wall-puncturing style seems all too rooted in the ‘70s. The current incarnation turns up the heat a bit, however, and features a clever, revised ending.

Pippin, so Roger O. Hirson’s story goes, was the son of the emperor Charlemagne who spends the show searching for his “little corner of the sky.” Warfare and anarchy prove unfulfilling, so he sets out on a more personal quest, where love and bucolic life await.

In director Gabriel Barre’s bouncy, colorful production, Joshua Park enacts the young, confused title character with a zestful charm, balanced by a growing sense of dissatisfaction. His “Corner of the Sky” number becomes a thematic anthem for the show, as he wages his somewhat awkward quest for self-fulfillment.

Pippin’s story is orchestrated by a coterie of performers, with the omniscient Leading Player controlling the action like a gleeful puppeteer. This role is enacted with forceful demeanor and powerful vocalizing by Andre Ward, whose high-voltage grin lights up the theater.

Former Monkee Mickey Dolenz casts a sage shadow as Pippin’s father, Charlemagne, primarily in the first act guiding his son through the art of warfare. There are moments when elements of the current global unpleasantness emerge, but then one realizes that when the show was written, the Vietnam War was in full bloom.

Shannon Lewis is a sultry eyeful as Pippin’s scheming stepmother and James Royce Edwards flexes and postures as his warrior stepbrother. Barbara Marineau has a terrific solo, “No Time at All,” as Pippin’s grandmother, while Teal Wicks is delightfully dim as the widowed beauty he encounters.

The show works best during the ensemble numbers — “Magic to Do” is devilishly effective and “Morning Glow” is particularly captivating. The Center’s occasionally argumentative sound system chewed up a few lines opening night.

“Pippin” is a nostalgic throwback to the days of “Laugh-In” and leisure suits, a kaleidoscope of color and sound wrapped around the irreverence of the period.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Pippin”

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: Closing performances tonight at 7:30, Saturday at 2 and 7:30, Sunday at 1 and 6:30

COST: $15 to $65

CALL: (714) 556-2787