On March 24 at the SVA Theater in Chelsea, The Knockturnal attended BroadwayHD’s celebration of 10 years streaming with a panel of original and recent Pippin stars and its creator Stephen Schwartz.
There was magic to do just for us — and now for you — thanks to BroadwayHD. As a commercial-free streamer for video-captured live theater productions, Broadway stars’ concerts, even ballet and movie musicals, BroadwayHD has been making live theater accessible to those outside New York City for 10 years. About this time last year, the juggernaut 1972 musical Pippin celebrated 50-ish years since its award-winning debut with a limited-run concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz coyly joked that like many in the industry, Pippin’s a bit older than the birthday it says it’s celebrating.
BroadwayHD: Meeting you where you are
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 24: Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley attend BroadwayHD’s 10th Anniversary Celebration at SVA Theatre on March 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for BroadwayHD)
BroadwayHD co-founders Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley treated the audience to a sneak peek of the pro-shot Pippin 50th Anniversary Concert, which is now streaming exclusively on BroadwayHD. “Ten years ago a visionary idea came to life, creating a platform that would bring the magic of Broadway to audiences around the world, beyond the 41 theaters of Broadway,” said Lane. “What started as a spark of innovation has exploded into a global community uniting theater enthusiasts and creators in ways that we could only dream of a long time ago.”
They shared that it’s come a long way from the pay-per-view sattelite broadcast of Follies in 1992, and their co-production of MTV’s presentation of Legally Blonde in 2007. “Everything Stew and I have done since we’ve been together for the past 30-whatever years is about promoting and preserving live theater,” added Comely. “When we travel, people know what Broadway is, they know it’s the pinnacle of live entertainment… whether it’s geography, economics, or the physical limitations, not everybody can get there.” The platform includes closed captions and audio descriptions to further enhance accessiblity.
Pippin: Six degrees of connection
Between clips of the concert’s newly iconic renditions of “Magic to Do,” “Corner of the Sky,” and “No Time At All,”, SiriusXM’s Julie James led a star-studded, multi-Tony-awarded panel to breakdown several Pippin productions and reflect on its lasting impact. Joining Schwartz was the original Tony-winning Leading Player Ben Vereen, original Pippin John Rubinstein, and Tovah Feldshuh, who played Berthe in the acclaimed Broadway revival. They ceremonially passed the torch to the concert’s stars Alex Newell (Leading Player) and Jac Yarrow (Pippin).
Newell and Yarrow revealed they had about a week of rehearsals after nabbing the roles to prepare for the concert. So while they are glad it was recorded for posterity, Yarrow admits he was scared to see the final product. Newell revealed to the audience’s delight that in the whirlwind, some unscripted (but welcome) lines made it into the shot.
“I used to sing ‘Corner of the Sky’ and it was my dad’s favorite song. Funnily enough, my dad’s claim to fame is he was once dragged up on stage to participate in a production of [Schwartz’s] Godspell at a local theater,” Yarrow shared. “He was like, ‘I made my stage debut before you did,’ and he’d be thrilled that I am saying that in front of Stephen.”
Like Yarrow, Newell also worried they’d missed their chance to perform in Pippin. “I was supposed to play the Leading Player in my high school production, but I couldn’t because I was filming Glee at the time and I was heartbroken, I was devastated,” they said, then laughed, “I turned out fine, perfectly fine — it’s fine guys.” Newell’s transcendent vocals earned high praise from a proud Vereen.
Pippin’s road to Broadway and beyond
Schwartz admitted when they were casting the 2013 Broadway revival, the men who came to audition simply “weren’t Ben.” This led to Patina Miller’s casting as the first female Leading Player, who went on to make history when she won the Tony award for the same role Vereen played. When asked if they’d reprise the role for a full run, Newell demured, quite familiar with the grueling schedule after their own history-making, Tony-winning run in Shucked. Yarrow suggested that Vereen could take two of the eight nights. Newell countered, “Ben will do five and I will do three — I think that’s fair.” Unaware of this pitch that occurred after he left, Vereen had quipped earlier in the night that he could take the title role in The Hunchback of Notre Dame if Schwartz ever revived it.
The evolution of Schwartz’s Pippin, one of his earliest shows, might sound familiar to the modern theater-goer. “This started as a project I did at Carnegie Mellon, when it was more of a medieval melodrama musical,” he said. It became more “semi-autobiographical” while letting his own coming-of-age takeaways seep into the story throughout its production for Broadway. “With [playwright] Roger O. Hirson, who could come at it from a more mature point of view, and then with [director and choreographer] Bob Fosse, who could come at it with a darker point of view, I think that amalgamation turned out to be very good for the show.” This immediately rung a bell, knowing that fellow Jon M. Chu collaborator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s debut musical In the Heights was first written at Wesleyan and ultimately evolved into a, well, semi-autobiographical Broadway cult classic.
Feldshuh recapped her return to childlike play in her six-month stint as the high-flying grandmother Berthe. “The minute I walk in, I am hoisted 30 feet in the air, no belt, no mat, no insurance, no problem,” Feldshuh said. “Besides being a font of wisdom and font of love for her legacy, her grandson, she wants to stay young ‘til she dies,” Feldshuh said. “And that’s what that part did for me.” Later, she opined, “you take a 65-year-old broad, hang her upside down singing a hit tune, and you will get a standing ovation.” She also hilariously marveled that not only is the show’s 50-year-old themes exploring the pitfalls of authoriarian rule “disturbing,” her now favorite director is Stephen’s son Scott Schwartz, who was in utero the first time she worked with the composer.
The OG cast: Vereen and Rubinstein
Vereen and Rubinstein reminisced on several iconic Fosse memories, like how his idea to make the first ever television commercial for a Broadway show helped it overcome less-than-favorable critical reviews to triumphantly build an audience, not to mention Tony nominations and wins. “Thank you, Stephen, for having a vision to allow it to grow for generations, because this is timeless,” said Vereern. “Watching it now, I still get goosebumps — I want to thank the London cast for keeping it alive, and everybody who’s walked in John and I’s shoes along the way.”
Speaking of shoes, Rubinstein piped up about his experience trying to make too-small shoes work in the original run at The Kennedy Center. “I threw them angrily into the corner of the stage and I walked on and I did the whole thing barefoot… I figured that’ll show ‘em, now they’ll get me a pair of shoes that fit” he recalled. “We finished the show, and Fosse ran backstage and said, ‘John, the barefoot — I loved it!’” which made it a permanent costume choice.
Ultimately, Rubinstein’s connection to Pippin didn’t end, it grew up. He later returned to play Pippin’s father King Charlamagne in the Broadway revival after Feldshuh left. Though he concurred with Newell that Pippin’s song ‘Morning Glow’ is a sonic highlight of the show, he said he was thrilled to kick his feet up and listen to the new Pippin to hit the high notes he once dreaded. They capped the night with a theater-wide singalong to “No Time At All,” led by Olivier-winning Patricia Hodge on screen, another multi-generational player. She played Catherine in the first-ever West End cast, then graduated to Berthe in the concert — a surreal experience that Yarrow shared brought Hodge to tears in rehearsal. In the song she reminds us all that while it’s may be spring today, it’s on us to revel in it while we can.
Perhaps we’ve nailed just why a musical like Pippin — which took big swings (literally with acrobatics and metaphorically with existential dread) — was prescient then and remains relevant now. “I think it’s the journey Pippin goes through, trying to figure out what to do with his life, and seeing some of his illusions dashed,” said Schwartz. “But finding some other realer things to hold on to, I think that journey remains universal and constant.” Before the busy Vereen had to jet to another event, he had to drop the mic. “I want to leave you with this: They will not erase us, the arts are here to stay,” he said. “This foundation of our existence, we will not let them push us back. Thank you [Broadway]HD for keeping us alive.”
Watch the Pippin 50th Anniversary Concert and hundreds of other productions on BroadwayHD.
Photos Courtesy: Getty Images
