There are fond memories of the children acting in Alice in Wonderland while at St. Mary School. Beetle was a most excellent Queen of Hearts.

Fast forward nearly six years and Beetle auditioned and landed her signature role once again in the Cumberland Players rendition of this story. It was to be staged a month or two ago. For some reason, it was postponed until this weekend.

It took several e-mails to figure out whether I had tickets or not. I didn’t. I purchased two tickets (Fritz and me) to take in this encore performance.

But on Monday it was brought to my attention my daughter quit the play. Apparently, the director noted a lot of anxiety with Beetle and as that was being addressed, the decision was made to leave the performance. I was also told that she has decided not to pursue theatre at college. Of course, that was the impetus for selecting her college.

The struggles of teenagers.

I don’t know what will happen going forward.

Anyhow, tonight was the performance. Fritz and I attended. The director approached me to make certain I knew what had happened. She didn’t want me sitting there wondering where my daughter was. 🙂

The play began at least six minutes late. I think it was closer to 10. At 7:45, the show was over.

It was an interesting performance. It may not have impressed us as much as we had hoped. We’ll leave it at that.

We are theatregoers. It began with my parents taking me. It continued through college. It now continues with my own children. My son and I attended Pippin tonight.

This is a show I had never seen. I didn’t have any preconceived notions of this other than I thought it was from the classic period of theatre. At lunch today I asked if anyone was familiar with it. Julie Testa lighted up and explained I would love it. She couldn’t enlighten me regarding the plot but stated it was from the 1970s. That surprised me.

At home I read something that stated Pippin was in the era/style of Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Godspell, and other rock operas of the time. That is not how I envisioned this play. Yet, it was very much that.

Upon entering the theatre, many of the actors were on stage. The guys were dressed in leather, the gals in fishnet stockings. It looked like a brothel. And that is how it remained for the entire show.

The plot was Pippin, Charlemagne’s son, seeking meaning in his life. He goes through many interations with the Leading Player guiding him through the path.

In the end, Pippin chooses love, much to the chagrin of the Leading Player.

I enjoyed the story. The setting was weird. I struggled with the bawdy nature of the actors. I didn’t see how it served a purpose let alone the plot. Fritz stated not all productions are staged that way. I don’t know, but it seems odd little ol’ Pitman would be on the cutting edge.

We went and saw Rent a little bit ago. Wasn;t a fan in the least. I know, I am in the minority. Anyhow, Fritz was very much enamored with it. Doing as he does, he went down the rabbit hole. He found that tick, tick…BOOM! was written by the same playwright. That the movie version of it starred Andrew Garfield (Spider-man) was an added bonus. He obsessed over it.

Well, the Ritz staged a production of tick, tick…BOOM!. He wanted to see it. We purchased tickets. Once again, Beetle bailed. The Boy and I had a good time. I enjoyed this far more than Rent.

This deals with the ressure of making it as a young man. Should one persue his passion or be reasonable and “do what is right”? I could relate.

I would absolutely see this again. Good show!