Battle Mountain High School prepares for final night of ‘Pippin’
A uniquely challenging and technical production, the musical allows students to show off singing, dancing and acting skills
Battle Mountain High School is bringing to life the story of a young prince named Pippin in a coming of age tale for it’s 2022 spring musical. The final performance of the musical, titled “Pippin,” will take place Saturday, April 30 — following performances Thursday and Friday.
“At it’s core, it’s the story of what happens when you search endlessly for fulfillment and want to be extraordinary in your life but no matter what and how many things you try — some of which are bad life choices — you can never quite fulfill your goals, which eventually can lead to you burning yourself out,” said David Mayer, one of the musical’s creative directors. “Then, the realization occurs that even in a seeming ordinary life one can be extraordinary.”
Mayer directed this year’s Battle Mountain spring musical alongside Musical Director Levi Walker. According to Mayer, while the musical was suggested to him by a local friend, it is also one of Walker’s favorite musicals — and one not typically done by high schoolers.
“It’s not super well known, despite winning several Tony awards when it was on Broadway in the 1970s, and it’s not performed at the high school level very often due to the challenges it presents in the staging and choreography,” Mayer said. “Personally I liked the creative challenges it presented and I knew that we had the talented students that could pull it off.”
This challenging choreography and level of production make for a unique and amazing musical performance, Mayer said, adding that “there is movement and dance in virtually every scene.”
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Kris Ashley choreographed this year’s production of “Pippin.”
And while it is not typically performed by high schoolers, “Pippin” does have a story that is very relatable to the students in the production.
“The character Pippin is similar to the age — that they are or will be soon be — and is going through the same things he is going through,” Mayer said. “He’s striving to get approval from his parents. He wants to be appreciated as an adult, but is actually still a young adult. He wants to make his mark in the world and is searching for fulfillment, but doesn’t exactly know how or where, so he ends up making some questionable life choices to try to obtain his goal.”
After the past two years of COVID impacting the spring musical performance at the high school, Mayer called this year’s production “special.”
“This is our first performance fully back from COVID. Our musical in 2019 was canceled two weeks from opening night due to COVID, and last year we were able to perform but had to choose a show with a smaller cast size, the cast had to perform masked, and we could only fill the theater to half capacity,” he said. “This is the first production coming out of that time. It’s good to be back!”
Tickets for the final performance of “Pippin” can be purchased online at bmhs.eagleschools.net or at the door. The final performance of “Pippin” takes place Saturday, April 30 at 7 p.m. — following 7 p.m. performances both Thursday and Friday.
