A young prince goes looking for the secret to a fulfilling life, and a troupe of traveling players tells the story. Pippin at Quintessence runs November 18 through January 3 at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy, with opening night on Saturday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 to $75.

The musical is the holiday show of Quintessence Theatre’s 17th season, which began with Jen Silverman’s Witch. Alexander Burns, the company’s founder and artistic director, directs a cast led by Philadelphia native and Broadway actor Donnie Hammond.

The Story Behind Pippin at Quintessence

Pippin has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Roger O. Hirson and the Fosse touch in its staging. It opened on Broadway in 1972 and ran for 1,944 performances, and songs like “Corner of the Sky” and “Morning Glow” came out of it. The score mixes pop and rock into the musical theater tradition.

The story follows Pippin, heir to King Charlemagne, who goes after happiness in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power. He finds it, in the end, in the ordinary moments of everyday life. The players tell it with spectacle first and a smaller truth underneath.

Burns says Pippin at Quintessence invites audiences to “delight in the spectacle while questioning the ambitions and expectations” that shape their choices. He hopes people leave humming the songs and looking again at the love, connection and everyday joys in their own lives.

The Cast and Company for Pippin at Quintessence

The cast is made up of local and regional actors, including Amber Janelle Brown, Megan Castellane, John Cuozzo and Sam Pottinger. Hammond plays the Leading Player, the charismatic leader of the troupe. His Quintessence credits include King Lear and Little Women: The Musical, and his Broadway credits include Moulin Rouge. Marek Zurowski plays Pippin, and Jim Ballard plays the king, Pippin’s powerful father.

Pippin meets a family along the way. His grandmother Berthe is spirited and encourages him to embrace life’s pleasures, and his stepmother Fastrada schemes to advance her own son’s prospects. Each one offers a different idea of what an extraordinary life looks like in Pippin at Quintessence.

Daniel Chase Miller plays Lewis, Pippin’s half-brother and rival. Grace Szczepkowski plays Fastrada, the scheming stepmother, and Renee McFillin plays Catherine, the widow whose farm shows Pippin what love and everyday fulfillment can look like. Alex Pletikapich plays her young son, Theo.

Burns leads a team that includes Musical Director Steven Gross and Choreographer Shannon Murphy, both of whom worked on last season’s Pirates of Penzance. Burns founded Quintessence in 2010, grew up in Mt. Airy and has directed Hamlet, My Fair Lady, Macbeth and Rare Accidents there. The company bought the Sedgwick Theater in 2024.

Quintessence calls itself Philadelphia’s text-based, actor-focused repertory theatre, and it stages classic drama and literature for the contemporary stage. Erica Ezold is executive director. A recreated marquee is planned for the front of the Sedgwick by the end of 2026, a new look coming to Germantown Avenue.

Tickets and Special Nights for Pippin at Quintessence

Tickets for Pippin at Quintessence are $30 to $75, and the Wednesday, November 18, performance is Pay-What-You-Can. Discounts and group sales are available at qtgrep.org or through the box office at 215-987-4450. Parking is available on the public streets of Mt. Airy.

The show runs about 2 hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission, and it is recommended for audiences 12 and older. The Sedgwick is a flexible black box theater.

Two nights add to the run. A post-show conversation takes place Sunday, December 13, at 5:30 p.m. On Thursday, December 17, a cast talkback night at 9:30 p.m. lets patrons meet the actors after the performance and ask them anything about the production.

The show is about wanting something big and learning to love the small, and Pippin at Quintessence makes that case through the holiday season.

Images: Linda Johnson

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Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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