Stage Review

PIPPIN

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Roger O. Hirson. An American Repertory Theater production, presented by Broadway in Boston. Directed by Diane Paulus. At the Boston Opera House,

through Feb. 14. Ticketsstart

at $44, 800-982-2787, www.broadwayinboston.com

Since its debut in 1972 to its Broadway-bound revival at the American Repertory Theater in 2012, “Pippin’’ has always been about one thing: the director. In the original production, Bob Fosse turned what would have been a minor musical into a Tony Award winner by infusing it with his old razzle-dazzle. And ART artistic director Diane Paulus turned it into a Tony Award-winning revival by creating a circus spectacle complete with trapeze artistry and daredevil stunts performed on medicine balls, poles, and ribbons hanging from the rafters.

There is magic to do in the Paulus reincarnation and, rest assured, magic does happen in the touring production that plays the Boston Opera House through Feb. 14. With a book by Roger O. Hirson and a generic pop score by Stephen Schwartz, the musical has always been a bit of treacle: Pippin, the son of holy Roman emperor Charlemagne, is, in his mind, an extraordinary being who needs to find his “corner of the sky.’’ He goes to war. He has sex. He stages a revolution. He contemplates patricide or maybe settling down with a lovely young widow. But in this production, his soul-searching takes place amid an environment that includes gymnastics, prestidigitation, and simulated porcine hanky-panky.

In this play within a play, the Leading Player (the sinuous Gabrielle McClinton) opens the show, shimmying and shoulder-shaking and commanding the stage with the fierce edge of a director who can fire you the minute the next young ingénue comes along. Brian Flores, in his professional stage debut, is absolutely lovely as the callow young Pippin, who goes searching for greatness but ends up happily ordinary, like the rest of us. Flores has a long career ahead of him. The rest of the cast is spot on, from Sabrina Harper’s conniving turn as Pippin’s stepmother to Bradley Benjamin’s fresh-scrubbed performance as the widow. You won’t find an ounce of fat on anyone in the ensemble, which has Chet Walker’s Fosse-inspired choreography down to the very last pelvic thrust (including an impressive turn by an actor who plays a to-die-for chicken).

But “Pippin’’ isn’t only about youth and six-pack abs. As Pippin’s granny, Adrienne Barbeau (the original Rizzo in “Grease’’) brings down the house with her anthem to living life to its fullest, which she performs with the greatest of ease. And John Rubinstein, who originated the title role on Broadway, is back in this production as Charles, and he seems to be having way too much fun as the tyrannical emperor. He embraces the role with gusto, adding resonance to the theme of time passing, of spring turning to fall, of youth being wasted on the young.

I was just a little girl when I saw Rubinstein in the original production (oh, those curls!), and I remember thinking “Pippin’’ was profound. (And yes, the sex went right over my innocent little head; rest easy, Mom.) Maybe that’s because it was the first time I saw the fourth wall come crashing down, the artifice revealed. (I got used to it with all those Pirandello plays at the old ART.) But today, I’m struck by the hollow cynicism of the musical, illustrated by the deliberate biting edge of McClinton’s gorgeous Leading Player. (Ben Vereen was just so smooth in the original.) Even with the glorious circus creation by Gypsy Snider and the fabulous big top set by Scott Pask, “Pippin’’ feels cold this time around. That, of course, is the point, and Paulus’s reinvention brings this relic from the 1970s into the 21st century: They didn’t say “bite me’’ and “hook up’’ when I was a kid.

The Cirque du Soleil-style staging is a wonder to watch, and the acrobatic players elicit plenty of oohs and ahhs. It’s theater as spectacle, but it all disappears in the end. The circus is over. It’s time to move on.

PIPPIN

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Roger O. Hirson. An American Repertory Theater production, presented by Broadway in Boston. Directed by Diane Paulus. At the Boston Opera House, through Feb. 14. Tickets: Starting at $44, 800-982-2787, www.BroadwayInBoston.com

Patti Hartigan can be reached at pattihartigan@gmail.com.