A soundless auditorium waits, dark as night. Suddenly, a trill reverberates, steadily getting louder from the Pit Orchestra in front of the stage. The audience hears violins, guitars, bass, pianos, clarinets, flutes, trumpets, and trombones. A light flickers on the curtains and two sets of gloved hands poke out, starting the Harriton Theater Company’s production of the musical Pippin.

Over a millenia ago, there was a king, Charlemagne, who united most of Europe under the Roman Empire. Of his many children was a man named Pippin, largely forgotten by history under his father’s shadow. A shadow that imbued into Pippin a perception that only by being himself, could he find emotional  fulfillment. Other than the existence of Pippin and his father, the vast majority of the musical is historically inaccurate. However, its themes still give a new perspective on the past, and are relevant today.

From the beginning, Pippin claims that he wants an extraordinary life, unburdened by ‘ordinary pursuits’. However, no matter what Pippin does, he never feels fulfilled. First, Pippin begs his father to go to war, but feels discouraged after one battle. He plays music, goes to church, and even becomes king briefly, but nothing makes him content, leaving him with a continuous sense of being “empty and vacant”.

Eventually, Pippin marries, and starts living what he calls an ordinary life, which he despises. Still desperate for an ‘extraordinary’ life, Pippin eventually leaves his wife, and her son. In the musical, he reaches the ‘Finale’, which would supposedly make him ‘burn in everyone’s memories’. However, the Finale is an act of suicide, where he would jump off a cliff into a fire. Realising he doesn’t want to do it, Pippin refuses to jump, instead returning to his wife and stepson, where he had found a sense of purpose and belonging. Because being extraordinary is more ordinary than some may think.