Magic To Do - Pippin - Ben Vereen 

Things were so different then. It captures the way Broadway was at that time. It was a extraordinary period of time when it was at its high point. Ben Vereen is a national treasure.

There's something so creepily enticing about this version. The bizarre costuming, the almost-snickering attitude of the Leading Player played beautifully by Ben Vereen, and the prevalent darkness of the stage...it's so fascinatingly curious! I'd have loved to see this live!

the glowing hands has always been my favorite part of this intro!!

The fabulous Ben Vereen. No one comes close to his artistry. Bob Fosse knew what to do.

I grew up in NY and when I think of Ben Vereen I think of three things, Pippin, Chicken George and a short lived tv show called 10 Speed and Brownshoe. What a talented guy, he should have been a much bigger star.

I had forgotten how much more overtly sinister the original opening of this song was...sort of like the "Commedia dell'arte troupe from Hell" ... which is appropriate since The Leading Player is essentially the embodiment of temptation (almost a devil character).

Schmigadoon season 2 brought me here and honestly that was an incredible number

Yes, Ben Vereen was terrific. I saw "Pippin" in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia (damn good production by the way) . As a fourteen year old who had dreams of going into the entertainment business, this musical blew me away. I've just bought the original cast album. Great to hear it again. A real "feel good" show. Seeing "Pippin" and "Chorus Line" were exhilirating experiences for me.

I've seen many, many spectacular Broadway plays and legendary performers but "Pippin" is my favorite and it's all because of Ben Vereen! This opening act was spectacular and is etched into my memory.

Ben Vereen is an angel hovering over the madness and making poetry of it all. Wow....

2:35 is my favorite part of the choreography. The open palm sidestep cross while everyone is saying something different. So cool.

One of the great opening numbers of all time....

I've "Ben" watching this version over and over :D

I can’t get over how cool the dance break is. The orchestra, the choreography. Great music was once heard on the Broadway.

If a Pippin movie ever gets made, I hope it takes more inspiration from this version than the revival. Not that the revival is bad, but the Fosse style would be so much more outstanding!

I saw this with original cast around '76 the score and the production was amazing even in its simplicity. I'm taking my kids to the revival next month, I can see already via RU-vid it's a much bigger production. In the 70's you could have a musical with just soul (i.e. like Chorus Line) you didn't need so many whistles and bells. This had the great Fosse moves and all the songs are memorable.

The original Broadway version that you see here ran on Broadway for quite some time -- I would have to say at the very least 7 to 8 years. That in itself is saying something about the work of Mr. Bob Fosse. Check your Broadway history. I saw it four times because it was dazzling to the eyes. The staging was out of this world. The DVD does not do it justice. Seeing it live was what counted. Especially when it was all under the sure hand of Mr. Fosse. This musical exemplified his style to a T. I would go see it today if the production were still running!

This is great! Bob Fosse's staging is brilliant, and I think this is one of the most electrifying opening numbers in Broadway history!! (OK...at least in the top ten).

This and the opening of "Lion King" are the two best opening numbers of any Broadway show. Over 40 years later and the "floating hands" still stay in my memory.

I LOVE this song so much! Beautiful. Great job writing great contemporary songs for a 70s musical.

RIP Roger Hirson. And eternal gratitude to Steven Schwartz and Bob Fosse. Pippin remains the Pinnacle of the best of Broadway musicals. Comprehendable lyrics, a cohesive narrative, creative choreography, lovable characters, and music that implants itself in your brain. Compare all that to the tripe they're selling these days.

The best! Saw it live on Broadway, wore out the grooves on the LP!

I saw this cast on Broadway and will never forget this number with Ben he was spectacular .

I saw Pippin in Washington, DC as it prepared to go to Broadway. This opening was completely mesmerizing and set the stage, so to speak, for the entire show. Outstanding cast!

I saw at 11 on Broadway in NY with Ben Vereen - I can still sing it. It had to be 1972...Bob Fosse was amazing!!!

I adore this show! Who would have thought that the unlikely subject of Charlemagne's son in 9th century France would make for such a hip, funky, tender Broadway evening?? Stephen Schwartz and Bob Fosse thought it would---pure genius.

If grew up around this time in the 1970's. One of the first broadway musical I ever seen and it brings back great memories. Love all the actors, dancers and the music. Live singing and dancing is hard to do. People should appreciate raw talent.

Loooove Ben Vereen! This is so great!! I saw him at the Vegas Trek convention last month and he was bright, funny, gracious and just all around wonderful. Live long and prosper, Mr. Vereen.

Fosse is all over this version - like this but love the revival.

Hello from Schmicago!

Schmigadoon season 2 (Schmicago ) brought me here.

This was the 2nd Broadway production I ever saw. I'll never forget and will ever be shaped by it.

Bob Fossee at His Best! Exceptional and Superb! This is a wonderful musical!

Ben Vereen is magic. :)

I saw this live , the Broadway original company; and it changed my life. "We've got magic to do" became my mantra, and I went into the Theater whole-heartedly, hoping I could spread a least a little of this kind of magic. And now forty-eight years after my first professional show, I'm still trying. God bless you, Bob Fosse!

IM PLAYING THE ROLE OF LEADING IN MY COLLEGE'S PRODUCTION I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Thank you, this was one of my favorite shows ever to perform in in the good old Broadway days.

I saw this on Broadway when I was 13, with Ben Vereen. I grew up in the Phila suburbs and it was a Girl Scouts bus trip. It was my first ever introduction to NYC theater and it was amazing.

A moment of silence for a first American Sicilian that grew up in Hell’s Kitchen and would one day as my step father take me to Broadway to experience Pippin and Cats .

If I had a time machine, I'd go back to see the first production of this.

Weird ass show but back in drama club I used to hear this song before every performance so this song has a special place in my heart

Ben Vereen rules!

i love this play!!! i saw it at the local highschool 2 years ago and ive loved it since. wish i could see it every day!

Im actually the Leading Player. The show is tonight at our community theatre and Im sooo nervous bcuz i will never do it as well as Ben vereen.

Along with The Jet Song from West Side Story and Summer Days from Grease, this is one of Broadway's best opening numbers ever. Superb.

Surreal, sinister, sublime, and spectacular! The revival is nothing more than a dull circus, this however is highly original/innovative from the disembodied hands, to the players, the costumes and makeup they wear, to the score, and of course Ben himself, just so fresh and so good! Thank god we have this recorded because until Stephen Schwartz has a change of heart, we'll never see the show as brilliant as it was under Fosse's direction. If you want to see the show in it's full glory, than look for the 1981 Fosse Cut which is the full performance, as opposed to commercially available truncated version.

My first Broadway musical seen in NYC. Magical in so many ways.

Pippin needs a revival.

So want to do this play.

Ben Vereeniging was amazing. I saw him in Pippin twice. Amazing Magical

I'm happy and sad at the same time watching this. I saw this on Broadway my first trip in 1976, along with the original cast of Chicago. So much has changed, so many friends gone now..

1974, University School, Shaker Hgts, OH. I was in 1st grade & we did this number for our class play. Thx Mr. Vereen. Dr. Brian Martin

I love this! Since EP last Sunday, I've played it non-stop. Wish I could go to NYC in March.

I haven't heard this in 15 years. Feels gooood to hear it again...

Ben Vereen. ❤️

Ben Vereen is the man.

First show I ever saw on Broadway back in the 70s. Cant wait to see this new one!!!

This is my all time favorite musical. Rhonda and I saw Ben Vereen's road show of this at the Prospect Theater in Schenectedy in 1988.

LOVED THIS! GREAT ENERGY!!!!

I remember Ben Vereen playing the mayor (a leopard I think) in Zoobilee Zoo. A show i watched all the time in kindergarten.

*stefon from snl* This musical has EVERYTHIng: nihilism, patricide, self-aware theatre actors, catchy songs, roman war, sex presented pastoraly, ducks, coreography by bill fosse, realization of the fullfillment of family life, oedipussy-" "Oedipussy?" "It's, like, that thing of where you sleep with your mom, so she'll sabotage your step family so she can be queen and you can be king..???👑✌️"

My school is doing this! I saw the first half of it, and I loved it! The guy that's doing the lead player is AWESOME! Our costume scheme is different, but I like it a lot!

I loved this play! i saw it like 2-3 years ago at the local highschool and they did an amazing job on it! wish i could see it again :(

It's interesting to see a male Head Player after listening to the revival cast for so long :-/ I like him, don't get me wrong, it's just interesting to see a different take on it and what the director thinks for the show, including genders of characters.

love this song! sang and performed it in high school 2 years ago... :)

Happy Birthday, Ben Vereen!

Congratz, That's awesome. it's my dream to one day play the Leading Player on stage (outside of a school production)

This is so f***ing great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

i saw it last night, it made it to my top 5 shows (movies etc.) just from this first number! XD

This was shot at Hamilton Place theatre, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

i go to a performing arts school and our homework this week for musical theatre was to look at this song and learn it this is a great song

RIP Chita Rivera. Thank You, my lady. Stranger And Still... HCCringo

Enchantment!!!! WEEEEEEE!!!!!

So awesome! My troupe performed this number to open Shakespeare's Tempest last year! @

I'm doing this at my school in April. First rehershal is on Monday, and I can't wait!

I know many people would disagree but 'Pippin' IS Fosse...from the opening moments its clear why he won the Tony for Best Direction. I've seen a few productions since and, yes, they lack both Fosse's cyncism and sense of stagecraft, of what is truly theatrical. The property itself is not a strong favourite, though many of Schawartz's songs are outstanding and the idea intriguing...but Fosse gave us integrated theatre, as if he had been there (and maybe he was) for every millisecond of the show's creation. It worked because Fosse worked (and because his cast was workable and talented). We could do with a remount of this show with a similar reach: Fosse and Vereen were aware - at the height of the zetigeist in the 70s - of the piece's existential crux: what are you if all you are doing is basing yourself on what you want to be? It would almost be apt to to the show where parts of it were Tik Tok videos.

this is the ultimate musical. if i could live in a musical... the choice is obvious

Let loose, it's summertime! There's magic to do!

I just saw this musical.OUTSTANDING!(Wouldn't take a little kid though.)

We had to watch this in theater class. o__O

I am 53 now and we sung this in an elementary school assembly 3rd grade.

now this is broadway....awesome.

Greatness!

Can't believe how lucky I am to have seen so many of the major Broadway shows of this era. In NY, a spare 'student rush' ticket was something like $7, and nobody cared if you took a front and center unoccupied seat. Pacific Overtures. Wow. And the road shows that came to my hometown were exactly that -- the original production, original cast on the road. Pippin/Ben Vereen, Mousetrap /Anthony Quayle, Equus/Colin Firth, and so on. Now they're all corporate touring companies, often censored.

Only two people could do Fosse as well as Fosse. Ben Vereen and Anne Reinking

Anyone love both? But you gotta admit, the revival fucking cranks it up to 11. It has the benefit of hindsight, higher budgets, better effects, etc. We’ve learned more about how to perform theater since the 70s, productions have increased in quality and polish, and the revival vs original Pippin is a great example of that.

oh so good

Masters

I wish it was live Concert this year March 23rd 2022

Ben Vereen is the Jesus of Musical Theater, enough said

Fosse and Vereen were golden. Add the Greatest American Hero, Martha Raye and Chita Rivera you've got a guaranteed good show.

I'm still shook from how hot Ben is in this, and the first time I saw this video in the late 90s!

I'm in this Show!!!

i played this part in college as a freshmen and i loved it Lp songs are kind of hard. Any who Miramax needs to make pippin and get it over with

Good i love this. Don't get me wrong i like the 2013 verisoen well enugh but this, this is the good stuuf. The sltohgey more ambogues tone and the fosse are part of it but it is ben verran who relley maes this. His is effctless, darwing us in with just a sense of elsive showmanship and flowied and entcing bodey movermnt. Good this is good

I'd love to do this role one day 😊

I love the Lead Player.

He's over emphasising the syllables because diction, when speaking normally, is lost when performing on stage. Otherwise, the ends of words would disappear in the acoustic and the audience wouldn't fully understand the lyrics. NOT, however, because he's black or that because of this he speaks with more diction in order to appeal to a white audience. A white leading man/woman would be speaking/singing in EXACTLY the same way. It's an idiom of musical theatre. Peace out x

That black guy is da beez kneez

My high school is doing Pippin this year (I'm Lewis). I really only like Magic to Do and Glory. But it's an alright musical(: Anyway, it's amazing how Schwartz went from boringish Pippin songs to the ginormous, masterly orchestrated belting songs in Wicked.