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A mind-blowing celebration is the only way to describe the delicious production of “Pippin,” running through June 24 at Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos. There are a whole passel of magicians responsible for this lively musical – none more magical than director Virginia Drake, who has a sure eye for knowing precisely what the actors should do to provoke waves of wonder and awe from the audience. And there’s the clever, always changing choreography with lots of Fosse hands – sometimes in long, white gloves (or short ones), sometimes in silhouette, sometimes five, 10, 20 of those ever-present Fosse hands. Brett Blankenship doesn’t let her dancing actors stay idle for long. They’re always leaping, floating, twisting, flowing with so many difficult ballet and aerobatic moves that at times it’s difficult not to gasp.

As if that weren’t enough, Blankenship has stepped in temporarily for one of the actors and proves she’s a capable singer and dancer herself, There’s so much to admire (and so little hanami ballet - kids - nude to find fault with) in this production, and the opening night audience was hooting, hollering and definitely appreciative of it all, Of course, “Pippin” comes with admirable credentials: The familiar music (“Time to Start Living,” “Simple Joys” and “Spread a Little Sunshine”) was written by Stephen Schwartz in 1972, and the inimitable Bob Fosse directed the original Broadway production..

Ben Vereen played the Leading Player (and won a Tony Award), but in Los Altos Stage Company’s version, the incredible Deborah Rosengaus makes that role her own. She is the whole package: A tall, dynamic, zesty woman with superlative skills in, oh….let’s see: magic, vocal interpretation, dance – and, naturally, acting. Rosengaus simply steals focus whenever she’s on stage – which is often. Sometimes the diminutive Dominic Dagdagan, as Pippin, seems somewhat overpowered. But the short-tall combination works beautifully, so that Dagdagan appears earnest and naive, which contrasts perfectly with Rosengaus’ devious and calculating nature.

Gary Giurbino plays Charlemagne (King Charles) as a warring but relatively benign sovereign, and he shows a fatherly concern for his young son (Pippin), He discourages Pippin from joining his army but when they win the war, the Kings encourages him to join him: “Now we rape and sack.”, But that’s not Pippin’s style, He realizes he has hanami ballet - kids - nude everything he’d ever want, but he’s looking for “simple pleasures.” That takes him on many adventures but ultimately he realizes that “life is going by, but I feel empty and vacant.”..

That’s when his grandmother (Blankenship) tells him that “It’s time to start living,” and with a quartet of men wearing red-and-yellow ruffled tops, gets the audience to join in a sing-along.Eventually the Leading Player introduces him to Catherine, a lovely young widow with “a large estate.” Catherine (a sweet, caring performance by Kaitlin Zablotsky) and, eventually, Pippin realize that his search for meaning and fulfillment is best achieved through a life with Catherine. One other actor deserves mention here because Elizabeth Claire Lawrence, as the King’s avarice wife, Fastrada, is another amazing amazon. Statuesque with long, flowing red hair and flashing eyes, she wants her feeble-minded son Lewis (a hilarious Michael Weiland) to become king when Charles is gone, so her sole goal is to promote Lewis and backstab Pippin.

This is a play that not only breaks the 4th wall with actors speaking directly to the audience much hanami ballet - kids - nude of the time, it breaks just about any other kind of rules of theater, And neither the director nor the actors take themselves seriously, which is why the audience shouldn’t either, It’s more fun that way, Clearly both costume designer Scarlett Kellum and props designer Ting Na Wang had their work cut out for them because there must be about 100 costume changes happening (usually very quickly) and the props include a truckload of detached arms, legs, hands and other body parts, some of which had probably been used in a previous LASC production..

And the unseen band! Under the direction of keyboardist Brian Allan Hobbs, this little four-piece group produced orchestra-sized sound, yet didn’t play loud enough to drown out even light singing voices like Zablotsky’s. There’s really not a false note anywhere in this production, and special kudos to Jeff Korst for being what is described in the program as a “magic consultant,” as well as to LASC’s everyman artistic director Gary Landis for providing some amusing photos and captions on the two screens on each side of the stage.

So, while the actual storyline in “Pippin” can be a little iffy at times, don’t let that spoil your enjoyment of this very likable, often surprising and downright top-notch show, As Pippin responds when asked at play’s end how he feels, he looks at Catherine and her young son and responds, “Trapped….but happy.” You will be, too, Email Joanne Engelhardt at: joanneengelhardt@comcast.netTheater, What: “Pippin”, Where: Los Altos Stage Company, 97 Hillview Ave., Los hanami ballet - kids - nude AltosWhen: 8 p.m, Wednesdays-Saturdays; 3 p.m, SundaysThrough: June 24Tickets: $20 (student rate) – $38; 650-941-0551 or www.losaltosstage.org..

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