Review: Peppi Pitkätossu

Sensitive and raunchy Pippi

The City Theatre’s Pippi Longstocking tells the story of a father’s longing and friendship.

My nine-year-old companion knows this: “Pippi is strong, independent and determined because she has to live alone.

“Author Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking is 9 years old when she moves to Huvikumpu with her horse and monkey. He single-handedly rules his paradise as an anarchist child, where adults are portrayed as ridiculous and their world as hypocritical.

Pippi is stronger, wittier and richer than adults. Under Milko Lehto’s direction, a more sensitive side of Pippi also emerges: she is a little girl who misses her father immensely.

The title role is played by Anna-Riikka Rajanen and Maija Koivisto. The premiere was Rajanen. Her Pippi is cheerfully girly, energetic and raunchy. The courtship is interrupted by a melancholy song to the pirate father who was carried away by the waves.

My nine-year-old companion was happy with Rajanen’s Pippi. The normal children Tommi (Petrus Kähkönen) and Annika (Raili Raitala) also met the basic expectations as the opposite of Pippi.

The adult viewer is not forgotten in the musical play either. There is plenty of original humour, and the gestures and movement language of the adult roles, in particular, are at times hilarious.

Kaisa Torkkeli’s teacher gets full applause for the wiggling of her hips, as well as Ursula Salo’s Mrs. Ryöppyvaara for stroking her breasts. Sneaky thieves (Sauli Suonpää and Iikka Forss) and tap-dancing cops (Tuukka Leppänen and Iikka Forss) shine.

Jyrki Karttunen’s choreography is fast-paced. Markus Tsokkinen’s set design is simply executed but inventive. Pippi’s delicate side brings touching to the performance, and Milko Lehto’s message about the value of friendship becomes clearer to the child at the end.