Review: Peppi Pitkätossu
Pippi Longstocking’s Huvikumpu is full of jazz
The world-famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s (1907–2002) extensive production includes almost a hundred children’s and young people’s books, the characters of which are the well-known Eemelis of Vaahteramäki, Ronja the Robber’s Daughters, the Katto-Kassinen and the Children of the Noise Village. And, of course, Pippi Longstocking.
The story of Pippi, which has become familiar through television and film, was premiered in Sweden as a stage musical directed and dramatised by Staffan Götestam as early as 1980. HKT brought it to the programme for the spring season of 2015, as its last musical on the big stage before the lengthy renovation.
The performance season of the musical Pippi, which has become a great favourite, was cut short as the renovation took place, and so Huvikumpu was set up on the renovated big stage for the second time.
The choice of the musical Pippi as the counterpart to Maija in the autumn’s other major production, the heavy and dramatic Myrskyluoto Maija, is excellent. And almost the only one possible: Maija’s massive orchestral line-up stands permanently in the theatre’s pit, and another large orchestra cannot be crammed into the premises.
The music is not grandiose this time, but it is intact and full-bodied. The band is exceptionally small for HKT’s musical on the big stage. The quartet, led by Markku Luuppala, plays in the back storage room of the stage, from where the band’s acoustic sound practically does not come all the way to the stands, but they rely on an amplified sound.
The maestro, who excels on clarinet, sopranophone, tenor and flute, is supported by a piano trio, and all the playing is done without backing tapes or clicks, genuine and live.
The songs of the musical’s main composer, Georg Riedel, move in the chords, syncopes and fresh improvisations of lightly swinging seventies pop jazz. The styles and sounds of the musical Pippi are very refreshing in their rarity among major musicals.
In addition to Riedel’s compositions, the stage version also features the “Everything is a wink…” theme familiar from the Pippi films, with its many variations, and the song was written by Riedel’s old bandmate, legendary jazz pianist Jan Johansson – the father of Stratovarius’ synthesizer wizard Jens Johansson.
During the renovation, the sound system of the main stage has undergone quite a revolution. Although the speaker system has grown further, certain speaker positions of the old system no longer exist, so replacing them with something else has required dedication from sound designer Kirsi Peter.
Also, transferring the mixing session from two and a half years ago to the new system has certainly been quite a task in itself, which has not gone smoothly.
In Pippi’s stage images, William Iles’ fairytale-like lights and Markus Tsokkinen’s colourful set design play together nicely. Riitta Röpelinen’s costumes also serve up a visual treat, especially the rough and ragged pirate gang, which seems to come from some world of Hanoi Rocks and zombie movies.
Milko Lehto’s direction marches to the stage hilarious characters that speak to adults as well, such as thieves (Risto Kaskilahti and Kai Lähdesmäki) shooting the Turku dialect and tap-dancing police officers (Tuukka Leppänen and Risto Kaskilahti). Panu Vauhkonen plays a great double role as the circus strongman in the first act and as Pippi’s father in the second act. Ursula Salo’s strict social lady is allowed to represent a rigid society, from which the anarchist Pippi wins time and time again.
The entire ensemble was in a strong mood at the re-premiere. I think the working group has had a lot of fun at the rehearsals, at least in the performance, the mutual joy between the actors and the audience hit the core – everyone had fun together, regardless of age.
We were able to witness what is the most essential and best thing about theatre as an art form: community, interaction, uniqueness.
But what would HKT’s family musical have been without the title role – the re-premiere was played by the brilliant and cheerfully peppery Anna-Riikka Rajanen, who, with her grinning face and viral expression, is at least like the Inger Nilsson of the TV series, if not more: Rajanen sang nicely, threw a cartwheel at the same time and whizzed up and down her three-storey Huvikumpu at such a pace that the viewer felt as if there were several Pippies at times. And maybe it was…
Although the entire stage setup of the musical, with its masks, costumes and sets, was abundant, HKT’s performance does not chew everything up, but leaves room for the viewer to rejoice and realize, and fill in the gaps with their imagination. For example, Pippi’s vehicle, a horse called Little Man, is inventively executed and works wonderfully well as a construction supported by three actors.
The re-premiere of Pippi Longstocking at the Helsinki City Theatre 13.9.2017