But young Pippin still remains unfulfilled, undecided about his future. "Time is what I'm worrying about," he intimates. Then he discovers sex.

Suddenly confronted by one of the production's skimpily-clothed, sumptuous dancerettes who struts up to Pippin and pinches his nipple, Pippin giggles the red-faced giggle of a boy about to lose his innocence.

The cast then breaks into a frantic and sensuous rock 'n roll dance featuring a scorching electric guitar lead, a funky organ and a pulsating and quickening beat. The dance typifies the effective manner in which Fosse handles the elements of sex and slang in his production. With gaining speed, the dancers throw one another around the stage, while throwing Pippin into breasts and behinds. In one part of the dance, the dancers lower Pippin on and off a series of female dancers who somersault on the stage floor to lie flat beneath him. Right in synch with the dancing, the music accelerates, then climaxes, leaving Pippin alone on the stage with a very drained look on his face.

So much for sex; Pippin now seeks fulfillment in politics. When the oppression and tyranny of his father's rule is brought to his attention, he becomes outraged and swears to foment a revolution. With a jarring suddenness, Pippin stabs his father in the back and sings to a new day, turning the comedy into a melodrama for the moment.

When Pippin the idealist realizes that running the Holy Roman Empire isn't quite as easy as he had originally imagined, he rues the murder. Again, the play refuses to take itself too seriously. "You got it," a character tells Pippin, and Charles gets up off the floor, pulling the dagger from his back.

"I'm sorry father," Pippin says.

"That's o.k. son," Charles says nonchalantly, "just don't let it happen again."

Thrown out into the woods again, Pippin this time takes up with Catherine, a widow played by Alexandra Borrie, who owns a large estate. Eventually, Pippin becomes her lover and a father figure to Theo, her little boy. But Pippin even spurns love, leaving Catherine because, of all things, there must be something more to his life.

Which brings us to the finale. Suddenly, Pippin is surrounded by all the players and dancers. They implore him to achieve perfection in life through a flaming death. Just as they are about to persuade Pippin to take his life, Catherine comes back into the scene with Theo, and Pippin's search for meaning comes to an end.

OUTRAGED that the saga of Pippin's life did not end in an egoistic suicide, the players curse Pippin and Catherine and Theo, who stand in the middle of the stage, hand in hand. They remove all the props, the makeup, the costumes, the lights, and leave the trio standing squarely in the center of a bare Shubert stage. Without revealing the finale, as Pippin himself says, "What a way to end a musical comedy.

There is really nothing bad to say about Pippin. This is one musical that keeps you guessing--and thinking. This Tony-winner will have you contemplating and singing at the same time as you climb the frozen snowbanks of your life--which is a lot more than you will get from Sartre and Camus.