PIPPIN is the son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne and, like all princes in waiting, from Hamlet to Charles Windsor, life is incomplete.

"I have this overwhelming need to be completely fulfilled, and it hasn't happened yet," says Pippin, the Prince of Despair. "I've got to find my corner of the sky."

That search will be conducted under the guidance of the Leading Player (Callum O'Connell), who has something of Shakespeare's Puck and Cabaret's Master Of Ceremonies about him - yet has the looks to be Bryan McFadden's replacement in Westlife - as he cajoles Scott Garnham's Pippin through the ups and downs of everyday life in 780AD.

Pippin is a morality tale dressed up gaudily as a tongue-in-cheek musical comedy, in which a troupe of actors led by the aforementioned Leading Player have a strange, but ultimately life-affirming, tale to tell.

Imagine a union of Cabaret, The Canterbury Tales and Tom Jones (the Henry Fielding road novel, not the perma-tanned Welsh pop god), then throw in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and early Woody Allen movies, and remember that all manner of weirdness was going on in early Seventies' musicals. Even then, you still will not come close to the full majestic madness of Pippin.

Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson's 1972 musical puts the odd into odyssey as Pippin seeks fulfilment in experiences of Home, War, The Flesh, Revolution, The Hearth and Everyday Life. He is a game boy, this Pippin, wandering and wondering through life in his harlequin tank top and yellow tracksuit trousers (very Roman Empire chic), bouncing off the walls of disappointment into his next experience, like a student on the wildest gap year.

Garnham's ever expressive face is a picture throughout, first as the very American Pippin suffers the pompous bluster of his very British father (John Hall, who knows just how far over the top to go), then when bewildered by the frolicking enthusiasm of his grandma Berthe (Sandy Nicholson, with Vitamin C on tap). Here, the musical careers off into pantoland for an audience singalong in No Time At All, and no one bats an eyelid.

Laurie Scarth's scheming, saucy stepmother Fastrada certainly Spreads A Little Sunshine as she goes about her scene-stealing business, then Nicola Pittman introduces pathos as widow Catherine tries to settle Pippin into domestic bliss. And what's this? A young girl (Olivia Hollingworth) sings a prayer to a sick duck called Otto.

Relax, Robert Readman's production will make more sense than British racing by the finale, as bold performances, wacky costumes, a cracking pace and lively musicianship from Adam Tomlinson's band add up to a tip-top Pippin.

Pippin, Shipton Theatre Company, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday. Box office: 01904 764429.

Updated: 11:28 Wednesday, March 10, 2004