I just spoke to a director here in town about Pippin. We're going to do it for our high school and I said we'd be toning down the sexuality of the show.
He told me he thought that was the "fun" of the show, which I took to mean that the show just wouldn't be the same without it.
Thoughts?

its not only the "fun" of the show but an important part of it..without it Pippin's journey makes no sense.

Not necessarily; the only song you'd have to cut would be "With You", which is a weak song anyway.

with you isnt weak in context. with the action going on its not only enjoyable but an important part of the show. plus you'd have ti cut spread a little sunshine andcthe whole inset dance between fastrada and lewis..not to mention other stuff

Then I guess my question is: how and why do so many high schools do it then??

And you wouldn't have to cut With You, since it's basically a romantic song, not sexual.
Not sure how Spread a Little Sunshine gets staged then. Hmmm

The song itself isn't sexual; it all depends on what's going on *during* the song. I've seen productions where the girls are practically dry-humping Pippin while he sings.

My high school's production involved a "split beaver" shot. One of the girls spread her legs and there was a stuffed beaver between them during the "With You" dance sequence.

I'm frankly surprised no one tried to censor that one.

It's all in how you present it....
We did "Pippin" in our community theatre, in a rather conservative town. Plus the theater we take the summer musical to after we perform at home askes all groups to keep things at least PG rated. We also had a mixed age cast.... Most of the leads were in their 30's to 40's.... but most of the ensemble was below 18. So we needed to be careful about what we had these underage girls doing.
In "With You", it was all pretty gentle and lovely... girls running their hands over his hair, shoulders, chest....with him acting sort of embarassed and shy at first. Only on his high note "and, OH, my dearest love" we had myself (I was Catherine, and also in the Act I ensemble) and another older girl run out hands up his legs, but not quite under his tunic. In the orgy scene afterwards we had some mildly suggestive dancing and running about. The audience certainly "got" what was happening. You don't have to have R or X rated actions in order to put the story across or to have fun with this show.