BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The final attraction to open in the 2012-13 Broadway season, the musical “Pippin” arrived on Thursday in an elaborate revival at the Music Box Theater.

Boasting a cheerful clutch of groovy Stephen Schwartz songs, this 1972 musical regarding the hapless son of a medieval monarch has been turned by director Diana Paulus into a circus -- literally. Fire-eaters, knife-throwers, tumblers, aerialists, jugglers, acrobats and similar sawdust artistes gallivant through the show.

Collaborating with Gypsy Snider of Montreal’s 7 Fingers circus troupe, Paulus piles on plenty of the ole razzle-dazzle in order to disguise how writer Roger O. Hirson’s feeble second act mostly is a snore.  In spite of the sunshiny Schwartz score, the musical suffers a serious case of diminishing returns as it goes along so Paulus was smart to bring on a parade of circus acts.

This flashy concept works nicely within the musical’s ultra-presentational style as Pippin’s life and times are performed by a (circus) troupe that has “Magic to Do,” as their opening song declares.

The celebrated Bob Fosse choreography that originally bolstered the book has been more or less staged again by Chet Walker, and those sharply stylized patterns and postures remain an energizing factor of the entertainment.  Spangled, sexy duds and brightly colored lighting within designer Scott Pask’s big-top setting provide further visual stimulation.

The revival also benefits from the warmly comical presence of Andrea Martin in a featured role as Pippin’s lusty old granny.  Looking great and acting as droll as ever, Martin is quite wonderful, especially in her rollicking “No Time At All” celebration of life during which she blithely swings upside down from a trapeze.  It is a joyfully affirmative song, complete with an audience sing-a-long, and Martin memorably knocks it out of the Music Box.

Not all of the other principal players are so happy in their portrayals. A gangling Matthew James Thomas is appropriately boyish as the dopey Pippin and Rachel Bay Jones is sweet as the even dopier widow who harmonizes with him on “Love Song.”  But Terrence Mann’s silver-locked Charlemagne and Charlotte d’Amboise’s slinky temptress Fastrada, while effective, are strenuously attempting to be funny.

For all of their evident excellence as circus troupers and dancers, the company in general appears to be working much too hard to entertain the audience. More than anyone, Patina Miller needs to relax into her key role as the Leading Player. Ceaselessly grinning, quivering with energy, singing at full throttle, Miller is impressive but so relentless in her triple-threat attack that she becomes somewhat tiresome.

As the ringmaster of this bustling production, Paulus perhaps has been cracking her whip too often for the show’s good. With a little more ease, the revival might be a tad more genuinely charming than this nonstop whirl of entertainment that at times seems more distracting than diverting.  Still, this rather frantic “Pippin” certainly delivers plenty of bang for the Broadway mega-buck and is likely to please plenty of people who enjoy too much of a good thing.

“Pippin” continues at the Music Box Theater, 239 W. 45th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.pippinthemusical.com.