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Staying atop what’s called a “rolling globe” also offers a handy metaphor for the balancing act that ART artistic director Paulus is attempting with “Pippin,” much as she did with her Tony Award-winning revivals, “Hair” and “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.” She has to honor the 1972 Broadway hit, with its iconic songs by Stephen Schwartz and its Tony Award-winning choreography and direction by Bob Fosse, while at the same time appealing to a new generation of theatergoers.

Michael Jackson didn’t invent the moonwalk. Bob Fosse did.

“The main purpose [of ‘Pippin’] is to thrill, to re-establish a sense of mystery in the world. This show hits home with every single person,” he said.

Life is a circus, not only for the characters in “Pippin,” the musical revival that opens Dec. 5 at American Repertory Theater, but also for the actors preparing the show.

 The American Repertory Theater, in a co-production with Yale Repertory Theatre, presents the world premiere of David Adjmi’s tragicomedy Marie Antoinette at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge. Staged on a colorful plexiglass set designed by Riccardo Hernandez (who also designed The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess), with stunning costumes and wigs by Gabriel Berry, Adjmi’s highly entertaining telling of the French Queen’s story takes its fair share of liberties with history, but displays obvious parallels between the economic inequality of her time and ours as we teeter on the brink of an important election. 

 Brooke Bloom gives a spectacular performance as France’s former first lady in David Adjmi’s often silly yet insightful play.  Abetted by a smart director and crack design team — including Riccardo Hernandez, whose set design is an exercise in impactful minimalism — Adjmi has crafted a confection that’s all sugar on the surface, with harder-to-ingest messages concealed within.