{"id":1952057,"date":"2025-08-09T23:42:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1952057"},"modified":"2025-08-09T23:42:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:42:28","slug":"extraordinary-the-pippin-esque-odyssey-of-kaden-hinkle-arts-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/extraordinary-the-pippin-esque-odyssey-of-kaden-hinkle-arts-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Extraordinary! The Pippin-esque odyssey of Kaden Hinkle | Arts & Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When you are 21 and lying on an operating table with your heart turned off for five hours, the 7-inch incision down your chest might well be considered a dividing line for your life. Everything up to now: Ordinary. Everything to come: Extraordinary.<\/p>\n

The problem with the analogy is that very little in young Kaden Hinkle\u2019s life so far has been ordinary. And all roads on his remarkable journey collided on Saturday night with the opening of the disability-affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company\u2019s staging of the splashy Broadway musical \u201cPippin\u201d<\/a> in partnership with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

In Hinkle, director Robert Michael Sanders didn\u2019t find just the right young actor to play the prince on an existential quest for meaning and purpose. He found \u2026 Pippin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaden really kind of is Pippin,\u201d said Sanders. \u201cHe just really embodies what his story is all about. He’s a special kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kaden Hinkle was one of two locals who were chosen to perform in the national touring production of ‘A Christmas Story’ \u2013 and was chosen to perform in all Denver performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n JOHN MOORE FOR THE DCPA <\/span>
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Hinkle has wanted to play this role since he was 11, when the first national tour of the Broadway revival launched at the Buell Theatre back in 2014. Well, at the time, he wanted to play Theo, the boy who becomes Pippin\u2019s stepson. He auditioned to play the role at the time, and even made it to the final cut. His random consolation prize was sitting directly behind legendary composer Stephen Schwartz<\/a> on opening night.<\/p>\n

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Kaden Hinkle’s 2014 Denver ‘Pippin’ Playbill signed by Stephen Schwartz.<\/p>\n

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\n KADEN HINKLE<\/span>
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\u201cI still have the signed Playbill from that experience,\u201d said Hinkle. \u201cI was just like, \u2018Holy crap, this show is magical. \u2026 The ending is weird, but this show is magical!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hinkle grew over the next 11 years from 55 pounds to \u2013\u00a0well, let\u2019s say at least twice that much today \u2013\u00a0his dream role has morphed from playing the boy Theo to the man Pippin. In fact, Pippin sits at the tippy-top of his list of dream roles like a one-toed tightrope walker.<\/p>\n

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Kaden Hinkle rehearses for the\u00a02015 national touring production of ‘A Christmas Story’ shortly after he was one of two local teens chosen to appear in all Denver performances.<\/p>\n

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\n OHN MOORE FOR THE DCPA<\/span>
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This is how bad he wanted it: When Hinkle found out that Phamaly would be staging \u201cPippin\u201d as its annual summer musical extravaganza, he was attending PACE University in New York City, where he studies musical theater. He auditioned by videotape, \u201cand he really sang the (bleep) out of it,\u201d said Sanders, so he was invited to participate remotely in the second round of tryouts.<\/p>\n

Instead, Hinkle came home to Denver to do the callback in person. \u201cHe flew in for one day, did the audition, then flew out that same night so that he could take his finals the very next day,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThat is an interesting level of commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I asked Hinkle: Why would you risk that? And he said, \u201cBecause this is a dream role with a dream team for a dream company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Pippin, he had magic to do.<\/p>\n

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