The Scarlet Pimpernel

Whats the deal with The Scarlet Pimpernel did it play with three different casts at 3 different theatres Im confused. Could somone inform me thanks

Pimpernel first opened at the Minskoff Theatre with Douglas Sills as Percy/Pimpernel, Christine Andreas as Margeurite, and Terrence Mann as Chauvelin. It opened to very mixed to negative reviews, but still had semi-healthy business. About a year (I think) later, to save the show, a huge company (I can't remember which right off the top of my head) swooped in with a large sum of money, but decided to change the show, so they brought in a new director (Robert Longbottom fresh off of SIDE SHOW) and the company rehearsed the new version at day and performed the old version at night. The show closed for a short time and reopened with all the changes and with a few cast changes - Douglas Sills was still Percy, but now joining him were Rachel York as Margeurite and Rex Smith as Chauvelin. This new version, jokingly referred to as Pimpernel 2.0 ran for a while. When it closed, they sent the show out on a mini tour with a third redesign and a few more changes. This tour came in and played at the Neil Simon Theater for a spell with Ron Bohmer as Percy, Carolee Carmello as Marguerite, and Marc Kudisch as Chauvelin. Again, people referred to this one as Pimpernel 3.0

I saw and liked all three but I have to say 2.0 was the best. Noone could hold a candlestick to Douglas Sills in that role and this is the first time I've liked Rex Smith in anything, although Terry Mann was better.

Hope this helps.

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Updated On: 5/14/08 at 10:00 AM

The only change I HATED from 2.0 was taking YOU ARE MY HOME, a beautiful love duet between the two siblings (and NOT in a gross Appalachian kind of way!) which was special in its uniqueness, and made it into just another generic syrupy ballad for the lovers to sing at their wedding. And they took out the song ONLY LOVE. Other than that...

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The first version is still my favorite as well. I didn't like the book changes for Act II and I for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why they changed all those gorgeous vubrant colorful costumes at the top of Act II (which received an ovation from the audience) to all white.

The show was visually stunning (the Fragonard-inspired drops were breathtaking) and utterly charming. Sills, Andreas and Mann were divine. The show deserved a much better fate. I hope it returns to Broadway in revival.

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Updated On: 5/14/08 at 11:36 AM

I don't know which version I saw in SF, but I loved the show! It had Doug Sills, Rex Smith and.....hmmm, I don't have the program in front of me....maybe Rachel York? Lizzie...help me out here. SF tour version, late ninteies!

I can never understand the dislike for this show (not in this thread, others from the past). It was very funny, had great music and lyrics that still have a place on my IPod, and was indeed visually stunning, as Mister Matt said above.

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justme2 - It's not so much the show that people like to bash as it is Wildhorn simply because it's supposed to make you look good. Everyone thinks you're smarter if you automatically bash Wildhorn or Lloyd Webber. It's trendy.

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I don't know which version I saw, but it was in Washington and had Robert Patteri (sp?) as Percy. At first I was pouty about that because I loved Sills so much from the cast album (the blended version of the cast album -- there's another whole topic in itself). But Patteri was brilliant. I loved his performance and I loved the show. I too would be really glad to see a revival someday.

I like the 3.0 script version the best, but my favorite cast was 2.0. If they had opened the show on Broadway with 3.0 I think it would have received much better reviews and enjoyed a healthier run. I do like the OBC version of "You Are My Home", but I like it used as the wedding duet in 3.0 as well. They gave Marguerite and Armand a reprise of the song in the first act so the brother/sister thing wasn't completely lost. Plus "I'll Forget You" is stunning in the initial "You Are My Home" slot. I was in tears.

As Broadway Bob* stated, the show ran on Broadway for 3 versions, but a fourth tour was conceived in 2000 which featured the cast of Douglas Sills and Amy Bodnar above. However, the differences between 2, 3, and 4 aren't that major. Between 1 and 2 was the removal of several songs, rearranged songs, changed scenery and costumes, and just some general tuning up. 3 and 4 were just tune ups and some other not all that important changes.

However the most important aspect of the show that stayed in tack was the boringness of it. It's still on my iPod/CD/Car player, but at the end of the day it's really boring for the most part. The recording doesn't capture that sense of it...but it does have some of the best Wildhorn music hands down.

As for jackson992, sorry but it's WILDHORN, no 'E'. Just a pet peeve :).


As for a time line,
SP1: Nov. 97 - Oct. 98
SP2: Oct. 98 (about two weeks later) - May 30, 1999
SP3: Sept. 99 - January 00

And I think SP4 ran the summer of 2000. SP's website is great actually, much better than Jekyll & Hyde's.

http://www.thepimpernel.com

Updated On: 5/14/08 at 08:48 PM

I always got the sense from listening to the two different cast albums I had at one point or other -- or was it three? so easy to lose track -- that there was a lot of tightening up that did the show good. That's why I hung on to the "blended" version and got rid of the rest.

For me, version 1 was a disappointment, but only Terence Mann was in it, while Douglas Sills and Christine Andreas were on vacation. Missed 2, and loved 3. The book was much stronger and cleaner than 1.
Of course, the tour had its own drama. Douglas Sills left after L.A., Robert Patteri had to drop out, and by the time it made it to San Diego, the Percy understudies were swapping between playing Percy, and for a little while were swapping Percy and Chauvelin when William Michals lost his voice. Ron Bohmer finally came in, and the closing performance in Green Bay was amazing. The producers gave everyone in the orchestra a rose and the fans tried an unsuccessful flower toss. I actually still have the thank you insert and the dried roses pressed in a scrapbook.

I had the pleasure of working for versions 3.0 and 4.0.

I joined up after the Minskoff load out, did the stops in Dallas, Houston and Hot-lanta. Then the sit down at the Neil Simon, and almost all of the National Tour. (I left the tour with a few months left to go get married :)

Ron Bohmer, Carolee Carmello and Marc Kudisch were the leads on the mini-tour and Neil Simon versions. (v. 3.0)

Amy Bodnar and William Michaels played all the way through the 1st National Tour. (v. 4.0)

Douglass Sills was only contracted to be on the tour through the LA stop, then was replaced by Robert Patteri, who unfortunately blew his voice out mid-performance (I can't remember which city, maybe Seattle) and Ron Bohmer came out to replace Robert for the rest of the tour.

for more Sp info, go here:
http://www.thepimpernel.com/welcome.shtml

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How does one blow out their voice? Is it from singing incorrectly or what?