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Silly 'Pimpernel' gets sillier yet
(by Herb Hammer - August 11, 2010)
THEATER, BY HERB HAMMER
Silly 'Pimpernel' gets sillier yet
Just over 100 years ago, Baroness Orczy wrote the novel "The Scarlet Pimpernel." The title character is a swashbuckling adventurer whose band of gallant Englishmen cross the English Channel to save scores of Frenchmen from getting their heads chopped off following the French Revolution. Mercury Summer Stock has chosen to present the 1997 Broadway musical version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" at their summer home, the Brooks Theatre at the Cleveland Play House. Why the group has chosen this as the season closer is anybody's guess.
If gallantry and suspense is what you're after, you're not going to find it here. While the Pimpernel has become an enduring character of romance and high adventure, Nan Knighton's book has reduced him to a rather boring English nobleman with followers out of comic books who couldn't find their way to the English Channel, much less fight off the French, who, by the way, are equally as dumb.
But don't blame Mercury for these problems. They have problems of their own.
There is no set, not even a trace. But there are costumes. Margaret Ruble has created a colorful array of early 18th-century French and English garb that adds some spark. But the sets, the only thing that held the Broadway show together, do not exist.
Director Pierre-Jacques Brault has little to work with. And even if he did, I can't imagine what it would look like, for he has taken the silly story and made it even sillier.
The moment the rusty looking, crumbling guillotine is brought out you become suspicious. Chairs are lined up on both sides of the stage as the entire cast looks on. The blade tumbles down and chops off the first head.
We switch back and forth from France to England, where Lord Percy Blakeney assembles a half dozen clumsy volunteers. Their mission: save the French noblemen. It's right here when you believe the creators are kidding. Is this a spoof? Well, it wasn't intended to be.
Besides the sloppy adventure, we have a love story. Percy, whose family crest is the Pimpernel, has just married Marguerite, a beautiful French maiden who just might be a spy.
Of course, she's not a spy, for she helps Percy defeat Chauvelin, the leader of the revolution.
Frank Wildhorn's score is nothing to write home about, though Mercury has cast some excellent voices.
Jennifer Myor does some wonderful things with her soprano, and, though she's given little to do as Marguerite, she really can sing.
Brian Marshall, as Percy, is another whose voice overcomes his boring role. Though he is no dashing adventurer, he does a lot with some rather untidy songs.
Shane Patrick O'Neill, as the evil Chauvelin, has also been given little to do, although he plays evil quite well.
As a comedy, this musical version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" offers at least a little to the audience. We are faced mostly with caricatures rather than actual people, and maybe that is how this director sees the whole thing.
The lack of chemistry between Percy and Marguerite could be the result of casting for voice rather than type. Believable characters in the entire production are nowhere to be found.
The show never catches fire. The songs, dances and sword play are a drab mix. This, along with actors who appear to realize they are in a troubled production, serves only to make matters worse.
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