Sills Shubert ‘Pimpernel' Prances Prettily with Panache
Waterbury Republican-American
To call "The Scarlet Pimpernel," Frank Wildhorn's lively adaptation of
Baroness Orczy's novel, an astounding achievement in musical theater, might
be overstating the mood evoked by this fluffy entertainment, which bursts at
the seams with cartoonish images of heroes, villains, damsels in distress and
severed heads.
Still, in spite of its French Revolution setting, this is definitely not "Les
Miserables."
When people are marched up the stairs to the guillotine or held at gunpoint
by French soldiers, you're not likely to shudder. Even when the blade falls
and someone's head drops into the basket below during the anthem-like "Madame
Guillotine," the effect is comical rather than scary.
"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is musical comedy and nothing more.
Yet when you come away from it, there is no way of escaping its uncomplicated
whimsy, its sweeping passion and bubble gum sweetness. You're smiling. You're
happy. You're dancing. You feel like calling your stockbroker and thanking
him for a smart investment tip.
What seems to hold the production together is Wildhorn's tingling,
traditional sounding score. Its danceable melodies, determined lyrics and
majestic orchestrations are the perfect centerpiece for a musical that
flaunts its unbridled silliness and drama like a stand up comedy act in the
Catskills.
This is most noticeable during the dizzily staged "Creation of Man" number
that occurs near the end of Act I. Here, Percy, played by the enigmatic
Douglas Sills, convinces his followers to act overly effeminate. He calls it
"summery." By flouncing and prancing about like a butterfly in heat, he
believes that no one will suspect that he is the mysterious pimpernel who,
along with his men, is rescuing innocent victims from the guillotine. The
joke, of course, is that the men have so much fun acting queer, one seriously
begins to doubt their sexual orientation.
The number itself also comes equipped with comical choreography that
unabashedly spoofs "Swan Lake," "A Chorus Line," "1776," Bob Fosse, and the
Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. Much later, "They Seek Him Here," an
outrageous comic number about one's efforts to track the elusive pimpernel
invites similar comparisons. Again, everyone merrily camps using elongated
stares, limp wrists and melodramatic body movements reminiscent of a
Greenwich Village drag show.
For those who caught "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on Broadway in 1997, this
edition of the show is a complete reworking of that production and the
subsequent versions that followed. Gone are all those epic-looking sets
including the mammoth prisons, town squares, lush flower gardens and grand
palace ballrooms that swallowed the actors up whole. "Vivez" and "Only Love,"
sung by Percy's wife Marguerie St. Just, have been dropped. Percy no longer
jokes with the audience about people getting late to their seats at the start
of Act II or the theater's lack of large bathroom facilities for women. He
also doesn't stop the show by asking other actors to break character for
laughter's sake.
However, at Tuesday's opening when his body mike made a loud thump during a
pivotal comic moment, he patted his stomach and cried "Late lunch."
This production is directed and staged by Robert Longbottom, who did the 1998
and 1999 Broadway re-workings. Like Longbottom's "Side Show" and "Pageant,"
this "Pimpernel" is suffused with a cinematic style and pacing that almost
sees everyone from the camera's viewpoint. Things are very focused and
direct. If a scene calls for just a backdrop, you get just that. If 25 people
were once used in a scene, now it's only 15. It's almost like watching a
cinemascope movie formatted to fit your television set.
At the same time, the musical maintains its order of simplicity. In the 1997
version, some of the plotting and characterizations weren't terribly fleshed
out because director Peter Hunt was more concerned with the show's
overpowering visuals. Not so, with Longbottom at the helm. Here, Percy's
stand against the French regime and the evil Chauvelin is always clear-cut.
Even the musical's frequent flights of whimsy and high camp fascinate.
Before, these elements seemed thrown in to keep the story from becoming too
serious. Now, prepared to fit unobtrusively into the evolution of the
musical, they achieve that Harpo Marx giddiness swimmingly.
Finally, there is Douglas Sills.
Sills who originated the part of Percy in the original 1997 production and
the subsequent 1998 incarnation, is unquestionably a major musical comedy
star well worthy of a standing ovation.
First, he can do it all — high comedy, sword fight, swoon, camp, sing and
dance. Second, he goes for the moment, which despite Longbottom's staging
blueprint, makes his performance spontaneous rather than rehearsed. Lastly,
he never uses his star quality to upstage anyone on the Shubert stage. From
his slapstick antics in "The Creation of Man" and "They Seek Him There" to
the spark of lust and passion he brings to the rousing "Into the Fire," he's
a presence to whom attention must always be paid.
-James V. Ruocco, Waterbury Republican-American
February 25, 2000
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