A Love Letter to “The Scarlet Pimpernel”

by Chris Peterson

Some musicals never really leave you.

They may not be part of the current Broadway conversation. They may not get dragged back every decade with a celebrity lead, a new logo, and a marketing campaign trying to convince everyone this was secretly a masterpiece all along.

But they stay with you anyway.

For me, The Scarlet Pimpernel is one of those shows.

I fell in love with it the way a lot of theatre kids fell in love with musicals in the late ’90s: through a cast album played until it basically became part of your bloodstream. That score was big, romantic, completely sincere, and not the least bit embarrassed about any of it.

It had adventure. It had longing. It had sword fights. It had disguises. It had a leading man who could be heroic, ridiculous, tender, vain, and dashing, sometimes within the span of a single number. There was something thrilling about a musical that understood theatricality and just went for it.

Frank Wildhorn’s work tends to bring out strong opinions, and honestly, fair enough. But The Scarlet Pimpernel has always felt like one of his most complete scores. It has the sweeping romance people associate with him, but it also has humor, momentum, and a real sense of character. It is dramatic without being joyless. It is lush without feeling completely swallowed by itself.

And decades later, I still find myself wondering why we do not talk about it more.

And then there is Percy Blakeney, one of those great musical theatre roles that somehow never gets brought up enough when people start fantasy-casting revivals.

It is a gift of a part. Percy gets the swagger, the comedy, and the heartbreak, all inside a role that lets an actor be both ridiculous and genuinely moving. How this is not on more leading men’s wish lists, I do not know.

The show itself feels ready for another look. Audiences seem a little more open right now to sincerity. Not everything has to smirk at itself. Not every love story has to arrive pre-defended against anyone who might accuse it of being too earnest. Sometimes romance can just be romance. Sometimes spectacle can actually serve the story.

That is what The Scarlet Pimpernel has going for it. It has adventure, a real love story, and a clear moral center. It is about a hero who chooses action when it would be much easier to stay comfortable. The themes are not exactly hard to find either. Standing up to tyranny. Refusing to let fear turn people cruel. Choosing humanity when the world around you is losing its grip on it.

None of that feels dusty to me.

Maybe that is what I miss about shows like The Scarlet Pimpernel. It is not trying to chase the moment. It is not apologizing for being big, romantic, a little ridiculous, and completely sincere. It tells the story, lets the music swell, and trusts the audience to go along for the ride.

So yes, consider this my formal request to put it back on the table.

Dust off the rapiers. Warm up the strings. Find a Percy who can make us laugh, annoy us just enough, and then break our hearts when the mask finally drops.

The Scarlet Pimpernel deserves another moment.