About the work
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a musical by Frank Wildhorn (music) with lyrics and book by Nan Knighton, premiered on Broadway in 1997. Based on Baroness Orczy's adventure novel set during the French Revolution.
Plot
During the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, a mysterious English hero, "the Scarlet Pimpernel," rescues countless innocent aristocrats from the guillotine. No one suspects that behind the foppish, seemingly superficial nobleman Sir Percy Blakeney hides the daring masked hero. When his wife Marguerite is blackmailed by the unscrupulous revolutionary agent Chauvelin, Percy's double life is endangered—and with it his marriage and the lives of those he protects.
Cultural significance
The Scarlet Pimpernel combines Wildhorn's spirited, romantic score with the classic tale of the masked hero—an archetype of later superhero double identities. Despite a chequered Broadway history with several revisions, the work enjoys lasting popularity, especially at regional and amateur theatres, and offers effective numbers in Into the Fire and When I Look at You.