sophia_sol | (no subject)

I've listened to the Concept Album and the Original Broadway Cast recordings of the Scarlet Pimpernel multiple times each and I am ready to have some preliminary opinions - keeping in mind, of course, that at this point I am not capable of hazarding which character is singing most songs.

And my opinions are mostly that there are some things I like better about the concept album and some things I like better about the OBC, and some things I rather strongly dislike about each, and does another cast recording exist please?

The OBC has much better ordering and pacing and choice of songs than the concept album, so listening to the album as a whole is a much better listening experience. I find myself skipping a bunch of the concept album when I listen to it, whereas the OBC I listen to straight through.

But on the other hand, I am REALLY UPSET about the change of words for the titular song "The Scarlet Pimpernel" between the two because the concept album's lyrics for that song are OBVIOUSLY SUPERIOR (in my not so humble opinion). That's the song where the changes are most marked, but even for, say, "The Creation of Man" the way it's done changes between the two and I like the concept album's version better. There are a few minor changes that I do like in the OBC bust mostly I prefer the concept album's versions of lyrics and spoken interjections.

So for most individual songs I'm happier with the concept album, but for the overall musical I'm happier with the OBC.

And in minor nitpicky opinions, there are a few lines in the OBC sung by bit parts where the choices of the voice actor REALLY BUG ME so it makes me frustrated to listen to the OBC. And is it just me or does Marguerite's french accent come and go? And Marguerite at least attempts a French accent, but Chauvelin doesn't even bother and is just half-American half-British? CONSISTENCY YOU GUYS.

Anyways no but seriously do other cast recordings exist? These were the only two I could find! And as far as I can tell neither of them accurately represents the musical as it is generally staged today?

Relatedly! I started watching the takarazuka production of The Scarlet Pimpernel! (Star troupe, 2008) and within the first ten minutes I was already like OKAY THIS IS THE PERCIEST PERCY TO EVER PERCY, EVERYONE ELSE CAN GO HOME NOW. I'm no longer 100% convinced of that (mostly because wowwwwww that is a really terrible disguise) but I still utterly adore this Percy. Also everything else about this production. Really all you need to know is in this picspam/reaction/summary by skygiants. So far I'm up to Percy in tiger-print.

What other versions of the Scarlet Pimpernel should I watch?

Threaded | Flat

SHE IS INDEED THE PERCIEST PERCY EVER. Such swagger. Such amazing boots! (I am sorry by the way to mislead you about the amount of actual Percy there is in the books; I have seen so much Pimpernel by now that all the different versions kind of meld together in my head.)

I have a deep fondness for the 1980s version with Anthony Andrews and Ian McKellen, but nobody I know loves it as much as I do. But Ian McKellen's tiny angry baby face!

"And Marguerite at least attempts a French accent, but Chauvelin doesn't even bother and is just half-American half-British? CONSISTENCY YOU GUYS."

That is INTERESTING! Because Terrence Mann is generally very good at accents. I wonder if there was some directorial decision behind that? Or if he just hadn't gotten properly into the role yet, since Wiki seems to indicate (I was reading it to figure out which songs are whose) that the OBC recording was done super-early in the musical's run, during the pre-opening-night test phase, and by opening they'd rejiggered a lot of stuff (including putting Chauvelin into more songs!) that didn't get reflected in the soundtrack album. Maybe they were still sorting out other directorial stuff like who should have what accent at that point.