The Scarlet Pimpernel is a follow-up to Starlight’s final play last summer, the regional premiere of Wildhorn’s Jekyll & Hyde, and returning to Starlight for this production are the two leads from Jekyll. T. Eric Hart, who was half good and half bad as he alternated between Jekyll and Hyde last year, here is the all-bad French Revolutionary leader Chauvelin, giving the role a never-ending intensity whether he is hell-bent on executing those he sees as enemies of the Republic, or angrily trying to catch the elusive Pimpernel who keeps thwarting those executions, or trying to seduce his former lover, the French actress Marguerite who upsets Chauvelin when she marries the Pimpernel at the beginning of the story. That Marguerite is played by Annie Berthiaume (Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde) who delivers a passionate and moving performance as she is blackmailed by her former lover and is later stunned and confused to find herself in a loveless marriage to Percy. Annie’s sensational and sensuous singing voice is perfect for the role from the big, romantic ballads to the wistful I'll Forget You sung just before her rendezvous with the guillotine.

Edward Staudenmayer plays the swashbuckling title character as he did in Riverside a couple years ago. His highly melodramatic portrayal provides for most of the laughs as he acts like a self-described “nincompoop” in order to throw off any suspicions that he could be the brave and dashing Pimpernel, though it doesn’t work quite so well during the few times when he is trying to come off as seriously angry in the more dramatic moments of the story. On opening night he seemed to have to hold back a bit for the highest notes needed for Percy’s very demanding part, but fortunately the following weekend he was dead-on, ending with all the flourish Percy's extraordinary songs contain. The outrageous comedy was always there, though Edward outdid himself the last weekend when he did a little impromptu humor that got the audience, and even his fellow cast members (including the ever-unflappable Chauvelin), to totally lose it. 

The fun kicks into really high gear when Percy is joined by his hilarious band of aristocratic merry men turned daring secret agents. They had the crowd giddy throughout and earned the biggest ovations of the evening as they pranced and flounced their way about the stage in the most outrageous costumes adorned with plenty of frills and “foo foo,” making certain that all of England and France would never guess they were in league with the Pimpernel.

The rest of the ensemble is a talented lot, including Marguerite’s younger brother (Carl Asencio) in a more subdued but nicely touching role. James Saba has an amusing cameo as the Prince of Wales who doesn’t know quite what to make of all the “foo foo” the men are wearing when they arrive at his ball, and Ron Choularton delivers a darkly humorous Robespierre – the current figurehead of the French Reign of Terror who can’t stand the sight of blood…

Extravagant costumes and eye-catching sets enhance the production throughout, although nothing stands out like the tall, sinister, and merciless specter of the guillotine – a fixture in many of the show’s most memorable scenes including Chauvelin’s captivating song of revenge Falcon in the Dive sung with incredible power by T. Eric Hart, and especially when the entire ensemble creates the suspenseful and masterfully done Madame Guillotine scene in which we get a brief glimpse into the bloody Reign of Terror filled with the glee of the zealous revolutionaries and the horror of those being led to the guillotine’s waiting blade.