The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical) The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical) The Scarlet Pimpernel is a musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics and book by Nan Knighton, based on the novel of the same name by Baroness Orczy. The show is set in England and France during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the spy fiction and the superhero genres, where a hero hides under a mild-mannered alias. The musical ran on Broadway from 1997 through January 2000 in several theatres, in several revised versions. It also had a US National tour. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" started as
Hoist with his own petard Hoist with his own petard "Hoist with his own petard" is a phrase from a speech in William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet" that has become proverbial. The phrase's meaning is literally that the bomb-maker (a "petard" is a small explosive device) is blown up ("hoisted" off the ground) with his own bomb, and indicates an ironic reversal or poetic justice. The phrase occurs in a central speech in the play in which Hamlet has discovered a plot on his life by Claudius and resolves to respond to it by letting the plotter be "Hoist with his own petard." Although the now-proverbial