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
The Scarlet Pimpernel told in "American Pimpernel: The Man Who Saved the Artists on Hitler's Death List". Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irish priest who saved thousands of people, British and American servicemen and Jews, during World War II while in the Vatican in Rome. His story is told in two books and a film: Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish diplomat. During World War II, he earned the nickname "Svarta nejlikan" ("the Black Pimpernel") for helping Norwegian resistance fighters in escape from the Germans. Stationed in Chile in the 1970s, he arranged for the escape of numerous refugees from the military junta