NR: Was there music involved?

NC: Yeah. They all learned all the music.

NR: Was it originally songs from the concept CD?

NC: No, some new songs. The actors learned all the songs. Ron Melrose played and did the initial arrangements. I think he pulled an all-nighter the night before getting the arrangements done to hand to them for them to learn. I think he was doing something else and he just flew in. We sat around the table, did a reading, and I did some simple staging so we could follow the story visually, but not terribly complicated, with music stands. It was very clear that there was a very powerful and exciting show there.

NR: Did you do this for just one night?

NC: Just one afternoon. I think this was about a year and a half before they opened. That went so well that they said, "Let's invite all the producers in town, and the theater owners." So, we did that. We got the same group of people for the most part together. It was a month or two later, and we did the same thing again.

NR: OK, so you're still in the concept of "reading" and not "workshop." I don't really know the difference between the two.

NC: Well, in a workshop you usually stage things in a fuller way. In a reading, the material really carries the show. There's no complicated staging, there's no dance numbers. The staging consists of "people stand, they sit. You walk to this stand. You go back and sit down." The actors rise to the occasion and almost do what they would do if they were auditioning for a role - they really bring their heart and soul to it, but they're holding the scripts and turning pages. It's not memorized, although they are often very familiar with it, so they can look away and relate to each other. But, if they need to, they look at the music. It was a lot of material to learn in a very short rehearsal time.

We put that up again and got a wonderful response. I think the room sat 75 people and it was packed. It was interesting - in addition to just putting up the material, it gave Nan an opportunity to work on a few things. And, the actors put their input. There's stuff that evolved during that process that are still part of the show.

NR: What is in the show now that came from way back when? Are there concepts that are in the show now that you put there? (Note: This interview took place near the end of the run of the second version of The Scarlet Pimpernel. All questions about the current show refer to that version.)

NC: I don't know if I put concepts in. There were some suggestions I made. I don't really remember. Nan remembers better than me. I know there's something that she always talks about in the gazebo scene (which is now the bridge scene) that she says I had something to do with. Some of the songs were not finished at the time, so we would just say, "They sing a wedding song" and then we would go to the next thing. I think there were three or four songs that were not written yet. There were some songs that went into one of the readings that might have been removed. So, it was a chance to see the whole story. The basic things you're looking for are: Are you telling the story? Is the audience involved in the story? Is the audience involved in the characters? You're answering some of the basic elements by doing these things, and we got some wonderful performances. It was a really exciting, minimal event. Nan can tell you exact things. I can't tell you, "That's mine" or "That was my idea" because I really don't remember. We worked great together. Nan and myself and Frank and Ron. Everyone worked really well as a team.

NR: Was this one of your first directing jobs?

NC: It was one of the first directing jobs I had on such a big, visual...I had done a reading of another piece and I had done little Off Broadway things in workshops. I had a show of my own that I was in development with the Hal Prince Musical Theater Program that has since been done at Denver Theater Center and it might come into New York.

NR: What show is that?

NC: It's called Eliot Ness...in Cleveland. So, I was doing my own stuff at the same time and developing things.

NR: Were you a little nervous working with a newcomer, which is what Nan was at the time? I know Frank had a hard time just getting permission to use Nan.

NC: Actually, all that was so in place. I was just amazed that someone asked me to do this and I kind of had nothing to lose, so I just had a good time. I really had fun. We just went into this room. In the first one, no one was invited. It was just in-house for the people already involved with the show to look at it. So, there was no stress and we had a great time. It was fun. The second time it was a little more stressful because every producer in town was there. If you can get a room full of producers and have them laugh and cry, something is really working. So, it was a lot of fun. The cast had a great time. We had a great time. Nan and I LOVED working with each other. Frank was terrific at listening to ideas. Everyone was on the same wave length and it all came together.

A big question for me whenever I direct something is "What is the show about? What's the reason for doing this?" In addition to it being fun and entertaining, to me the story of The Scarlet Pimpernel has always been the story of one person to make a difference. I think this whole show hinged on that basic idea. It was the last thing I would say to the cast before the reading. On top of all the fun and all this kind of stuff, this is really about the ability of one person to make a difference in the world. I think that's really important to be out there, especially in these times when I think we're on a cusp where things can change. We've gone through so many time periods of being so self-involved and self-absorbed that I think we're entering a possibility now of a decade where maybe your life is valued more on the things you do for others and the changes you make in the world, as opposed to the earthly possessions you amass in a lifetime. Everyone's amassed so much stuff at this point, and they're not happy. You have these teenagers who are given everything and they're still unhappy.

NR: Well, Percy has everything and he's not happy.

NC: Yeah, so I still believe that it's an important concept that this show hangs on and it's been through every production. To me, that's the core of the show, that's what the show's about and that's the reason to do the show - to put that idea out there. And have a good time, and entertain, but the audience needs to walk out of the theater with just a little more than that. I think that idea nails that.

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.