SP3 - Mini-Tour and the Neil Simon

Plans were formed to move Pimpernel into another Broadway theater - the Neil Simon. And there we more changes in store for the show.

First, we said farewell to many beloved cast members, not least of which was Douglas Sills in the title role.

Then, because the Neil Simon is a smaller venue than the Minskoff, the show went through some nips and tucks to trim down the size of the cast. Percy's Bounders, which numbered eleven in SP1 and SP2, were reduced to eight. Hastings, Neville and Leggett were cut, and lines were redistributed among the men. The ensemble was also reduced in size. The parts of Lady Digby and Lady Llewellyn, already greatly reduced in the revision from SP1 to SP2, were among those cut.

The script was also tightened up in places, most notably in the drawing room scene where the song "The Scarlet Pimpernel" was cut (it is still performed at the opening of Act Two).

The trimmed down Pimpernel was rehearsed by a new cast - led by Ron Bohmer, Carolee Carmello and Marc Kudisch - and then went out on a three-city mini-tour before opening at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York.

View the cast list for SP3.

The mini-tour played at:
The Music Hall at Fairpark in Dallas, Texas, 27 July - 8 August 1999.
The Brown Theater at Wortham Center in Houston, Texas, 10-22 August.
The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, 24-29 August.

Pimpernel re-opened on Broadway on 10 September 1999 and played there through 2 January 2000.

Over the course of its three runs on Broadway - two at the Minskoff Theatre and one at the Neil Simon - the show played a total of 744 regular performances and 67 previews.

And from there it went on to SP4 - The National Tour.