My Pimpernel Experience

When I got obsessed with Cats I decided to get interested in other musicals. I looked in the Sunday paper to see which Broadway shows were coming to my town and saw "The Scarlet Pimpernel." I asked my dad what it was about because he seemed to know it. He told me it was about a man who called himself the Scarlet Pimpernel because it was his family symbol or something like that. He wasn't really clear on when it took place, but he told me there was sword fighting in it. I luv sword fighting, and that was all it took to make me interested.

He also told me we had a movie of it (1982)---just a movie, not the musical. I watched it and loved Percy's 'Sink me' expression and his silliness (what person wouldn't?). I asked to go see it when it was playing in town---a week before my birthday! It would be one of my birthday presents. A month before I saw the show I decided to watch the movie again, so I could see what it was like again. It had only needed to see Cats twice before I got obsessed with it. It was the same with The Scarlet Pimpernel.

That did it. I was a Percy fanatic. I begged and begged my parents to buy me a monocle or a ring like Percy's---like I actually got them. I really couldn't wait till we saw the play. While I waited I told my friends about Percy. Well, I think I only told one, but I told all her characters, as well. They were annoyed by him, hehe.

Here's an essay for Language Arts I wrote on my experience. It was for a Descriptive Narrative Essay, but I don't know if it's THAT descriptive. I got an A- on it, which probably means it was.

        I was obviously more than excited to see this play. I'd squealed with joy about fifty times that day alone.
        My mom and I walked through the empty Sunday afternoon streets of downtown Columbus. My denim skirt was already starting to freeze but my anticipation and excitement kept me walking. We turned a corner and were almost knocked off our feet by a sudden raging wind. But good news! The theatre was less than a block away.
       We were joined by a group of giddy ladies with the same destination as we. They laughed and giggled with each other at almost every silly little thing. My mom and I laughed with them, only we were laughing at them. Luckily they were walking behind us so they couldn't see our faces or hear our laughs.
        We entered the theatre, warmed by the bustling of hundreds of bodies---and not to mention all those fur coats. I grabbed my mom's hood and followed her through the crowd to the ticket man, where he tore our tickets and told us where we were sitting---the usual procedure.
        I couldn't wait to see the stage. I could only glance at it while we were being ushered to our seats but as we sat down I realized it was breathtaking. Well, to an ordinary person it wouldn't seem breathtaking. I might have just been overexcited. The curtain bore a scarlet pimpernel, one that almost matched the one on the cover of the playbill. I heard the people sitting behind me arguing whether the curtain was real or if it was just a board with paint on it.
        "It's real, I tell you!"
        "Nuh-uhn, look at how the fringe on the bottom just stops at the floor."
        "Yeah, but look at all those shadows the fringe makes."
        They, along with I, realized it was fake.
        "But it looks so real!"
        "Duh, the made it so it would look that way."
        Moments later, my excitement increased as the lights dimmed. The conductor came . . . the music began to play . . . and I, along with the other people of the audience, leaned forward, ready to laugh till we cried as we watched The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Don't ask why I put this picture here.

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoyed it! You can e-mail me (duh!) if you want to know more about it---or more about me! Muaha! I promise I won't bite.