So I noticed something recently... the part of Pfeiffer wasn't included on the complete cast list for the Vienna production. I checked into this, and found out that the part has indeed been removed from the show. I am told that the script has been refocused, and there was no longer a need for the narrator. Interesting...

Its more than normal :P
The role of Pfeiffer was way too similar to the role of Lucheni in Elisabeth so its pretty normal that they wanted to change that so people can have something different and not just a "sequel" to Elisabeth.
I personaly never found any use for Pfeiffer and I like the idea of refocosing the show. Stephany for example is a role I hope they have extended and got deeper since she's important to the triangle and in Hungary she was rather faded.
I'm also curious to see what have they done to Taaffe to fit Uwe in the role :D

I actually liked Pfeiffer. Originality aside (the concept is also used in Hunchback of Notre Dame with Clopin), it gives the show more depth in my mind because you aren't limited to believing what you see on stage. Instead, you are seeing a story told through a narrarator's point of view. He/she can tell the story however they wish, and this makes up for historical inaccuracies that are in all of Wildhorn's historical-based shows. It also allows for interaction with the audience from the narrarator through riddles and questions. This typically adds comedy to keep a show's plot from getting too heavy too fast. Just my thoughts.

Well, this is very interesting. It also seems to (seems to, mind you) echo the changes in the original "Jekyll & Hyde" in which "The Ballad of Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" ran throughout the whole thing. I don't know if it was ever staged or not but I can see that being done with a narrator/chorus.

Another thing, again, I'm wary about all these changes. The best "Jekyll & Hyde" is meant to be the 1995 tour before it opened on Broadway. They changed it into the less-than-stellar 1997 production. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" should have tried out until they arrived at 3.0 (or whatever version they're leasing these days.) 3.0 is the best version, IMO, and it should still be playing Broadway. "The Civil War" should have opened where it's opening now, Washington D.C. "Dracula" should have been the latest production etc. etc. etc.

It bothers me because Frank writes all this glorious music but these huge dramatic changes continue to happen. There's nothing wrong with change, "The only thing constant is change" after all, but, I don't know....perhaps what I really want is for a Frank Wildhorn score to run for decades. His music is way more exciting than anything in "The Phantom Of The Opera".

Btw., my favourite song from "Rudolf" is "Steps Of Tomorrow".

Although I understand the point of libradude, I am not concerned about innacuracy in the Vienna production. Actually, I think they will fix precicely the innacuracy in the hungarian productions. VBW is very wary of historical accuracy specially because of Elisabeth. Although they want Rudolf to be different, they are using Elisabeth to promote Rudolf as a way of getting all the Sissi fans there even no there's no Sissi in Rudolf.

But I will wait until I see what changes were made in Vienna so i can judge it better, but as rockfenris said, Wildhorn show's normaly get better from staging to staging. (even J&H, the versions currently running are more the german libretto than the B'way one).

By the way the SP libretto that is for staging is, according to Tams description, version 0.4 (well, version 0.3 but with the hidding in the Comedie Française instead of the French Coast) I think version 0.4 is the best and I always get very "irritated" when a production of Pimpernel opens and they changed the script... (like the Norwegian production for example, or the Halle wich uses an even weirder script)

With "Where's the girl?" as the second song :blink:

There's not a single Wildhorn show that I view as being a complete in terms of music and/or script. Musically, the closest thing is "Jekyll & Hyde: The Complete Work." In a way, this is nice for directors because they get to be very creative in what songs they pick/how they stage the show because there is no internationally recognized archtype to base their production off of. Unfortunately those choices often don't turn out so well, and we haven't seen a lot of stellar productions as a result. For example, I'm sure the St. Gallen production of Dracula was thought to be new and innovative at the time for setting in the 1950's (they do this type of thing with operas all the time). However, most agree that the Graz production set in the correct time period is the superior of the two.

The current version (SP4) of Scarlet Pimpernel is definitely superior to the original 10 years ago, but the show has still failed to produce a great production in my opinion. Like the recent production of A Tale of Two Cities that flopped on broadway, Pimpernel is very good musically but fails to produce the shock and awe of shows with similar settings like Les Miserables. I'm not saying Les Mis is the superior show, but it appeals to a wide variety of people.