The second issue contained interviews with Jekyll & Hyde's George Merritt and Barrie Ingham, Scarlet Pimpernel's Christine Andreas, and more from Rob Evan. Here are some excerpts:

Christine Andreas, Scarlet Pimpernel's original Marguerite, had this to say about the show:

Drawing of Marguerite and Percy by Daniela

Our show is a light-hearted adventure. It's not Shakespeare or Chekov. If you go in there expecting that, you're not going to see what you came in to see. It's like watching an old Errol Flynn movie. It's just wonderfully light-hearted ... swashbuckling ... it's sort of sexy, I think ... It's like a great old movie. And the audiences adore it. I mean, it's gorgeous to look at, isn't it? Isn't it beautiful?

It is. How many costume changes do you have?

Oooh! I think about five or six. You like my five foot dress? When I first put that thing on, I said, "Ok. I'm on a five foot footbridge, wearing a five foot dress, and I'm five foot four. How is this going to work?" And it did. It did. It worked fine. Yeah, I think I have about five or six. And they're all--they're works of art, they really are. I've never had anything that beautiful on my body in a long time. That's Jane Greenwood who did the costumes. She knows that period really well. I mean, don't the men look incredible?

We didn't ACTUALLY interview George Merritt (J&H's Utterson) and Barrie Ingham (J&H's Sir Danvers) -- we just set up the tape recorder and sat back....

Headshot courtesy of Barrie Ingham Headshot courtesy of George Merritt

George Merritt: Oh, you should have been around here to hear the thunder the day that both Barrie and I were out, because we forgot that the show was early.

Barrie Ingham: George and I carpool in together, in George's car, and we were driving across the George Washington Bridge in PLENTY of time at quarter to seven. Plenty of time. When George's phone rang.

GM: My cell phone rang and it's my wife saying, "Did you forget that there was a 7:00 curtain?" And I went and ... Barrie imitates me perfectly.

BI: George was driving. I didn't know what the phone call was about and George said these words: [American accent] "OH! ... OH NO! ... OH! ... OH NO! ... NO! ... OH! ... OH NO," and put the phone down. So I, trying to be sympathetic, quipped, "Anything wrong, George?"

GM: They were not happy with us. We came in the next day just expecting-- We came in with signs on our backs, "Kick me."

BI: They were merciless.

GM: ... on our door, "Yes, we are open to ridicule." And we got lots of it.

BI: So that was George's famous speech on the George Washington Bridge. Not crossing the Delaware--this was George's speech crossing the Washington. "Oh no, oh no, oh, oh, oh no, oh, oh no." It was the most eloquent speech I'd ever heard.

GM: Shakespeare could've done better perhaps.

BI: No. He'd have over-written it.

One of our features is "Overheard at the Stage Door" where we recount comments we've overheard about the Wildhorn Shows.

Overheard in a hotel elevator:
Man 1: ["Confrontation"] is the best thing I've seen since "Animal House"
Man 2: It's just what I do every day at five o'clock.

Overheard at intermission at Scarlet Pimpernel:
"I think I just saw this movie."

Overheard at dinner:
Woman 1: ... And then Percy and his wife get married and he thinks she's betrayed him and ....
Woman 2: Already?

Overheard question about Jekyll & Hyde:
"Is it still as bloody as it was?"

Overheard question about Scarlet Pimpernel:
"Is there sex in it?"

Overheard between female college students spending their Spring Break in New York, seeing musicals:
Woman 1: GREAT Spring Break!
Woman 2: Who needs the sun when you can have-
Woman 3: -Percy.

Dr. Richie of the Jekyll & Hyde Fan Club presenting a check
for BC/EFA to Douglas Sills and Linda Eder
photo by Don Simon