On 22 February 1998, a review of the Broadway cast album for Scarlet Pimpernel appeared on Playbill Online. In it, Ken Mandelbaum ended a paragraph describing the male lead, Douglas Sills, with the following comment:
"I would also suggest that Germany's most popular musical theatre leading man, Uwe Kröger, star of Elisabeth, Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard, and currently Beauty and the Beast, should, if necessary, produce Pimpernel himself just to get the chance to play Percy, a role he would be perfect for."
After that, and an earlier comment made to me along the same lines, I decided I had to see the show for myself when I went to NY in March (well, that and the fact that it was the only musical at the TKTS half-price booth!). And I agree! The show needs a lot of work, but not only would Kröger be fabulous in the role, I suspect he'd probably have a lot of fun as well. (And the perfect Marguerite would definitely be Pia Douwes!)
Ulf passed along this photo, which appeared in the Stuttgarter Wochenblatt. It appears that Uwe Kröger and Melinda Chua joined Stuttgart's mayor in a campaign to make Stuttgart "the cleanest city in Europe". (What *will* politicians think of next?!?)
From Ken Mandelbaum's column in the May 3, 1999 issue of InTheater: "Meanwhile, the original and current Chris of the German Saigon, Uwe Kröger, has joined the cast of the forthcoming Vienna musical Mozarg, opening at Theater an der Wien in the fall and reuniting the authors and director of Elisabeth. Kröger, who became a star in Elisabeth, will co-star in Mozart with Yngve Gasoy Romdal, who succeeded Kröger as Joe Gillis in the German Sunset Boulevard."
