Today, we saw a TheatreWorks production of Cyrano. Cyrano is based on a play by Edmond Rostand and adapted by Michael
Hollinger and Aaron Posner.
The roles of Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian were played by J. Anthony Crane, Sharon Rietkerk, and Chad Deverman, respectively. The story takes place in Paris and Arras in 1640, then returns to Paris in 1655.
I really enjoyed the play and the verbal counter-play between Cyrano and everyone else. It was a delight to see the play.
The plot, as described very accurately by Wikipedia, is as follows:
The roles of Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian were played by J. Anthony Crane, Sharon Rietkerk, and Chad Deverman, respectively. The story takes place in Paris and Arras in 1640, then returns to Paris in 1655.
I really enjoyed the play and the verbal counter-play between Cyrano and everyone else. It was a delight to see the play.
The plot, as described very accurately by Wikipedia, is as follows:
Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a cadet (nobleman serving as a soldier) in the French Army, is a brash, strong-willed man of many talents. In addition to being a remarkable duelist, he is a gifted, joyful poet and is also shown to be a musician. However, he has an extremely large nose, which is the reason for his own self-doubt. This doubt prevents him from expressing his love for his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual heiress Roxane, as he believes that his ugliness denies him the "dream of being loved by even an ugly woman."
Act I – A Performance at the Hôtel Burgundy
The play opens in Paris in 1640, in the theatre of the Hôtel Burgundy.
Members of the audience slowly arrive, representing a cross-section of
Parisian society from pickpockets to nobility. Christian de Neuvillette, a
handsome new cadet, arrives with Lignière, a drunkard whom he hopes will
identify the young woman he has fallen in love with. Lignière recognizes her
as Roxane and tells Christian about her and Count De Guiche's scheme to
marry her off to the compliant Viscount Valvert. Meanwhile, Ragueneau and Le
Bret expect Cyrano de Bergerac, who has banished the actor Montfleury from
the stage for a month. After Lignière leaves, Christian intercepts a
pickpocket and, in exchange for his freedom, the pickpocket tells him about
a plot against Lignière. Christian departs to try to warn him.
The play "Clorise" begins with Montfleury's entrance, and Cyrano disrupts
the play, forces him off stage, and compensates the manager for the loss of
admission fees. The crowd is going to disperse when Cyrano lashes out at a
pesky busybody, then is confronted by Valvert and duels with him while
composing a ballade, wounding (and possibly killing) him as he ends the refrain (as promised:
he ends each refrain with "When I end the refrain, 'Thrust Home.'") When the
crowd has cleared the theater, Cyrano and Le Bret remain behind, and Cyrano
confesses his love for Roxane. Roxane's duenna then arrives and asks where Roxane may meet Cyrano privately.
Lignière is then brought to Cyrano, having learned that one hundred hired
thugs are waiting to ambush him on his way home. Cyrano, now emboldened,
vows to take on the entire mob single-handedly, and he leads a procession of
officers, actors, and musicians to the Porte de Nesle.
Act II – The Poets' Cookshop
The following day, at Ragueneau's bakeshop, Ragueneau supervises various
apprentice cooks as they prepare. Cyrano arrives, anxious about his meeting
with Roxane. He is followed by a musketeer, a paramour of Ragueneau's
domineering wife, Lise, and the regular gathering of impoverished poets who
take advantage of Ragueneau's hospitality. Cyrano composes a letter to
Roxane expressing his deep and unconditional love for her and warns Lise
about her indiscretion with the musketeer. When Roxane arrives, he signals
Ragueneau to leave them alone.
Roxane and Cyrano talk privately as she bandages his hand (injured from the
fracas at the Port de Nesle); she thanks him for defeating Valvert at the
theater and talks about a man with whom she has fallen in love. Cyrano
thinks that she is talking about him at first and is ecstatic, but Roxane
describes her beloved as "handsome" and tells him that she is in love with
Christian. Roxane fears for Christian's safety in the predominantly Gascon
company of Cadets, so she asks Cyrano to befriend and protect him. This he
agrees to do.
After she leaves, Cyrano's captain arrives with the cadets to congratulate
him on his victory from the night before. They are followed by a vast crowd,
including De Guiche and his entourage, but Cyrano soon drives them away. Le
Bret takes him aside and chastises him for his behavior, but Cyrano responds
haughtily. The Cadets press him to tell the story of the fight, teasing the
newcomer Christian. When Cyrano recounts the tale, Christian displays his
own courage by repeatedly interjecting references to Cyrano's nose. Cyrano
is angry, but remembering his promise to Roxane, he keeps his temper.
Eventually, Cyrano explodes, the shop is evacuated, and Cyrano reveals his
identity as Roxane's cousin. Christian confesses his love for Roxane, but
his inability to woo because of his lack of intellect and wit. When Cyrano
tells Christian that Roxane expects a letter from him, Christian is
despondent, having no eloquence in such matters. Cyrano then offers his
services, including his own unsigned letter to Roxane. The Cadets and others
return to find the two men embracing and are flabbergasted. Thinking it was
safe to do so, the musketeer from before teases Cyrano about his nose and
receives a slap in the face while the Cadets rejoice.
Act III – Roxane's Kiss
Outside Roxane's house, Ragueneau is conversing with Roxane's duenna. When
Cyrano arrives, Roxane comes down, and they talk about Christian: Roxane
says that Christian's letters have been breathtaking—he is more intelligent
than even Cyrano, she declares. She also says that she loves Christian.
When De Guiche arrives, Cyrano hides inside Roxane's house. De Guiche tells
Roxane that he has come to say farewell. He had been made a colonel of an
army regiment, leaving that night to fight in the war with Spain. He mentions that the regiment includes Cyrano's guards and grimly
predicts that he and Cyrano will have a reckoning. Afraid of Christian's
safety if he should go to the front, Roxane quickly suggests that the best
way for De Guiche to seek revenge on Cyrano would be for him to leave Cyrano
and his cadets behind.
In contrast, the rest of the regiment goes on to military glory. After much
flirtation from Roxane, De Guiche believes he should stay close by,
concealed in a local monastery. When Roxane implies that she would feel more
for De Guiche if he went to war, he agrees to march on steadfastly, leaving
Cyrano and his cadets behind. He leaves, and Roxane makes the duenna promise
not to tell Cyrano that she has robbed him of a chance to go to war.
Roxane expects Christian to visit her, and she tells the duenna to make him
wait if he does. Cyrano presses Roxane to disclose that instead of
questioning Christian on any particular subject, she plans to make Christian
improvise about love. Although he tells Christian the details of her plot,
when Roxane and her duenna leave, he calls for Christian, who has been
waiting nearby. Cyrano tries to prepare Christian for his meeting with
Roxane, urging him to remember the lines Cyrano has written for him.
Christian, however, refuses the prepared lines and says he wants to speak to
Roxane in his own words. Cyrano bows to this, saying, "Speak for yourself,
sir."
Christian makes a fool of himself during their meeting, trying to speak
seductively to Roxane. Roxane storms into her house, confused and angry.
Thinking quickly, Cyrano makes Christian stand in front of Roxane's balcony
and talk to her while Cyrano stands under the balcony, whispering to
Christian what to say. Eventually, Cyrano shoves Christian aside and, under
the cover of darkness, pretends to be Christian, wooing Roxane himself. In
the process, he wins a kiss from Roxane for Christian.
Roxane and Christian are secretly married by a Capuchin while Cyrano waits
outside to prevent De Guiche from disrupting the impromptu wedding. Their
happiness is short-lived: De Guiche, angry to have lost Roxane, declares
that he is sending the Cadets of Gascony to the front lines of the war with
Spain. De Guiche triumphantly tells Cyrano that the wedding night will have
to wait. Under his breath, Cyrano remarks that the news fails to upset him.
Roxane, afraid for Christian, urges Cyrano to promise to keep him safe, out
of dangerous situations, dry and warm, and faithful. Cyrano says he will do
what he can, but cannot promise anything. Roxane begs Cyrano to promise to
make Christian write to her every day. Brightening, Cyrano announces
confidently that he can make that promise.
Act IV – The Gascon Cadets
The Siege of Arras. The Gascon Cadets are among many French forces now cut off by the
Spanish, and they are starving. Cyrano, meanwhile, has been writing in
Christian's name twice a day, smuggling letters across the enemy lines. De
Guiche, whom the Cadets despise, arrives and chastises them; Cyrano responds
with his usual bravura, and De Guiche then signals a spy to tell the Spanish
to attack the Cadets, informing them that they must hold the line until
relief arrives. Then, a coach arrives, and Roxane emerges from it. She tells
how she could flirt her way through the Spanish lines. Cyrano tells
Christian about the letters and provides him with a farewell letter to give
to Roxane if he dies. After De Guiche departs, Roxane provides plenty of
food and drink with the assistance of the coach's driver, Ragueneau. She
also tells Christian that, because of the letters, she has grown to love him
for his soul alone and would still love him even if he were ugly.
Christian tells Cyrano this, then persuades him to tell Roxane the truth
about the letters, saying he has to be loved for "the fool that he is" to be
truly loved at all. Cyrano disbelieves what Christian claims Roxane has said
until she also tells him so. But, before Cyrano can tell her the truth,
Christian is brought back to the camp, having been fatally shot. Cyrano
realizes that he cannot tell her the truth to preserve Roxane's image of an
eloquent Christian. The battle ensues, a distraught Roxane collapses and is
carried off by De Guiche and Ragueneau, and Cyrano rallies the Cadets to
hold back the Spanish until relief arrives.
Act V – Cyrano's Gazette
Fifteen years later, at a convent outside Paris. Roxane now resides here,
eternally mourning her beloved Christian. She is visited by De Guiche, Le
Bret, and Ragueneau, and she expects Cyrano to come by as he always has with
news of the outside world. On this day, however, he has been mortally
wounded by someone who dropped a huge log on his head from a tall building.
Upon arriving to deliver his "gazette" to Roxane, knowing it will be his
last, he asks Roxane if he can read "Christian's" farewell letter. She gives
it to him, and he reads it aloud as it darkens. Listening to his voice, she
realizes that Cyrano was the author of all the letters, but Cyrano denies
this to his death. Ragueneau and Le Bret return, telling Roxane of Cyrano's
injury. While Cyrano grows delirious, his friends weep, and Roxane tells him
she loves him. He combats various foes, half imaginary and half symbolic,
conceding that he has lost all but one important thing – his panache – as he dies in Le Bret and Ragueneau's arms.
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