Baylor presents the classic tale of Cyrano, the poet and swordsman, and the gorgeous Roxane. They are knee-deep in the tides of war, but the battlefield is not the only thing separating their love. This romantic, witty, and breathtaking play will sweep you off your feet.
"The ultimate romantic drama, ‘Cyrano' is filled with glinting swordplay and sweeping passions, with intrigue and disguise, and a lover who dares not speak his name." New York Times
December 2-6 at 7:30 p.m. December 7 at 2 p.m. Jones Theatre
By Carl Hoover, Waco Tribune-Herald December 5, 2008
Disclosure time: Edmond Rostand's deeply romantic "Cyrano de Bergerac" is an emotional Achilles' heel for me. My father loved the play about the poet and swordsman whose main flaw was a crippling insecurity about his enormous nose. I grew up listening to a recording that excerpted Jose Ferrar's magnificent (aurally, at least) performance onstage and in a 1950 film taken from that stage performance. (That movie hasn't aged well; it's stagy and its production is a bit threadbare, though Ferrar and his rich, magisterial baritone is still Oscar-winning wonderful. The 1990 French film with Gerard Depardieu is far superior and a joy.)
As a teenager dealing with the messy, confusing world of emotions and possible romance, "Cyrano" resonated deeply. Even now, jaded journalist that I am, I get teary-eyed at the balcony scene in which he woos his love Roxane, able to speak fully from his heart though she thinks it's the handsome Christian, and I can weep outright at the final act when Roxane realizes his secret as he's dying. (I also get teary-eyed at the beginning of It's a Wonderful Life and - it's the dad in me - the final scenes of A Little Princess when the father returns from the war.)
All of that makes reviewing any "Cyrano" a complicated matter for me. That said and out of the way, the Baylor Theatre production that runs through Sunday does a commendable job, one that sustains audience attention through its 2-hour, 40-minute running time (I didn't weep, but did tear up and heard sniffles throughout the final act, a good sign).
"Cyrano's" scale, its romanticism and the pivotal role of Cyrano are challenges for any production, especially a collegiate one. Director Traci Ledford largely pulls it off, aided by Joey Melcher's solid performance as a long-nosed Cyrano. Melcher shines more on Cyrano's romantic side, due in part to the more deliberate pacing of those scenes, and he gets the audience to look beyond the prosthetic nose to the character within. Amanda Capshaw as Roxane helps ground the play, showing her character's growing maturity and emotional state, thanks in part to clear diction and an awareness of the role her lines play.
Joe Shovak as Cyrano's rival the Comte de Guiche moves from a prickly arrogance to measured sympathy by play's end and Callen McLaughlin as the good-looking Christian tags his final scene with an emotional anguish that makes audiences aware the handsome have feelings, too.
The emotional arcs of these main characters helps kick "Cyrano" into gear by the third act. The busy opening scene, in which a theater audience is assembling for a performance, lacks focus, the better to steer viewers' attention to what's important. In the bustle of that scene, and others with more than four or five actors (the cadets at the bridge, for instance), suffer from some character lines getting lost in the shuffle. Cyrano's wittier, acerbic interchanges - the Nose speech, the duel ballade, the "No, I Thank You" speech - also could use a more deliberate pacing to underscore their verbal punchlines and impact. Cyrano was a poet, after all, and well aware of words and their rhythms; to err on the side of melodrama here might be forgivable.
Sally Askins' costume design, particularly for the play's cadets and musketeers, is both varied and rich (de Guiche's satin burgundy, the fop de Valvert in white ribbons and frou-frou). William Sherry's set employs several large units in multiple ways; a bridge, for instance, doubles as a battlefield strongpoint and a convent pathway.
Ledford's "Cyrano" is worth the watching, even in a weekend busy with Christmas activities.
