"magnificent... engaging"

Cryano de Bergerac, written at the end of the 19th century, at a time when the naturalism and realism of Strindberg and Ibsen were all the rage, is a "sport" - a super-romantic comedy that is flamboyant, idealistic, sentimental, and above all theatrical to the nth degree.

Rostand wrote it as a starring vehicle for the spirited, declaiming actor Coquelin, and for him created a bravura character full of wit, idealism, daring and grace. He is bigger than life, nobler, and has a spirit that is as beautiful as his one defect, an enormous nose, is too long.

Cyrano and his self-sacrificing love for the beautiful Roxanne dominate the play while the large cast (l9 in the production now playing magnificently and engagingly in the production on the Barrington Stage, but 45 in Rostand’s script, not counting the extras) support him vigorously and effectively.

As Cyrano, Christopher Innvar is the super-hero, swordsman, and poet combined. He is a formidable fighter who composes and recites verses as he lunges and evades his adversary’s sword. He is a self-denying lover who braves enemy fire to deliver to Roxanne a daily love letter, written from his own soul but supposedly coming from the young man whom she has married, and whom he has promised to protect in battle.

He can be ironically comic in exposing buffoons or in ridiculing his own nose, his one negative feature of which he is so self-conscious that he cannot bring himself to believe that Roxanne could ever love him. All these conflicting actions, inspired by their emotional background are present in Innvar’s performance which never misses a beat.

As Roxanne, Heather Ayers is the ideal heroine, beautiful, tender, romantically won over by the handsome youthful Christian’s appearance and too innocent to realize none of the words with which he woos her are his own. She inhabits her role with grace and when needed, spirit and courage, and, in the final act touchingly understanding, too late, that it is Cyrano whom she has loved.

Young and handsome Dylan Fergus as Christian is all that Cyrano is not. His appeal is all surface although he does have an honorable heart and can want to act nobly when he comes to realize Roxanne has loved a dual creature composed of his physique and Cyrano’s soul. In Rostand’s conveniently contrived plot, he can die in battle and be mourned for fourteen years.

Mark H. Dold, as Count De Guiche, is properly hateful as villain in the romantic tale where a villain is necessary; Rufus Collins as LeBret is equally convincing as supporting friend.

And the whole cast, swirling off and on stage, often doubling in roles, elegantly attired in glittering French Renaissance splendor, or military uniforms, or clerical robes, or wenches rags, give marvelous support to the leading characters.

Director Julianne Boyd has paced the action well with rapid fire delivery and instant cue pick up and has chosen a cast well-suited to her production. The play, demanding four scene changes, never flags. Scenes shift from flaming bravura of onstage battles to gentle moments of soul-searching or sadness.

The "war" in the second act is outstanding. So many duelists are swarming the stage crossing swords that it is impossible to count them. Michel Burnet, fight choreographer, who in the first act lets himself ,as the fop Valvert, be defeated in a duel with Cyrano, has done an outstanding job in setting so many swords flashing in a convincing manner when the battle rages.

Michael Anania has designed a wonderfully flexible set that with stairs, balconies and central movable platform can swiftly and deftly be changed from a theatre (this is a very theatrical play) to a battlefield or nunnery. The balcony scene in which Cyrano doubles as lover speaking the words to Roxanne on her balcony, and Christian scales the trellis to accept her kiss, is as romantically flowerful as one might wish.

Revivals seem to me to work when the director is willing to take the play for exactly what the author intended it to be and not try to impose on it something else. This Boyd has done with her Cyrano. The play is not a great play. But it is a good play and a much-loved play. It may have been a sport in its time and not expected to survive, but it has. It is a play that could easily slip into melo-drama, which it almost does, but Boyd and her actors manage to make us willingly suspend our disbelief and weep with Roxanne.

All in all, this is a very satisfactory revival, and there must be a great many Cyrano lovers about since the house was packed for the press opening.