★★★★★ When “Cyrano de Bergerac” was performed for the first time, in 1897, on the stage of the Porte Saint Martin theater in Paris, its author, Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), was so convinced that the work would be a flop that apologized in advance to the lead actor for wasting his time. He shouldn’t have worried. At the play’s premiere, the audience gave him a standing ovation for twenty minutes, and the French finance minister rushed behind the curtain to pin a medal of the “Légion d’Honneur” on the playwright’s chest. ” national.
It’s just that, back then, the French public, especially Parisians, needed to cheer up: France was still reeling from its 1870 defeat by Prussia and the siege of the capital, which had left the city’s people hungry. Historians described the general atmosphere of the time as “morose.”
Cyrano, inspired by the royal character of the same name, is a brave soldier who knows how to handle his sword and writes sublime poetry. But he does have a huge nose, which he is aware of. In love with Roxane, his cousin who is far away from him, a beautiful and intelligent heiress and, assuming that she doesn’t pay attention to him, he writes her love verses on behalf of another man of whom she is captivated.
The remarkable 1990 French film version, starring Gérard Depardieu, was very well received. As well as this Broadway production, recorded live and available on the Teatrix online platform, which had been translated and adapted by Anthony Burgess (the author of “A Clockwork Orange”) and led by actors Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner at the leading roles. Kline seems to have been born to be the hero because he displays with enormous talent all facets of him, while Garner is charming in the skin of the beloved deceived. It has dazzling costumes and a staging that takes advantage of every corner of the enormous Richard Rodgers Theater in New York.
Traditionalists will be pleased to learn that Alexandrian verses remain, included in the celebrated “nose rant”: “It’s a rock! A spike! A layer! By the way, it’s a peninsula!” Undoubtedly, an unmissable classic that can be enjoyed at Teatrix, the theatrical catalog with more than 200 works filmed in HD, which since 2015 has been growing in quality and quantity of proposals.
