Cyrano de Bergerac (play)

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Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac, the man for whom the play is named and upon whose life it is based
Written byEdmond Rostand
Characters
Date premiered28 December 1897
Original languageFrench
GenreRomance
SettingFrance, 1640

Cyrano de Bergerac (/ˌsɪrən də ˈbɜːrʒəræk, - ˈbɛər-/ SIRR-ə-noh də BUR-zhə-rak, – BAIR-, French: [siʁano d(ə) bɛʁʒəʁak]) is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. The play is a fictionalisation following the broad outlines of Cyrano de Bergerac's life.

The entire play is written in verse, in rhyming couplets of twelve syllables per line, very close to the classical alexandrine form, but the verses sometimes lack a caesura. It is also meticulously researched, down to the names of the members of the Académie française and the dames précieuses glimpsed before the performance in the first scene.

The play has been translated and performed many times, and it is responsible for introducing the word panache into the English language.[1] The character of Cyrano himself makes reference to "my panache" in the play. The most famous English translations are those by Brian Hooker, Anthony Burgess, and Louis Untermeyer.

Plot summary[edit]

Hercule Savinien de 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 also plays music. However, he has an obnoxiously large nose, which causes him to doubt himself. This doubt prevents him from expressing his love for his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual Roxane, as he believes that his ugliness would bar him from the "dream of being loved by even an ugly woman." Roxanne loves Christian de Neuvillette, who is too tongue-tied to romance her. Cyrano famously writes love letters to Roxanne, pretending to be Christian.

Act I – A Performance at the Hôtel de Bourgogne[edit]

The play opens in Paris, 1640, in the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. 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 who he hopes will identify the young woman with whom he has fallen in love. Lignière recognizes her as Roxane, and he tells Christian about her and the Count de Guiche's scheme to marry her off to the compliant Viscount Valvert. Meanwhile, Ragueneau and Le Bret are expecting Cyrano de Bergerac, who has, without any authority, banished the actor Montfleury from the stage for a month. After Lignière leaves, Christian catches a pickpocket who, in return for his freedom, tells him of a plot against Lignière. Christian departs to try to warn him.

The play "Clorise" begins with Montfleury's entrance. Cyrano disrupts the play, forces Montfleury 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 Qu'à la fin de l'envoi, je touche!: "Then, as 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-handed, and he leads a procession of officers, actors and musicians to the Porte de Nesle.

Act II – The Poets' Cookshop[edit]

The next morning, at Ragueneau's bake shop, Ragueneau supervises various apprentice cooks in their preparations. Cyrano arrives, anxious about his meeting with Roxane. He is followed by a musketeer, a paramour of Ragueneau's domineering wife Lise, then the regular gathering of impoverished poets who take advantage of Ragueneau's hospitality and love for poetry. Cyrano composes a letter to Roxane expressing his deep and unconditional love for her, warns Lise about her indiscretion with the musketeer and, when Roxane arrives, 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 de Neuvillette. Roxane fears for Christian's safety in the predominantly Gascon company of Cadets, and 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 previous night. They are followed by a huge 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 de Neuvillette. When Cyrano recounts the tale, Christian displays his own form of courage by interjecting several times with references to Cyrano's nose. Cyrano is angry, but remembering his promise to Roxane, holds in his temper.

Eventually Cyrano explodes at the insults, the shop is evacuated, and Cyrano reveals his identity as Roxane's cousin. Christian confesses his love for Roxane but also his inability to woo her because of what he feels is a 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. The musketeer from before, now thinking it was safe to do so, teases Cyrano about his nose and receives a slap in the face, amusing the Cadets.

Act III – Roxane's Kiss[edit]

Outside Roxane's house Ragueneau is conversing with Roxane's duenna. When Cyrano arrives, Roxane descends and they talk about Christian: Roxane says that Christian's letters have been breathtaking—he is more intellectual 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 has been appointed a colonel of a regiment leaving that night to fight in the war with Spain. He mentions that the regiment includes Cyrano's unit, and grimly predicts that he and Cyrano will have a reckoning with each other. Afraid for 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 while the rest of the regiment achieves 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 she will not tell Cyrano that Roxane has robbed him of a chance to go to war.

Roxane expects Christian to visit her, and 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 lines Cyrano has written. Christian however refuses saying he wants to speak to Roxane in his own words. Cyrano bows to this saying, "Speak for yourself, sir."

During their meeting Christian makes a fool of himself 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 speak to her while Cyrano stands under the balcony whispering to Christian what to say. Eventually, Cyrano shoves Christian aside and, under cover of darkness, pretends to be Christian, wooing Roxane himself. In the process, he wins a kiss for Christian.

Roxane and Christian are secretly married by a Capuchin. Outside, Cyrano meets de Guiche. Cyrano, his face concealed, impersonates a madman, with a tale of a trip to the Moon. De Guiche is fascinated, and delays his journey to hear more. When Cyrano finally reveals his face, de Guiche suggests Cyrano should write a book.

The newly wed couple's 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 that he will do what he can but that he cannot promise anything. Roxane begs Cyrano to promise to make Christian write to her every day. Brightening, Cyrano announces confidently that he can promise that.

Act IV – The Gascon Cadets[edit]

The Siege of Arras. The Gascon Cadets are among many French forces now cut off by the Spanish, and are starving. Cyrano, meanwhile, has been writing in Christian's name to Roxane twice daily, smuggling the letters across 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 was able to flirt her way through the Spanish lines. Cyrano tells Christian about the letters, and provides him a farewell letter to give to Roxane if he dies. After de Guiche departs, Roxane provides plenty of food and drink to the cadets with the assistance of the coach's driver, Ragueneau. De Guiche attempts for a second time to convince Roxane to leave the battlefield. When she refuses, de Guiche says he will not leave a lady behind. This impresses the cadets who offer him their leftovers, which de Guiche declines, but he ends up catching the cadets' accent which makes him even more popular with them. Roxane 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 this to Cyrano, and then persuades Cyrano 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 tells him so as well. But, before Cyrano can tell her the truth, Christian is brought back to the camp, having been fatally shot. Cyrano decides that, in order to preserve Roxane's image of an eloquent Christian, he cannot tell her the truth. The battle ensues, a distraught Roxane collapses and is carried off by de Guiche and Ragueneau, and Cyrano rallies the Cadets to hold off the Spanish until relief arrives.

The second-to-last scene. First performance of the play. Published in "l'illustration", 8 January 1898

Act V – Cyrano's Gazette[edit]

Fifteen years later, at a convent outside Paris. Roxane now resides here, constantly mourning her beloved Christian. She is visited by de Guiche, who is now a good friend and sees Cyrano as an equal (and has been promoted to duke), Le Bret, and Ragueneau (who has lost his wife and bakery, and is now a candlelighter for Molière), 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 grows dark. Listening to his voice, she realizes that it is Cyrano who was the author of all the letters, but Cyrano denies this until he cannot hide it. Ragueneau and Le Bret return, telling Roxane of Cyrano's injury. While Cyrano grows delirious, his friends weep and Roxane tells him that 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's and Ragueneau's arms.

Stage history[edit]

Benoît-Constant Coquelin created the role of Cyrano de Bergerac (1897)

On 27 December 1897, the curtain rose at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin,[2] and the audience was pleasantly surprised. A full hour after the curtain fell, the audience was still applauding. The original Cyrano was Constant Coquelin, who played it over 410 times at said theatre and later toured North America in the role. The original production had sets designed by Marcel Jambon and his associates Brard and Alexandre Bailly (Acts I, III and V), Eugène Carpezat (Act II), and Alfred Lemeunier (Act IV). The earliest touring production of Cyrano was set up by Charles Moncharmont and Maurice Luguet. It was premiered in Monte Carlo on 29 March 1898, and subsequently presented in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia and Spain. Special, transportable sets emulating the Parisian production were created for this tour by Albert Dubosq:

La troupe qui interprétera Cyrano de Bergerac se composera de quarante personnes. Les costumes et les décors seront identiques à ceux de la Porte Saint-Martin; les costumes, au nombre de deux cent cinquante, faits sur mesure, les armes, cartonnages, tout le matériel seront exécutés par les fournisseurs de ce théâtre; les décors seront brossés par Dubosq qui est allé, ces jours derniers, s’entendre à Paris avec les entrepreneurs de la tournée. ... la troupe voyage avec tout un matériel de décors à appliques, charnières, pièces démontables qui, pouvant se planter sur n’importe quelle scène et se divisant en tous petits fragments, s’installe aisément dans des caisses, sans peser relativement trop lourd et dépasser les dimensions admises par les chemins de fer.[3]

{The troupe that will perform Cyrano de Bergerac will comprise forty people. The costumes and decorations will be identical to those of the Porte Saint-Martin; the costumes, two hundred and fifty in number, made to measure, the weapons, cardboard boxes, all the material will be made by the suppliers of this theater; the sets will be painted by Dubosq who, in recent days, has been to Paris to get along with the touring entrepreneurs. ... the troupe travels with a whole set of sconces, hinges, removable parts which, being able to be planted on any stage and being divided into very small fragments, can be easily installed in crates, without weighing relatively too much heavy and exceed the dimensions permitted by railways.}

Richard Mansfield was the first actor to play Cyrano in the United States in an English translation.

Walter Hampden on the cover of Time in 1929, while he was the producer, director, star and theatre manager of a Broadway revival of Cyrano de Bergerac

The longest-running Broadway production ran 232 performances in 1923 and starred Walter Hampden, who returned to the role on the Great White Way in 1926, 1928, 1932, and 1936.[4] Hampden used the 1923 Brian Hooker translation prepared especially for him, which became such a classic in itself that it was used by virtually every English-speaking Cyrano until the mid-1980s. In 1946 Hampden passed the torch to José Ferrer, who won a Tony Award for playing Cyrano in a much-praised Broadway staging, the highlight of which was a special benefit performance in which Ferrer played the title role for the first four acts and Hampden (then in his mid-sixties) assumed it for the fifth. Ferrer reprised the role on live television in 1949 and 1955, and in a 1950 film version for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. It became Ferrer's most famous role.

Other notable English-speaking Cyranos were Ralph Richardson, DeVeren Bookwalter, Derek Jacobi, Michael Kanarek, Richard Chamberlain, and Christopher Plummer, who played the part in Rostand's original play and won a Tony Award for the 1973 musical adaptation. Kevin Kline played the role in a Broadway production in 2007, with Jennifer Garner playing Roxane and Daniel Sunjata as Christian. A taped version of the production was broadcast on PBS's Great Performances in 2009. In 2018, David Serero is the first French actor to play Cyrano in America in the English language.

Later stage versions[edit]

2023 adaptation at Synetic Theater.
  • 1962–1963 Stratford Shakespeare Festival performed the play for two seasons, with John Colicos in the title role.[5]
  • 1970 Anthony Burgess wrote a new translation and adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, which had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Paul Hecht was Cyrano. Also in the cast were Len Cariou as Christian, and Roberta Maxwell as Roxane. A later production was the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed 1983 stage production, starring Derek Jacobi as Cyrano and Alice Krige (later Sinéad Cusack) as Roxane, which was videotaped and broadcast on television in 1985. For this production, Burgess very significantly reworked his earlier translation; both Burgess translations have appeared in book form.
  • 1977 A condensed version of Rostand's play, in prose, was written by the Scottish writer Tom Gallacher and performed at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
  • 1982–1983 The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, produced the play for two seasons, directed by Derek Goldby and starring Heath Lamberts.[6]
  • 1983–1985 Emily Frankel[7] wrote a condensed prose adaptation for her husband John Cullum which was first performed at Syracuse Stage, directed by Arthur Storch in 1983, then at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in 1984. A national tour in 1985–1986 concluded with a month's stay at Baltimore's Morris Mechanic Theatre.
  • 1989 Off Broadway the play has been staged several times, including a New York City parks tour starring Frank Muller, produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company.[8]
  • 1990 Staged by the Tanghalang Pilipino with the translation written by Soc Rodrigo, and directed by Tony Mabesa.
  • 1992 John Wells wrote an adaptation called Cyrano, first presented at the Haymarket Theatre in London.[9]
  • 1992 Edwin Morgan wrote a translation in Scots verse, which was first performed by the Communicado Theatre Company.[10] The National Theatre of Scotland also produced this version in 2018.[11]
  • 1994 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival presented the play, directed by Derek Goldby and starring Colm Feore.[12]
  • 1995 Jatinder Verma wrote and directed an adaptation in English, Hindi and Urdu set in 1930s India, starring Naseeruddin Shah. The play opened at the National Theatre, London, in October.
  • 1997 Pierre Lebeau starred in the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde's 1996 production. A great success, the January production was reprised in July (without air conditioning). In November, Antony Sher performed the title role in the Lyric Theatre's production directed by partner Gregory Doran. Frank Langella created and directed and performed the title role in a stripped-down version of the play simply titled Cyrano.
  • 2001 David Grapes II starred as Cyrano in a new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Robert Neblett and Todd Olson at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, TN
  • 2004 Barksdale Theatre in Richmond began its 50th-anniversary season with a production of Emily Frankel's Cyrano, starring David Bridgewater.
  • 2005 A new adaptation written in verse by Barry Kornhauser was produced by The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Kahn, and went on to become the most highly honored of DC's plays that year, winning multiple Helen Hayes Awards, including "Outstanding Play."
  • 2007 A new translation of the play by Ranjit Bolt opened at Bristol Old Vic in May.[13] Sound & Fury, a Los Angeles-based comedy trio, presented their parody of the play, called Cyranose! in L.A. at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in September 2007. It was also filmed and released on DVD.
  • 2009 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival again performed the play during their 2009 season, with Colm Feore returning in the title role, directed by Donna Feore. This production was unique in that it combined the translation by Anthony Burgess with portions of the original French text, taking advantage of Canadian bilingualism for dramatic effect.[14]
  • 2011 Another new translation by Michael Hollinger had its premier at the Folger Theatre, Washington, D.C., directed by Aaron Posner and produced by Janet Griffin.
  • 2012 Roundabout Theatre Company presented a production of Cyrano de Bergerac from 11 October to 25 November with Douglas Hodge in the lead at the American Airlines Theatre for a limited engagement.[15][16] The production was directed by Jamie Lloyd, who would later helm a more radical reinterpretation of the play.
  • 2013 The Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey presented a version directed by Gene Simakowicz as part of their annual Shakespeare in the Parks tour. The version starred Jon Ciccareli as Cyrano, Laura Barbiea as Roxane and Matt Hansen as Christian.[17]
  • 2013 The play was adapted by Glyn Maxwell and performed at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester[18]
  • 2014 the Sydney Theatre Company presented a version of the play adapted by Andrew Upton with Richard Roxburgh in the lead role, Eryn Jean Norvill as Roxane and Julia Zemiro as Duenna.[19][20][21][22]
  • 2015 A new and gender-swapped translation was adapted and directed by Professor Doug Zschiegner with Niagara University Theatre titled, CyranA.[23]
  • 2018 The Gloucester Stage Company premiered an adaptation for five actors by Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers. This adaptation was performed at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival during the summer of 2019.[24]
  • 2019 The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis produced an adapted version of the show.[25]
  • 2019 The Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Jackson, and Canton MI, Directed by Janice L. Blixt.
  • 2019 The Shaw Festival again produced the play for the 2019 season, with a new translation by Kate Hennig, directed by Chris Abraham, and starring Tom Rooney.[26]
  • 2019 A new adaptation by Martin Crimp produced by The Jamie Lloyd Company and starring James McAvoy started at the Playhouse Theatre in London on 27 November.[27] This adaptation returned in 2022, initially playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London before transferring to the Theatre Royal Glasgow and then the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.[28]
  • 2022 Melbourne Theatre Company produced a modernized adaptation of the play written by Virginia Gay, who also starred as a gender-flipped Cyrano.[29]
  • 2023 Synetic Theater produced a silent physical theater adaptation.[30]
  • 2023 University of St Andrews’s Performing Arts Fund, Mermaids, staged a comedic adaptation written by student Kilda Kennedy, wherein Christian and numerous minor characters were performed with puppets, titled Cyrano de Puppet.[31]

Translations[edit]

  • Howard Thayer Kingsbury (1898) - blank verse; performed by Richard Mansfield
  • Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (1898) - prose
  • Charles Renauld (1898) - prose
  • Gertrude Hall (1898) [1] -prose
  • Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti into Arabic [2].
  • Brian Hooker (1923) [3] - blank verse
  • Humbert Wolfe (1941) - prose
  • Anthony Burgess (1971) [4] - verse and prose
  • Lowell Blair (1972) - prose
  • Christopher Fry (1975) - verse
  • Soc Rodrigo (1991) into Filipino[32]
  • Edwin Morgan (Glaswegian Scots)(1992)
  • Eric Merrill Budd (2005) - "poetic prose"[5]
  • Derek Mahon (2004) - blank verse
  • Carol Clark (2006) - blank verse
  • Brian Vinero (2021) [6] - rhymed verse

Direct adaptations[edit]

Film[edit]

Cyrano de Bergerac (1900), produced for the Phono-Cinéma, an early sound film method, with frames colored by a stencil process; here the original Benoît-Constant Coquelin performs the duel in Act 1.
The English 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac.

Television[edit]

Radio[edit]

Opera[edit]

Musical theatre[edit]

Loose adaptations[edit]

Film[edit]

Television[edit]

  • In the 1966 episode "One Monkee Shy" of The Monkees, Peter Tork gets help wooing Valerie from his three bandmates in the balcony scene
  • The 1972 episode "Cyrano de Brady" of The Brady Bunch adapts the balcony scene, with Peter trying to woo his crush, while being fed the right words to say from Greg, hiding in the bushes.
  • The 1982 episode "Cyrano de Jackson" of Diff'rent Strokes[47] also adapts the balcony scene, with Arnold feeding lines to his friend Dudley through an earpiece.
  • The 1982 episode "Strangers in the Night" of Three's Company when Jack attempts to lip-sync a serenade by a hidden Larry intended for southern belle Arabella, but was instead received by the less-attractive Bernice by mistake.
  • The 1996 episode "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is adapted from the story.

Animated series[edit]

  • In the episode "Cyrano" of the French animated series Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (season 2, episode 3), aired 15 October 1986, the protagonists land on the planet Borbotrek, ruled by Lord Cyrano, a great scientist. He proves to be the sole creator of Borbotrek and its citizens (who only speak in rhyme), through the power of imagination and pushed by the impetus of an idealized love for a mysterious Lady Roxanne.
  • In the episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" of Futurama (season 2, episode 5, aired February 6, 2000, Fry coaches his crewmate Zoidberg on human romance techniques so that Zoidberg can gain the affection of his love interest, Edna, including feeding Zoidberg lines to say. Zoidberg successfully woos Edna to a date, but then the truth is revealed, and Edna attempts to seduce Fry, leading to a battle to the death between Fry and Zoidberg. As a result, Zoidberg misses his chance to mate, and Edna instead mates with the king.
  • In the episode "Sleeping with the Frenemy" of Bob's Burgers (season 8, episode 11, aired March 25, 2018), Tina allows her rival Tammy to stay with her family during Spring Break, and fixes her up with a boy from out of town whom both girls like, Brett. Tina talks to Brett through Tammy in order to help her win a date. The truth eventually comes out. Tammy recognizes their affinity for one another and convinces Brett to go on a walk with Tina on the beach. The episode closes with Tina and Brett sharing a kiss on the wharf. At one point in the episode Linda even remarks that the whole thing was a “Cyrano de Burger-ac!”

Musical theatre[edit]

  • The 2006 musical Calvin Berger by Barry Wyner sets the story in a modern-day high school.
  • Cyrano: Isang Sarsuwela is a 2010 Filipino musical adaptation based from the Filipino translation of Soc Rodrigo, with songs by William Manzano. It is set in the Philippines during World War II. Its first theatrical run was in 2010–2011, directed by Pat Valera.[48] It re-ran from 2016 to 2018, with the new title Mula sa Buwan.[7] It later on had a rerun after the enhanced community quarantine for the COVID-19 pandemic at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater in Circuit Makati.

Other cultural references to the play[edit]

  • In the 1988 film Short Circuit 2, one of the main characters, Ben Jahveri, is fed lines from the robotic character Johnny 5, which are transmitted to a digital billboard for Ben to read. Ben is trying to win the affections of the character Sandy Banatoni.
  • In the 1991 episode "Communicable Theater" of the sitcom Roseanne[49] character Jackie gets in trouble when she has to perform the lead role in a community production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and doesn't know her lines.
  • The 1991 episode "The Nth Degree" of Star Trek: The Next Generation features Reg Barclay and Dr. Crusher performing a scene from Cyrano de Bergerac in the theater room before a handful of crew.
  • The Blues Traveler song "Sweet Pain" from the 1991 album Travelers and Thieves begins with a reference to Cyrano de Bergerac, using Cyrano's unattainable love as a reference to the songs theme of sweet pain.
  • Cyrano de Bergerac is one of the two plays "performed" in the 1995 comedic play Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig, the other being Private Lives.
  • In the 2005 American drama film Bigger Than the Sky, a man auditions for a local community theater production of the play, and the plot plays out with it as the background theme.
  • The history of the play is explored in Theresa Rebeck's 2018 Broadway play Bernhardt/Hamlet.
  • The 2016 French play Edmond by Alexis Michalik is a fictionalized behind-the-scenes look at the composition and first performance of Cyrano de Bergerac. It was adapted as the 2018 film Edmond (distributed in English-speaking countries as Cyrano, My Love).

"Cyranoids"[edit]

Inspired by the balcony scene in which Cyrano provides Christian with words to speak to Roxane, Stanley Milgram developed an experimental technique that used covert speech shadowing to construct hybrid personae in social psychological experiments, wherein subjects would interact with a "Cyranoid" whose words emanated from a remote, unseen "source".[50][51]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Edmond Rostand (1 September 1998). Cyrano de Bergerac: A Heroic Comedy in Five Acts. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192836434. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  2. ^ The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, Cambridge University Press (1995)
  3. ^ L'Eventail, 6 March and 17 April 1898.
  4. ^ The Broadway League. "Internet Broadway Database: Walter Hampden Credits on Broadway". Ibdb.com. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Past Productions". Stratford Festival. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Review - Cyrano de Bergerac - Stratford Festival - Christopher Hoile". Stage Door. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  7. ^ "TheReadery". thereadery.com.
  8. ^ "Review/Theater; Cyrano Opens a Tour of the Parks," New York Times, 6 July 1989.
  9. ^ "John Wells' plays". Doollee.com. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Cyrano de Bergerac / 1992". communicado theatre. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Cyrano de Bergerac". National Theatre Scotland. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  12. ^ "Review - Cyrano de Bergerac - Stratford Festival - Christopher Hoile". Stage Door. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  13. ^ "Cyrano de Bergerac". The Stage. 10 May 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  14. ^ "Review - Cyrano de Bergerac - Stratford Festival - Christopher Hoile". Stage Door. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Spotlight On: Cyrano de Bergerac". Tony Awards. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  16. ^ Blank, Matthew (12 October 2012). "PHOTO CALL: Cyrano de Bergerac Opens on Broadway; Red Carpet Arrivals, Curtain Call and Party". Playbill. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  17. ^ "'Cyrano' kicks off Shakespeare series in Kenilworth". The Cranford Chronicle. 17 June 2013.
  18. ^ "Cyrano de Bergerac". Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre.
  19. ^ Blake, Elissa (2 November 2014). "Richard Roxburgh revels in lead role in Sydney Theatre Company's Cyrano de Bergerac". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  20. ^ Low, Lenny Ann (7 November 2014). "Richard Roxburgh dons Cyrano de Bergerac's false nose for Sydney Theatre Company". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  21. ^ Blake, Elissa. "Julia Zemiro on going for it on stage and making bold choices for Cyrano de Bergerac". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
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