Review - Cyrano de Bergerac

 I got a TDF ticket to last night's performace of Cyrano de Bergerac at the American Airlines Theater.  I got there early enough to attend their pre-show discussion and listened to one of Roundabout's literary assistants discuss the play, the author and this production.  It was very interesting and the moderator was quite good at getting a lot of information across in a short time, without seeming rushed or making the crowd feel bombarded.  I might have to check out more pre-show discussions at Roundabout.

I adored Douglas Hodge in the most recent revival of La Cage aux Folles, so when he was announced as Cyrano, I knew I wanted to see it.  Plus, I love the play so much.  It's so gorgeously, sadly romantic.  The balcony scene alone is worth the price of admission, generally.  So I was very excited to go.

It seems like yesterday when we had the Kevin Kline revival of Cyrano, but it was five years ago already.  My oh my, time flies.  And I never thought I would miss Jennifer Garner's Roxane, but well...I kinda did.  More on that later.

I enjoyed the production quite a bit, on the whole.  It's beautifully designed and briskly directed.  I swear, the nearly-three hour run-time flew by.  I thought the wigs and costumes were particularly fine.  I'm not sure I was completely on board with the songs inserted, but Douglas Hodge performed them with 'panache.'  I'm also not sure if I loved this translation/adaptation by Ranjit Bolt.  It used rhyming couplets, which are always hard, and sometimes used contemporary vulgarities or turns of phrase.  They sort of ruined the music and the poetry of the language for me at times.  I especially found it awkward during Cyrano's first big monologue when he's composing the poem as he's dueling.  That just didn't land the way it usually does and certainly not because Douglas Hodge was lacking in any way.

I thought Douglas Hodge was incroyable (just felt like throwing some French in, sorry).  He was warm yet solitary, passionate yet restrained, whip smart and laser focused.  He didn't wallow in the melancholy, but instead frequently had a smile on his face which made his internal sadness that much more poignant.  I'll admit he didn't fit the image in my mind of Cyrano, which is physically closer to Kevin Kline, but he completely won me over about ten minutes into the piece.  And he is chock-full of panache.  I was so moved by the raptures of the balcony scene, and at how gently he convinced the doomed Christian of Roxane's love.  In fact, I think the chemistry between Cyrano and Christian was much more moving than the chemistry between Cyrano and Roxane.  These men had quite a wonderful rapport.

Clemence Poesy as Roxane just seemed too young and too shallow to inspire such feeling from any man, let alone three, though she is certainly lovely.  She barely seemed like a tween, let alone a woman old enough to have spent time in her youth with Cyrano, or a woman sophisticated enough and so in love that she could fool de Guiche into keeping Christian in Paris instead of at the front.  She sort of chirped and bounced around - I guess this could be a valid interpretation, but it didn't work for me.  I lost the romance and the sweep and the poetry.  Luckily, Douglas Hodge was more than up to the task of providing all of that himself, but imagine how much more wonderful this production could be if Poesy were his equal.

Patrick Page, as always, was wonderfully grounded and expert.  His transformation in the battle scene was terrific and very in-the-moment.  I had a momentary giggle to see Max Baker as le Bret, since he played Ragueneau in the Kevin Kline revival, but he was a terrific foil to Hodge.  Bill Buell was grand as Ragueneau and Kyle Soller was a fine Christian.  He could've used a little more oomph, but he may have been tempering himself in response to what Poesy was giving, or not giving, him.  You know though, it's early in previews.  Perhaps it's unfair to write her off so soon.  Maybe she'll grow into the role.  I'll hope so.

I was in the front row, so I felt really fortunate to see up close all the lovely work Hodge was doing.  The gents in the ensemble were also doing very nice, specific work.  I guess the only issue with sitting up front was I could really see the falseness of the 'nose.'  I could see where the makeup broke and it was a little distracting.  I'm sure that farther back it looked more natural.  Well, huge, but real.  I may try to see the show again and sit further back - I'd be interested to see Hodge after more performances under his belt.  And maybe I'd get more 'sweep' if I weren't so close.  The house certainly wasn't full last night, unfortunately.

So, as you might have guessed, thumbs up from me.  :)    I'll be interested to see what the critical response is to this one.  I've certainly been far afield of real critics before...

**six years ago, I caught an off-Broadway musical called The Rockae; five years ago, Signature presented a first-rate revival of August Wilson's Seven Guitars...**