By Sandi Masori in San Diego
Most people are somewhat familiar with the story of Cyrano, whether the original 1897 play by Edmond Rostand (based on a real-life French count), the 1987 romantic comedy Roxanne written and starring comedian Steve Martin, or the many TV, film and literary adaptations.
Though there are many variables in the retellings, the basic premise of a large-nosed, witty poet speaking and writing for a more handsome, but less well-spoken suitor remains the same.
The most recent adaptation, currently playing in the theater in the round at The Old Globe, and written by playwrights Jason O’Connel and Brenda Withers is no exception.
In the program that put the setting as “France, 1640 by way of San Diego, 2026.” And so it is that the play has both period and anachronistic costuming and language.
Michael Braun shines as Cyrano, though I thought it was an interesting choice on the part of director Annie Tippe to cast someone with a tiny little button nose and then choose not to use prosthetics. Instead, on stage, when the play opens “backstage” he puts some white makeup on his nose and leaves the rest to the audience imagination and willing suspension of disbelief. It does take a moment to “see” the large nose that they keep referring to.
Though we really enjoyed the show, and the acting, of course, was great, I found it a little confusing in the beginning. As I mentioned, the show opens backstage in a theater where the actors are getting ready for a show, perhaps Hamlet? Some of the actors play several characters and are quickly switching hats so it took a little while to understand who was whom.
Essentially the story follows Roxane (Cailen Fu) who has many men smitten with her, including her good friend Cyrano. She, however, only has eyes for the handsome soldier Christian (Max Monnig). With Cyrano’s help, he woos and wins her. The Count Deguiche (Philip Tartula) is also among her many suitors, but when he finds out that she has married Christian, he orders them all to ship out to fight in the war against Spain.
For some reason Cyrano takes it upon himself to send Roxane love letters from the field, but in Christian’s name. Chaos ensues.
Before I go further, I also need to give a shout out to the fifth member of the ensemble, Maria Elena Ramirez, who wears many hats and plays several male characters.
It’s staged in the theater in the round, which means that scenic designer Afsoon Pajoufar had to be really careful and creative when putting together the set. Nothing can be too tall, or block view, but it must also let the audience know where they are at any given time. Pajoufar achieved this with mirrors, benches and a short ladder moved around the stage. They also used the trap door in the floor to be the foxhole in the field.
The play runs 100 minutes, with no intermission, but it moves pretty quickly- especially the first half which has a high LPM factor (laugh per minute).
Cyrano will be appearing at The Old Globe through August 9.
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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a theater and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World.