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
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 who 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." Roxane loves Christian de Neuvillette, who is too tongue-tied to romance her. Cyrano famously writes love letters to Roxane, pretending to be Christian.
Act I – A Performance at the Hôtel de Bourgogne
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
1970Anthony 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.
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.
1994 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival presented the play, directed by Derek Goldby and starring Colm Feore.[12]
1995Jatinder 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.
1997Pierre 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 an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Robert Neblett and Todd Olson at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, TN
2004Barksdale Theatre in Richmond began its 50th-anniversary season with a production of Emily Frankel's Cyrano, starring David Bridgewater.
2005 An 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 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 A translation by Michael Hollinger had its premier at the Folger Theatre, Washington, D.C., directed by Aaron Posner and produced by Janet Griffin.
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]
2015 A 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 translation by Kate Hennig, directed by Chris Abraham, and starring Tom Rooney.[26]
2023University 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]
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.
Cyrano de Bergerac (1925), a silent, French-Italian film version of the play, using the Pathé Stencil Color process, starring Pierre Magnier
Cyrano de Bergerac (1946), a relatively unknown French-language black-and-white film version starring Claude Dauphin. Posters and film stills give the impression that the set designs and costumes of the 1950 film may have been modeled after this version.[40]
Ralph Richardson starred as Cyrano in the BBC Home Service production translated by Brian Hooker and adapted for radio by John Powell in July 1966.[citation needed]
Cyrano, a 1973 musical adaptation by Anthony Burgess starring Christopher Plummer, appeared in Boston and then on Broadway. Plummer won a Tony Award for his performance, but the musical was nonetheless a commercial failure.[citation needed]
Cyrano: The Musical, a 1993 Dutch musical stage adaptation, was translated into English and produced on Broadway. It was a critical and commercial failure.[citation needed]
C., a 2016 musical with music by Robert Elhai, and book and lyrics by Bradley Greenwald, premiered at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. The production was directed by the company's founder and artistic director Peter Rothstein, and starred Greenwald as Cyrano.[46]
Love Letters (1945) is a screen adaptation by novelist Ayn Rand of the book Pity My Simplicity by Christopher Massie which converted his story into an adaptation of Rostand's play. The heroine, Singleton (played by Jennifer Jones), falls in love with a soldier during World War II, believing him to be the author of certain love letters that had been written for him by another soldier at the front. In this version, the heroine discovers the identity of the true author (played by Joseph Cotten) in time for the protagonists to experience a happy ending. The film, produced by Hal Wallis, was a commercial success and earned four nominations for Academy Awards, including that of Jones for Best Actress. The musical score by Victor Young was nominated for an Oscar, and featured the melody of the hit song "Love Letters", which has been recorded by numerous artists since.[48][49][50]
Electric Dreams (1984) is the story of a personal computer that becomes self-aware, falls in love with a musician, and then wins her for his socially awkward owner.[citation needed]
Let It Shine (2012) is a Disney Channel Original Movie loosely based on this story. It stars an aspiring teenage musician named Cyrus DeBarge who allows his friend, Kris, to use his music to win over their childhood friend, Roxie, who is a professional singer.[citation needed]
Old Boys (2018) is a British comedy film in which an awkward but imaginative pupil helps the handsome but dim school-hero to pursue the fiery daughter of a visiting French teacher.[53]
The Half of It (2020) is a Netflix original movie, retelling the story through the lens of a lesbian teenage Chinese-American girl living in a small town.[citation needed]
Television
In the 1966 episode "One Monkee Shy" of The Monkees, Peter Tork gets help wooing Valerie from his three bandmates in the balcony scene[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
The 1982 episode "Cyrano de Jackson" of Diff'rent Strokes[54] also adapts the balcony scene, with Arnold feeding lines to his friend Dudley through an earpiece.
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.[55] It re-ran from 2016 to 2018, with the new title Mula sa Buwan.[1] 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
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[56] 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.
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"
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".[57][58]
^"Tamberg, Eino". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 25 (Second ed.). London. 2001.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^cyranosarsuwela-blog. "CYRANO: Isang Sarsuwela". Dulaang ROC and TALINHAGA Theatre Collaborative transform Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac" into a new sarsuwela! Direction, Adaptation and Book by Pat Valera Original Songs by William Elvin... Retrieved 18 January 2022.
^Whitesell, John (19 February 1991), Communicable Theater (Comedy, Drama), Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Fishman, Carsey-Werner Company, Wind Dancer Productions, retrieved 2 March 2021
^Milgram, S. (1984). Cyranoids. In Milgram (Ed), The individual in a social world. New York: McGraw-Hill
