Cyrano de Bergerac (theater)

Cyrano de Bergerac is a heroic drama in five acts and in verse by the French poet and playwright Edmond Rostand; It was premiered at the Theater de la Porte Saint-Martin on December 27, 1897, and is based on the life of the character that gives it its name.

The play was a great success, and has been made into a film on several occasions.

Synopsis

Cyrano de Bergerac is a poetic soldier, proud and sentimental, but his greatest flaw is having a ridiculously large nose. In fact, his colleagues and friends called him "Oxygen Thief". He is in love with a beautiful woman: his cousin Roxane; but, since he is ugly, he does not expect to be reciprocated. Roxane, for her part, is in love with Christian de Neuvilette, who is a soldier cadet. Unlike Cyrano, Christian is handsome but lacks the wit of the protagonist.

Cyrano agrees with Christian to write love letters to Roxane, because in this way he will at least be able to express his feelings to his beloved. Roxane, increasingly impressed by the spirit of her love, confesses to Christian, moved, that although her love for him began with his physical attractiveness, now it was her soul that she loved. This is devastating for Christian and euphoric for Cyrano, as she mentions that she would like him even if he was ugly.

But Christian and Cyrano have to go to war against the Spanish, in which Christian is killed, and he asks Cyrano to tell the truth about the letters to Roxane, but Cyrano doesn't and Roxane still doesn't know about it. Cyrano's love Fifteen years after Christian's death, Cyrano, aged and graying from the war, goes to visit Roxane at the convent where she retired after the death of her lover every day at exactly 6:00 p.m. m. she wears mourning, having the last letter that "she wrote" Christian on the chest. But one bad day Cyrano is delayed because as he walks past, a large piece of wood falls on him, breaking his skull. They tell him that he cannot move from the bed, but Cyrano ignores him; he reaches Roxane, apologizes for being late (disguising his head injury with his hat) and tells her the news about her. Roxane asks him to read Christian's latest letter to her. Cyrano accepts and reads it as night falls, suddenly realizing the truth, though Cyrano denies it over and over again. Cyrano begins to recite verses while he says goodbye to her and under the moonlight he dies.

Films and other adaptations

Cyrano de Bergerac has been made into a film several times, including a 1900 silent version starring Benoît-Constant Coquelin, the actor who debuted the role in 1897. The most famous versions are probably the one from 1950, starring José Ferrer (for which he won the Oscar) and the one from 1990, starring Gérard Depardieu (who was a candidate for the award). Other Adaptation: Roxanne (1987) Director, Fred Schepisi; Screenplay, Steve Martin (Novel: Edmond Rostand) with Steve Martin, Daryl Hannah, Shelley Duvall, Rick Rossovich, Fred Willard, Max Alexander, Michael J. Pollard. Modern adaptation of Edmond Rostand's classic Cyrano de Bergerac. CD. Bales, the fire chief of a small town, is a frustrated poet who has had no luck with literature or with women. In the case of women, the problem is his huge nose. Despite this, he tries without complexes to conquer Roxanne, an astronomy student who is preparing his thesis. But she's attracted to Chris McDonell, a firefighter who's just as handsome as she is fumbling with her words.

In 1936 Cyrano de Bergerac, an opera in four acts by the Italian composer Franco Alfano, premiered on a libretto by Henri Cain, based on Edmond Rostand's drama of the same name. The premiere took place at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, then called the Teatro Real, on January 22, 1936.

In 2019 Edmund: Letters to Roxane was released, a Franco-Belgian film written and directed by Alexis Michalik, and produced by Alain Goldman. It tells the life of Edmond Rostand, who is a promising playwright, but with unsuccessful works behind him. In this France of 1897, Edmond meets the best actor of the moment, Constant Coquellin, who agrees to play his next play, but Edmond only has the title, Cyrano de Bergerac ; he will still have to write the play.

The 2021 version, directed by Joe Wright and written by Erica Schmidt, based on Schmidt's 2018 musical of the same name, premiered at the 48th Telluride Film Festival. The actor Peter Dinklage, popularly known for playing Tyrion Lannister in the HBO series Game of Thrones, played the role of Cyrano. For this film, Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran were nominated for the award for best costume design at the 94th edition of the Oscars.

The work in Spain

The piece premiered at the Teatro Español in Madrid on February 1, 1899, performed by Fernando Díaz de Mendoza, María Guerrero and Alfredo Cirera. It was represented again in 1936 with Ricardo Calvo, Adela Calderón and Guillermo Marín; in 1955, with Manuel Dicenta, María Dolores Pradera, José María Seoane, Félix Navarro and Milagros Leal; in 2000, with Manuel Galiana, Paula Sebastián, Manuel Gallardo, Juan Carlos Naya, Antonio Medina, José Carabias and Ana María Vidal, directed by Mara Recatero; in 2007, with José Pedro Carrión, Lucía Quintana, Cristóbal Suárez and Alberto Iglesias, directed by John Strasberg; in 2014, with Jesús Fajardo and the direction of Orén Moreno; in 2018, with José Luis Gil and Ana Ruiz.