Question about Cyrano de Bergerac- Page 3

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 2:31pm

Page may have just felt that it was time to move on and do something other that SPIDERMAN. He's very good in CYRANO.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 3:33pm

Saw it Saturday afternoon. Hodge is a savior on a sinking ship. There are some nice transitions, but the direction is often bizzare, with intimate conversations happening across great distances. I did, however, enjoy some of the scenery.

Hodge is magnificent. Took me by surprise. And his soliloquies can take your breath away if you focus on how carried away he gets with the poetry.

But his co-stars are dreadful. Christian couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Roxanne is, frankly, a bore.

[dreaming]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 4:05pm

theatertrash-is it worthwhile to get it at the Hiptix price if I'm a Douglas Hodge fan?? And what was the running time???

(By the way, I think Roxanne is a thankless role anyway. Jennifer Garner did the best she could in the role, but really Cyrano is the best written character.)

[Jim Colyer]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 5:39pm

I read Cyrano in high school. I only appreciated it after seeing Steve Martin's Roxanne.

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 5:51pm

dreaming, the running time at today's matinee was 2 hours and 40 minutes.

I liked Douglas Hodge, but I also wonder why this show was revived now. This production didn't present anything new or exciting. I preferred the recent Kevin Kline production.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 5:55pm

Wait, you made it all the way to high school Jim Colyer, White Supremacist??

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 7:33pm

Steve Martin played Roxane? Offbeat casting, for sure.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 11:08pm

From the article I read, this production is happening simply because Todd Haimes, who evidently loved Douglas Hodge in La Cage, asked him what show he would like to do, and Hodge chose Cyrano de Bergerac. See, this is what happens when you give too much power to actors...

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 11:10pm

or when Todd Haimes can't find a production from somewhere else to transfer.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 11:18pm

...but those transferred productions are usually the best the Roundabout has on their schedule.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 9/26/12 at 11:20pm

I do think that Hodge is worth seeing it for. I sadly missed him in La Cage (but caught Harvey), but was curious. I thought he was wonderful in the role, despite the perhaps mis-cast element.

The final scene is so damn perplexing. The staging is bizarre, but the scenery and lighting are gorgeous. And Roxanne is just so... so... oy.

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/27/12 at 4:46pm

Saw the matinee yesterday. I have never seen Hodge before, and he is a very talented actor but simply not the man for this role. Every Cyrano I have seen loves words, since he is a poet and a wit. Hodge rushes his fences constantly so I kept missing the relish that Cyrano has in using words well. The first act theme and variations on his nose was funny but it should also be rude and shocking and occasionally poignant. The balcony scene with Christian and Roxanne should be unbearably beautiful and lyrical but seemed rash and fast. Oddly, his final scene in the convent garden (although staged with really bizarre blocking) was very touching indeed. The translation is not as bad as I had anticipated. It is relaxed enough prose to give the actors an easier time, but a lot of the poetry is lost. I am glad to have seen this, although it has none of the extraordinary qualities that I found in the Kevin Kline version so recently done.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/27/12 at 4:50pm

"I liked Douglas Hodge, but I also wonder why this show was revived now. This production didn't present anything new or exciting. I preferred the recent Kevin Kline production."

It does seem to be a revival that nobody really wants right now. Interesting, since the advertising is based around proclaiming that this is some brand new take on the play.

[wonkit]

Posted: 9/27/12 at 5:38pm

I think they are relying on the newness of the translation. But the story has not been refurbished in any particularly striking way - the production is grittier than usual, but they haven't brought it to modern times or made Roxanne into Roxbob, or anything.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/27/12 at 10:11pm

I thought the Kevin Kline version had some excellent acting but the direction was extremely bizarre. I mean to have a mortally wounded character walk down a sharply inclined ramp that ran the width of the stage was beyond reason.