Recent CYRANO musical to be adapted for the screen

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/MGM-Acquires-CYRANO-Starring-Peter-Dinklage-Haley-Bennett-Brian-Tyree-Henry-Ben-Mendelsohn-20200804

What a bizarre bit of news. This show got pretty mixed reviews Off-Broadway. Personally I enjoyed it, but I also had some major issues with it. I think it has the potential to make a good film, I guess?

Joe Wright seems like an intuitive choice to direct Cyrano de Bergerac, but not necessarily this version of it.

I'm disappointed that Jasmine Cephas-Jones won't reprise her role. But I love Brian Tyree Henry - I can't seem to figure out which role he's playing though. Is it Christian? I'm assuming Ben Mendelson will play De Guiche, which makes sense.

I think the weirdest thing about this announcement is that this musical didn't take off at all. It sold well at first, but tickets were much easier to come by when it extended. The reception from the public was pretty mixed/tepid.

Also, is this the first stage musical to receive a film adaptation without even receiving an original cast recording?

CATSNYrevival said: "This was a musical? I assumed it was a play."

Yes, it was a brand new musical adaptation - not affiliated with any of the other previous musical adaptations of Cyrano de Bergerac.

The score was written by the guys from the band The National. The music was actually quite beautiful, IMO. The lyrics...not so much.

MGM –– a company that many thought would have gone under by now –– seems to be really trying to capitalize on musicals. In 2020 alone, it has announced this, Fiddler on the Roof, and a modernized Porgy and Bess. We'll see if any of them actually get made, but it's an interesting angle.

I thought this adaptation was a bore that totally sapped Cyrano, the play and the character, of everything that made them compelling and beloved. Though, I will grant that a lot of my issues came from the production itself, which I found to be very cold with some inexplicable design choices and concepts.

But one of its most baffling adaptation choices was how it totally obfuscated Cyrano's physical difference from everybody else. A few references to a large nose remained, but played so ironically they basically had air quotes around them. Cyrano's famous introductory monologue in which he makes joke after joke about his nose was totally cut rather than adapted to suit Dinklage's stature. Cyrano's feelings of unworthiness seemed to come from nowhere rather than a world that told him he was physically unworthy. It really uprooted a central conceit of the character.

Updated On: 8/5/20 at 11:43 AM

This was not a good show, and none of the cast stood out for me. I don't get it, but perhaps it will improve 100% before they do this.

I didn't think any of the performances were the problem. Dinklage didn't sing particularly much and what he had was totally fine and clearly tailored to his ability.

Labeling it "Racist" is debatable, I'll admit, and my comment had more to do with the iffy optics of it than the intention behind it (which, as you stated, is obviously because Dinklage is a bigger star). Which is why I put it in parentheses with a question mark.

But racist or not, it's disrespectful to Harrison Jr. If it was an article about the film in general, or about several additional cast members, then it might make more sense. I'm fully aware that they did it for financial reasons - that doesn't mean it isn't disrespectful.

Updated On: 9/26/20 at 03:34 PM

^^The Deadline link goes to a Denzel Washington project.

Updated: The December 25th release date is now for a limited release while it will go wide on January 21st, also according to this: https://twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1416748609970839555 the film trailer will come out in September.

Some reviews have come out since the Telluride screening, some really liked it, one or two were disappointed with it. This is going to be interesting since this comes out 2 weeks after West Side Story is in theaters.

Cyrano trailer

Doesn’t seem to pull the usual “hide that it’s a musical” trailer tricks.