Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play: Geraint Wyn Davies, "Cyrano," Shakespeare Theatre Outstanding Director, Resident Play - Tie: Michael Kahn, "Cyrano," Shakespeare Theatre, Aaron Posner, "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Folger Theatre Outstanding Resident Play: "Cyrano," Shakespeare Theatre Outstanding Set Design, Resident Play or Musical - Tie: James Kronzer, "The Diary of Anne Frank," Round House Theatre, James Noone, "Cyrano," Shakespeare Theatre ARTICLES: The Washington Times --- 'Cyrano' a big Hayes Winner Variety Playbill The Washington Post --- Ties & Tales: Winners Double Up for Hayes Prizes Lancaster On-Line: Kornhauser's play wins by a big nose from the above article: Actor Geraint Wyn Davies relished his moments at the podium when he accepted his "Best Actor" award. He thanked Kahn, but said he was the director's "sixth or seventh choice" to play "Cyrano." "It worked out well," Davies said. As the 11-piece band started to play, the actor dashed back to the microphone. "And thank you to Barry Kornhauser for writing the script," Davies said.
From 'Lear' To 'Cyrano,' Just Following His Nose By Jane Horwitz Special to The Washington Post Tuesday, June 29, 2004; Page C05
Geraint Wyn Davies, sans nose, sans wig, sans sword, still cuts a fine figure. The Welsh-born actor plays the title role in "Cyrano" at the Shakespeare Theatre (where it runs through Aug. 1) and appears to be one of those renaissance types who can't be idle.
While playing the conniving Edmond to Christopher Plummer's Lear in New York, Wyn Davies was cajoled by the Shakespeare Theatre's Michael Kahn into replacing Stacy Keach (whose knee surgery hadn't healed fast enough) just days before the start of rehearsals in May.
It was a huge role to learn, but after a "Lear" performance, Plummer, Kevin Kline and Len Cariou gathered in Wyn Davies' dressing room and urged him to take the "Cyrano" challenge. "They all said, you're not really putting on the actor's hat if you don't do it," he recalls.
"You can be a bully, you can be a lover . . . it encompasses most of our strengths and indeed weaknesses . . . and it's funny. . . . I love the size of it," Wyn Davies says of the role and, one presumes, the nose.
Luckily, he adds, "I have the ability to ad-lib in rhyme." He says he joked to playwright-adaptor Barry Kornhauser that the program should credit "additional dialogue by Geraint Wyn Davies." It didn't hurt, either, that the 47-year-old actor spent nearly a decade in Canada's Stratford and Shaw festivals and studied fencing with a master.
In recent years, Wyn Davies, who lives in Santa Barbara, has done a lot of television and film. (The 1990s series "Forever Knight," in which he played a vampire cop, repeats on the Sci-Fi channel. He also directed many episodes.) He's married to an artist he met 21 years ago while playing the young, inarticulate Christian in another "Cyrano" and had to lobby his family to come to Washington this summer. His 16-year-old daughter has been working part time in the Shakespeare Theatre box office.
He can be blithe about the difficulty of playing Cyrano -- "Once you get the nose on, it points you in the right direction" -- but the role is hard work. Even in the notoriously over-air-conditioned Shakespeare Theatre, he wears a specially designed undershirt with ice packs in it. "I feel a bit like a salmon that's being sent down fresh to a restaurant," he says, laughing.
Kornhauser's dialogue brims with puns and jokes -- some deliberate groaners. "Barry's script is so clever," says Wyn Davies, "your job as an actor is to fill [in] the emotional journey. . . . We had to really pick and choose our moments to solidify the whole piece." The idea, he says, is "to get the fun of it, the souffle, [and] be careful not to poke it."
(c) 2004 The Washington Post Company
by Edmond Rostand Adapted by Barry Kornhauser
Reviewed by LESLIE MILK
Four stars
Geraint Wyn Davies as Cyrano, Gregory Wooddell as Christian and Claire Lautier as Roxane in Shakespeare Theatre's production of Cyrano.
Photo by Richard Termine.
Cyrano's story of unrequited love for his beautiful cousin Roxane has captivated audiences for more than a century. Barry Kornhauser's adaptation of the Rostand classic adds contemporary bite without losing the rhyme or rhythm of the original.
But the evening belongs not to the play, but to the player. Cyrano demands an actor with the presence and grace to carry off the ridiculous nose he carries. Geraint Wyn Davies does so with, to quote Cyrano himself, "panache." Wyn Davies is so splendid that he could set plastic surgery back for decades -- rhinoplasty would be unthinkable for such a man and such a nose.
Michael Kahn is a master at pulling out all the stops in classic drama. Swords flash, cannons roar, and ladies lark about in great style in this production. They form a perfect backdrop for a tour de force performance by Wyn Davies. He may not win Roxane, but he'll win your heart as he did mine.
Bravo, Cyrano!
June 2004
A professional company Five-play season 450-seat theater Performs Shakespeare & Other Classics Artistic Director Michael Kahn Dozens of Helen Hayes Awards Price range $16 - $66
Reviewed June 13 Running time 3:20 - one intermission t A Potomac Stages Pick for humor, romance and spectacle
If you know your Rostand well you will find unsuspected pleasures in Kornhauser's adaptation. He treats the original with respect but not with awe, taking liberties whenever they serve the piece. While most of us know the play through previous translations which used a blank verse, this version is in a highly rhymed verse of varying meter. While that means you can feel some of the rhymes coming a line or two away, Kornhouser hits you with enough unsuspected groaners - especially the outrageous puns - that you have to keep on your toes, especially during the famous flood of insults set to swordplay which opens the show. This is an adaptation with a specifically modern sound although still very much set in swashbuckling Paris. Kornhouser even mocks a certain reindeer hampered with a handicap similar to our hero who, of his nose, it is said here "if you ever saw it you'd even say it glows." When the story turns sweetly melancholy, Kornhouser drops some of the restrictive confines of rhyme to reflect more concentration on things of the heart than of the brain.
The Cyrano of this production is Geraint Wyn Davies of Wales who brings a fine flamboyance to the role. His Roxanne is a lovely Claire Lautier. Both are making their Shakespeare Theatre debuts. Shakespeare regulars provide standout supporting roles such as Andrew Long as the contemptuous Count good Cyrano bests in so many ways, David Sabin as a memorable pastry chef, Marty Lodge as Cyrano's fellow cadet, and Lawrence Redmond in dual roles as a man of the theatre and a man of the cloth.
Physically, this is a glorious production. James Noone's sets just seem to get better and better as the show progresses. His moon-lit garden for theater's second most famous balcony scene is lovely, his war-scarred battleground comes equipped with explosive special effects to match Martin Desjardin's cannon sounds, and the final visage of the convent at which Cyrano and Roxanne approach the sunset of their love includes falling leaves to catch Howell Binkley's warm lighting.
Written by Edmond Rostand. Adapted and translated by Barry Kornhauser. Directed by Michael Kahn. Fight Direction by David Leong. Design: James Noone (set) Robert Perdziola (costumes) Howell Binkley (lights) Adam Wernick (music) Martin Desjardins (sound) Richard Termine (photography) M. William Shiner (stage manager). Cast: Ryan Artzberger, Cecil Baldwin, Edward Boroevich, Christopher Browne, Allan Care, Edwina Findley, Catrina Ganey, Lucas Hall, Jeremy S. Holm, Claire Lautier, Marty Lodge, Andrew Long, Caleb Mayo, Lawrence Redmond, Paul Romero, Jefferson A. Russell, David Sabin, Bryan Safi, Timothy Sekk, Elizabeth Spinola, Fiana Toibin, Bradley Dean Whyte, Gregory Wooddell, Geraint Wyn Davies.
One of the most memorable, exquisite moments in post-classical theater is the bittersweet serenading of Roxane by her witty wordsmith cousin, Cyrano de Bergerac. The bright, round moon, the docile ingénue who feasts upon poetry from her balcony doors, the handsome young cadet reciting sumptuous professions of love borrowed from the eponymous hero in the shadows -- all factors portend that single profound, heart-wrenching monologue delivered in earnest by our tragic protagonist, one of the greatest literary poets and most formidable swordsmen in all of Paris. It's a beloved, lofty scene filled with great expectations.
And Michael Kahn's production of Cyrano does not disappoint.
On the contrary, it sweeps, it swells, it soars beyond the highest anticipations and never once does it sway from exhibiting everything that good theater should possess: a clever, sophisticated script brimming with hearty, poetic language, classic characters who at once define and defy stereotype, and a universal story that connects romance with reality, self-love with self-loathing.
Barry Kornhauser was first commissioned to adapt Cyrano in 2000 for the Fulton Opera House, and after a few minor revisions at Kahn's request, he has crafted a remarkable version of what is arguably one of the greatest romances of all time. Unlike other interpretations, this Cyrano retains Edmond Rostand's original ideas and rich dialogue. But Kornhauser employs daft English poetry coupled with luxuriously lyrical rhyming schemes that are also reminiscent of common, downtown street prose. Kornhauser's personal love of language is evident in his masterful writing and witty wordplay that features a mere dash of late twentieth-century jests (his Cyrano taunts a stout actor to "Make like the round moon you are and eclipse "), and the reward in his straightforward, linguistic approach to such a well-known text is one riveting adaptation that is not to be missed.
The true hero of the evening is Kahn. His Cyrano is a romantic, gorgeous evening that is almost too beautiful to articulate. Kahn's sprightly sense of humor is ubiquitously present, but it is his skillful, deliberate direction that evokes a rather heavy emotional investment for such a rollicking comedy. He is a brilliant maestro of the stage, carefully orchestrating lovely, aesthetically-moving scenes that demonstrate a cerebral appreciation for fine detail and grand symbolism.
Geraint Wyn Davies' Cyrano has all of the vivacity, the verve, indeed, the panache -- that makes our man of great punditry so loveable and distinctly human. Davies is perfectly sublime as the unlikely intellectual whose iconic nose has come to represent his indomitable pride, nobility, and internal humility. Davies' performance is thrilling as the honorable, adventurous lover who believes that enemies are a great cure for ennui. A stronger Cyrano we may never know.
Davies is joined by good company: Gregory Wooddell's Christian is a comely soldier full of sincere emotion and gratitude toward his erudite comrade, and although she is written with the potential to be a contemptible creature, Claire Lautier is a pleasant Roxane, the scholarly-smitten object of Cyrano's affection. David Sabin also provides plenty of his signature comedy as the "cake maker " Ragueneau, a fellow poet who runs the local pâtisserie.
Robert Perdziola's magnificent costumes are the perfect complement to James Noone's splendid set design, which runs the gamut from Ragueneau's quaint pastry shop to Roxane's peacock-colored provincial house to a sprawling French countryside.
Kornhauser's contemporary adaptation vividly displays all elements of fantastic theater: the swashbuckling superhero, the heartbreak of unrequited love, a tempestuous European war, powerful emotional drama, and authentic, truly fun comedy. But above all, it has panache.
By Barbara Greiling For the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger
The title character of "Cyrano" takes great pride in his panache, and The Shakespeare Theatre's adaptation of Edmond RostandÕs classic play displays panache -- in spades.
The tale of the French soldier-poet with the outsized nose has romance, bravery, self-sacrifice, dazzling swordplay and even more dazzling word play.
For this production, Director Michael Kahn has chosen a modern adaptation by Barry Kornhauser. This version, told in verse as was the original play, avoids a direct translation from the French. Instead, Kornhauser varies the rhythm and rhyme scheme, as he preserves the spirit of the play with lyrical love poems, witty repartee, clever puns and low humor.
Neither director nor adaptor shies away from broad comedy and downright delightful silliness. You have to love a production of a classic that has a haughty count demanding, "Call me a sedan chair," and the entire company responding in unison, "Sir, you are a sedan car."
Rostand wrote his "Cyrano de Bergerac" near the close of the 19th century, but set his story in the story in the 17th century. The result is a tale of the age of chivalry, complete with duels, battles and courtship, peopled with fully drawn characters whose motivations are easily recognized by audiences.
It provides the opportunity for lush, lace-bedecked costumes and opulent sets (all thanks to designer James Noone) as well as the opportunity for first-class characterizations by a talented cast.
Geraint Wyn Davies makes a superb Cyrano, showing the audience a man whose skill with a sword is matched only by his way with words and whose brio is matched only by his sensitivity and generosity. In the opening scene, we see him overcome an opponent in duel as he simultaneously composes a "ballade"; prevent a bombastic actor from boring an audience, paying off the rest of the cast from his own funds; and finally rush off to take on a force of a hundred in defense of a friend.
Claire Lautier gives an intelligent and graceful performance as Roxanne, a woman blessed with beauty, brains and eloquence and who wants the same qualities in a suitor. Christian de Neuvillette, (Gregory Woodell) a gallant and handsome newcomer to the guards, catches her eye and she enlists her devoted cousin Cyrano to act as his protector.
Christian, who can hold his own in the give-and-take of barracks wit, finds himself tongue-tied in the presence of a beautiful woman. To make Roxanne happy, Cyrano agrees to help Christian woo her, penning Christian's letters to Roxanne.
The scheme has its shortcomings, however. Christian can't match the eloquence of those letters when he converses with his lady love. Indeed, Roxanne's ardor cools visibly as Christian stammers and searches for words.
This leads to the famous balcony scene in which Cyrano first prompts Christian from the shrubbery, and when that proves problematic, poses as Christian under the cover of darkness to pour out his true feelings to Roxanne. Wyn Davies delivers this beautiful speech with such subtlety and sensitivity that Cyrano's pride and pain are palpable when his words win a kiss from Roxanne -- for his rival.
Roxanne is also pursued by the duplicitous, and married, Count de Guiche (the always excellent Andrew Long), who is above neither trying to arrange a sham marriage between Roxanne and one of his flunkeys not ensuring that her beloved Christian and her faithful cousin bear the brunt of a battle with the Spanish.
David Sabin shows his usual flair for comedy as Ragueneau, a baker plagued by an unfaithful wife and by the many enemies that his penchant for satiric verse earns him. Marty Lodge also turns in a fine performance as Cyrano's friend and comrade in arms, Le Bret.
This play, which Rostand described as a "tragic comedy," is both beautifully moving and highly entertaining. A production that evokes heartfelt sympathy with its hero's noble sacrifice and hilarity with its comic touches and witty dialogue is impossible to resist. At more than three hours, this is a lengthy performance, but as you pay rapt attention, unwilling to miss a single wonderful word, you'll find it's over too soon.
Cast soars in 'Cyrano' By Jayne Blanchard Published June 18, 2004
Not much has changed since 1897, when Edmond Rostand wrote "Cyrano de Bergerac," the classic romantic play that posed the prickly question "Do only the beautiful deserve love?"
Then, as now in this time of "The Swan" and "Extreme Makeover," the answer sadly appears to be "yes."
That's the belief of Cyrano (Geraint Wyn Davies), the witty, heroic defender of great swordplay and wordplay who also happens to have a prominent nose. His homeliness goads him to outfight and outthink everyone he meets in an effort to overcome what he considers an obscene deformity. Tragically, Cyrano also believes that his too-prominent profile makes him a romantic pariah, undeserving of love from a beautiful woman, his cousin Roxane (Claire Lautier).
In matters of the heart, he banishes himself to the sidelines, ever the yearning swain.
His perceived handicap is so great in his mind that Cyrano goes one step further in self-denial. When Roxane confesses that she is in love with the comely Christian de Neuvillette (Gregory Wooddell), Cyrano pledges to protect him from harm. Cyrano also agrees to help Christian woo Roxane using the one asset he lacks -- the ability to seduce with silken language.
This is expressed in the famous scene where Roxane melts as Cyrano, pretending to be Christian, stands in the freeing darkness beneath her balcony and confesses his feelings in torrents of language that pelt her like kisses -- a scene that Mr. Wyn Davies carries off with tenderness and panache.
Ironically, Mr. Wyn Davies exudes such dash and nobility as Cyrano that after the first five minutes you find yourself thinking "Nose, what nose?" His swoon-worthy, star-making turn in the title role -- it could make you swear off pretty boys like Brad Pitt forever -- is just one of the surprises and delights of the Shakespeare Theatre's boisterous production, directed with goose-feather silliness and high spirits by artistic director Michael Kahn.
It's as if someone pumped nitrous oxide into the theater, so giggly and woozy are the goings-on. Much of this can be attributed to Barry Kornhauser's free new English adaptation, a crazy-quilt of rhyme schemes ranging from Alexandrines (Mr. Rostand's original choice) and iambic pentameter all the way to couplets and internal rhymes. In its barefaced slinging of puns, the loopy result owes as much to Warner Bros. cartoons and borscht belt comedians as it does to Shakespeare and Moliere.
Any play that contains the stanzas "What of Roxane? How pleasantly would it surprise her/ come the morning, to find you here as fertilizer?" cannot be all bad.
Thanks to Mr. Wyn Davies' elegant and kind performance and contributions by an outstanding cast, "Cyrano" is not empty yuks. It is an intensely moving treatise on not only the alchemic powers of love, but also the beauty found in sacrifice. Cyrano's already poignant devotion to Roxane is further heightened by his willingness to love without personal gain, to sacrifice. That this nobility is mixed up with loathing makes Cyrano all the more human and compelling.
"Cyrano" is a play fueled by love, hate, and language, and you need a cast who can pull off both the passion and the linguistic demands of the script. Mr. Kahn has outdone himself with this cast comprised of newcomers and Shakespeare Theatre veterans. Marty Lodge is both compassionate and laconic as Cyrano's mother-hen friend Le Bret, while Mr. Long is the picture of preening noblesse oblige as de Guiche. As Ragueneau, David Sabin exudes warmth and gusto as a man with epicurean tastes in French pastry and satiric songwriting.
Miss Lautier makes a lovely Roxane, one whose attractiveness is elevated by her appreciation for a fine turn of phrase. Her beauty deepens as her love for Christian grows from falling for his outward appearance to cherishing his soul -- a turn that is everything Cyrano wished for, if only he were the object of her devotion.
In the end, "Cyrano" is a play about love. Romantic love, love of country, of honor, of duty all figure prominently in Rostand's wry tale of a swashbuckling hero who wears his flaw like a shield that repels what he wants most. And that is love -- a love bigger than his nose, his twisted ego, his heart.
****
WHAT: "Cyrano" by Edmond Rostand, new adaptation by Barry Kornhauser WHERE: The Shakespeare Theatre, 450 7th St. NW WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Through Aug. 1. TICKETS: $16 to $66 PHONE: 202/547-1122 MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
Cyrano By Edmond Rostand Adapted by Barry Kornhauser Directed by Michael Kahn At the Lansburgh Theatre to Aug. 1
Panache is the quality Cyrano de Bergerac celebrates, in himself and in others, and panache the Shakespeare Theatre's winning new staging of his story has -- and to spare. But style is hardly everything to Edmond Rostand's warrior poet, and happily the production at the Lansburgh has enough substance to do him justice.
Start with Barry Kornhauser's translation, a lively, funny adaptation that mimics the slightly old-fashioned verse rhythms of the original but incorporates more than enough irony to feel fresh and contemporary. Low humor is on offer as often as lofty: Right off the bat, Kornhauser and director Michael Kahn serve up an entertainingly ribald scene at a Paris theater, complete with a polysexual impresario, a ludicrous fashion-victim aristocrat, a musketeer on the make, and a perfect groaner of a reindeer joke to set up the entrance of the play's famously big-nosed hero. The same sequence gets capped with a pointed audience aside that might have been scripted by a PBS fundraiser, and in the scene that follows, the entrance of a journalist provides the opening for a bit of equal-opportunity ill will toward both meteorologists and drama critics. This may be Richelieu's Paris, but Bruce Vilanch writes the one-liners at the Moulin Rouge.
But Kornhauser never muffles the play's lyricism or tries to hide its generous heart. In that first scene, Cyrano's celebrated self-deprecatory riff on the ridiculous size of his snout has the effortless classicism of the genuinely well-read. Later, once the love-triangle plot has been established, the comedy takes a back seat, and the hero's encounters with the lovely Roxane carry a genuine tenderness. (Refresher course: Cyrano, the smart one, secretly loves Roxane, but she's crushing on Christian, the pretty one, who begs Cyrano for help with the love letters that seal the deal.) And the play's triumphant moment -- that cruel, comical balcony scene in which Cyrano courts Roxane from the shadows, only to have Christian climb the trellis to collect the kiss -- masterfully balances the laughter with the ache.
That all this plays so well at the Lansburgh is doubtless due as much to the staging as to the script. Geraint Wyn Davies' Cyrano, so confident and so self-conscious and so stubbornly devoted to his otherness, demonstrates an effortless command of both language and feeling, providing a solid anchor for a production of substantial proportions and considerable grace. James Noone's sets and Noone and Robert Perdziola's costumes are lavish and lovely, and whoever conjured up the spread of goodies in Ragueneau's pastry shop deserves special mention. And Michael Kahn directs with a touch as light as the rhythms of Rostand;s verse; this Cyrano can be sweet, yes, but it's never once saccharine. It deploys its dramaturgical arsenal with as much finesse as its hero employs his sword.
Gregory Wooddell's Christian exhibits plenty of charm, though not the depth of character that might make audiences weep for him when he meets the sad end Rostand dictates. And Claire Lautier's Roxane likewise has only the beauty and the smarts, not the soulful qualities, that her suitors rhapsodize about; she's delicious in the early going and a delight in the balcony scene, but it's hard, once the courting is accomplished and she's engineered her hasty marriage to Christian, to understand what makes everyone idealize her so.
As the predatory Comte de Guiche, though -- the dangerously well-connected nobleman whose designs on Roxane provide the external plot hurdle to balance the internal impediment of Cyrano's self-consciousness -- Andrew Long does a fine piece of actorly tightrope-walking. He's neither too villainous nor too sympathetic, just an arrogant man of privilege who learns, late enough to be sorry about it, what unselfish honor can look and feel like.
It's true that Kornhauser takes his time wrapping things up, and that Kahn allows the lovely autumnal mood of the final scene to expand into a kind of suspended-in-amber moment that saps the conclusion of some of its pathos. Still, this is a generous, bighearted show, and it reminds us, in a time when politics seems more than ever an exercise in presenting a face acceptable to the prejudices of the many, that genuine heroes can make us love them for who they really are -- no matter how singular the sculpture of their profiles.
Copyright © 2004 Washington Free Weekly Inc.
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun
He's a winner--by a nose By Jane Holahan Lancaster New Era
Published: Jun 23, 2004 1:26 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - When Barry Kornhauser heard that the prestigious Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D. C. , was doing a production of Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," he hunted for a copy of the play he had adapted for the Fulton Opera House almost four years ago. "The only one I could find was beat up and it was in this bright pink folder," Kornhauser, the Fulton''s playwright-in-residence, remembers. "I didn't have anything to lose so I sent it. I didn't even expect (the director) to read it."
Well, that director, theater legend Michael Kahn, who's directed a who's-who of actors in a number of famous productions on Broadway and off, not only read it. He loved it. And last week, Kornhauser's funny and moving adaptation of the classic story of unrequited love and one very big nose, opened at the Shakespeare Theatre.
"I asked him why he even read it and he told me it was because it came in this pink folder," Kornhauser, 51, recalls with a laugh.
Not that a bright pink cover will get you anywhere without a brilliant script inside. In notes to the audience, Kahn, who is the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre, wrote, "(The adaptation) was very smart in its use of long lines and short lines and internal rhymes. It was tremendously literate, tremendously clever and yet maintained all the poetry and romance of Rostand's original."
"I didn't know anything about Barry," Kahn said during an interview from his office, a few days after receiving excellent reviews for the show from Washington critics. "But I laughed as I read it. It's very clever, it has a lovely sense of wit and play. Barry is a very clever and witty guy."
Local audiences have known that for years. Kornhauser, of Lancaster Township, estimates he's written about 20 plays and adaptations and most have had their premiere at the Fulton, where heÕs been working since 1981.
When artistic director Michael D. Mitchell came to the Fulton in 1999, he and Kornhauser agreed that "Cyrano" was one of their favorite plays and he asked Kornhauser to write an adaptation from the original French.
Kornhauser created a play in rhyming couplets thatÕs filled with clever jokes and great emotional resonance. He mentions Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in one line and elicits tears in the next.
"Someone from the French embassy told me he thought it was as close an adaptation to Rostand's original as he'd ever seen," Kahn says. "I'm not sure if that's true, but that's the strength of this adaptation - it makes people think it is."
Kahn says he would definitely like to work with Kornhauser again.
"He was lovely to work with," Kahn says. "We made some changes and it was easy for him. Some of the changes were pretty incredible."
For Kornhauser, getting to work with Kahn has been a dream. He was the person who first got Kornhauser interested in the theater back when he was a kid in New Jersey.
"I didn't like the theater. Actually, I'd seen a lot of not very good theater and when our class would go see a play, we'd take bets on how quickly we could disrupt the production. We were horrible," he remembers. "Willy Loman came on our bus to yell at us once (after a production of "Death of a Salesman"). Then Ruth McCalmont, our English teacher, took as to see a Shakespeare production and it was a history play. We thought she was crazy. Nobody took us anywhere, we were so bad."
That production was "Henry V" at the Stratford in Stratford, Conn. , starring Len Cariou, and it changed Kornhauser's life.
"It blew me away. It was subversive. It was the first play that opened my eyes to the possibilities of theater," Kornhauser says. "I had to see who was responsible for it and it was Michael Kahn."
Kornhauser, dressed in a dark suit and his ever-present Chuck Taylor sneakers, told an audience that story during a reception at the opening night of "Cyrano."
Among those attending was Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ambassadors from France and Greece, and a couple who had just donated $50 million to the Shakespeare Theatre. That's right, $50 million.
The evening was so ritzy, even Kornhauser's family couldn't get tickets. They went to a press preview the night before.
But Kornhauser got the chance to meet - and network with - Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, who talked to Kornhauser about a pilot program the Fulton is participating in with its Youththeatre program, which Kornhauser runs.
"He loved the play and said it was the best thing the theater did this year," says Kornhauser. The Washington critics liked the show a lot, too.
The Washington Post said, "A frothy "Cyrano" has taken up residence at Shakespeare Theatre, invigorated by a crafty star performance by Geraint Wyn Davies and the irreverence of a zinger-packed adaptation that displays as much affinity for the wit and wisdom of Milton Berle as for that of Edmond Rostand."
The Washingtonian said, "Barry Kornhauser's adaptation of the Rostand classic adds contemporary bite without losing the rhyme or the rhythm of the original."
There's been so much buzz, National Public Radio host Robert Seigel is planning to interview Kornhauser on the afternoon news show "All Things Considered."
Wyn Davies, who is Welsh, was not the original actor cast as Cyrano.
"They usually like to have a celebrity do the final show of the season," Kornhauser explained. Michael had originally hoped to get Mandy Patinkin or Kevin Kline and then Stacy Keach was cast.
Keach, who was very excited about doing the role, called Kornhauser and the two hit it off. But then Keach got sick and had to back out of the production just a week before rehearsals were to begin.
Kornhauser was profoundly disappointed until he met Wyn Davies, who had just finished up a run as Edmund in "King Lear" with Christopher Plummer on Broadway and was planning to go home to California for some rest. Then he read the play and knew he had to do it. Kornhauser had been partial to Kim Bennett's performance in the Fulton production, but he found Wyn Davies to be great to work with and his reviews have been incredibly good. "Geraint was as nice as Kim was and his performance was wonderful," Kornhauser says. "It ended up being a gift."
Kornhauser is contemplating his next adaptation for the theater and is thinking about "Candide." "Since I worked from the original French with "Cyrano," I am now their French expert," Kornhauser says with a laugh.
Winner by a Nose Although Shakespeare's Adaptation Flawed, Acting Superb by Lisa Troshinsky
Every one loves to love Cyrano de Bergerac. He says things we wouldn't dare, fights duels on a whim for what's right, loves passionately with all his heart and soul, and acts as though he has nothing to lose. But that is also because he feels he has nothing to gain.
"We want to be him, and he is what we hope we are not," said Jef Hall-Flavin, assistant director for "Cyrano," currently at the Shakespeare Theatre. "This is a play about love," Hall-Flavin added. "People believe what they want to believe when it comes to love. People invent their own relationships."
French playwright Edmond Rostand turned away from naturalistic 17th-century French theater to create this classic tale centered on the comedic, highly romantic, bittersweet character who loves to the death but is too insecure to go for the girl.
It's the scenario everyone is familiar with: Boy meets girl. Boy has extremely large nose. Boy falls in love with girl but can't tell her. Boy persuades other attractive boy to woo girl with first boy's eloquent words, as the next best thing to being with girl. Boy spends rest of his days in agony knowing girl loves attractive boy for the wrong reasons.
Cyrano is an anti-hero only in that his nose is too large of a hurdle for him to overcome.
For the most part, the love affair audiences have had with Cyrano throughout the ages is nurtured by the Shakespeare Theatre's production. It's a fun, raucous celebration of classical theater in step with the company's other productions this season-but with more wigs, more capes, more swashbuckling and more musketeers.
But where the production falls down a bit is with the choice of adaptations from the original French script. Although director Michael Kahn shows originality in choosing Barry Kornhauser's play written in English verse, the adaptation tries to copy the rhyming format of Rostand's 1897 French original and this quickly becomes overkill. Kornhauser's script is enjoyable and inventive at first, but somewhere after cutesy rhyme No. 230 in the first scene, when Cyrano uses every pun and word that rhymes with "nose" to poke fun of himself, one grows a bit weary of the device. (Most adaptations of "Cyrano" are in blank verse, which means the poetry doesn't rhyme, since more words rhyme in French than in English.)
But to make up for it, Geraint Wyn Davies, who makes his Shakespeare Theatre debut as Cyrano, pulls it off with flying colors. Born in Wales with extensive theater experience in London and Canada, Wyn Davies as Cyrano has the energy of a Robin Williams of the 1600s-the frenzied good guy, not great looking, with humbling tendencies and a sword. He has incredible ease and poise on stage and the ability to play slapstick comedy one minute and tear-jerking anguish the next-without a wrinkle.
Wyn Davies's talent matches Cyrano's larger-than-life nose and personality. The other actors-although played sufficiently by a talented and seasoned crew, including Claire Lautier as Roxane, Gregory Wooddell as Christian, and David Sabin as Ragueneau-are mere planets surrounding Cyrano's star. The script doesn't really allow for the others to shine as bright.
Another flaw with the play, not the production, is that it is anti-climatic. One feels the most emotion at the end of Act I (the infamous balcony scene where Roxane is wooed by Cyrano, thinking it is Christian). The rest of the play falls flat until the lackluster conclusion when a dying Cyrano, 14 years later, finally reveals his secret to Roxane in a convent. Roxane reacts not with the expected incredible shock to learn the truth, but with watered-down surprise.
Robert Perdziola's costumes and James Noone's set are voluptuous, large in scale, and complete with scenery rolling on turntables. A stage-within-a-stage with velvet curtains and ceiling-to-floor candle chandeliers is replaced by a detailed, pastel patisserie, which in turn is replaced by a floral-covered French balcony, and so on. Meanwhile, the characters' garment ensembles don't miss a beat, with the boots, belts, capes, wigs, hats, billowy shirts and period dresses all serving as a feast for the eyes.
In the end, although seemingly over the top in most aspects, audiences will suspend their disbelief for this play because the tall tale of Cyrano so resembles the reality of love's many faces.
"Cyrano" runs through Aug. 1 at the Shakespeare Theatre, 450 7th St., NW. Tickets are $16 to $66. For more information, please call (202) 547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.
Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.
Exceptional 'Cyrano' a must-see Solid acting, exceptional production values make The Shakespeare Theatre's production of 'Cyrano de Bergerac' a must-see.
By LUCIA ANDERSON Date published: 7/1/2004
WASHINGTON-- A near-perfect production of a near-perfect play is an occasion to celebrate.
The Shakespeare Theatre provides such an occasion with its season-ending offering of "Cyrano de Bergerac."
Edmond Rostand called his most famous work "an heroic comedy," and it's true that there is plenty of heroism and plenty of comedy contained therein. But there's more than a tinge of sadness to this tale of a valiant iconoclast who believed no one could love him because he was so ugly.
Cursed with a truly monumental nose, Cyrano was too shy to declare his love for the exquisite Roxane. Instead, he volunteered his considerable verbal talents to aid the suit of the tongue-tied Christian, the man whose beauty had already attracted Roxane's attention.
The course of true love never does run smooth, and there are plenty of tears by the play's end.
Rostand was a clever writer, creating engaging characters and sparkling, witty dialogue.
Director Michael Kahn has chosen to use an English adaptation by Barry Kornhauser, and this provides the only sandpaper in the whole production. Rostand wrote in verse, and Kornhauser has faithfully rhymed his English version, unfortunately creating a kind of doggerel in the process.
He also has inserted several anachronistic jokes with allusions to present-day television ad tags and the like. While amusing, the anachronisms jar in this play set in the 1600s.
Aside from those minor quibbles, there is nothing to dislike about this production.
Geraint Wyn Davies is brilliant as the swashbuckling Cyrano. He is equally adept at showing us Cyrano's devil-may-care attitude toward society's rules and his deep-seated anguish over his hidden love for Roxane.
Wyn Davies is ably supported by Claire Lautier as Roxane and Gregory Wooddell as Christian. Lautier has the requisite beauty for the part and, although a tad soft-spoken, is well up to the acting demands of the role. Wooddell also is attractive and brings a great deal of charm to the role of Roxane's incoherent lover.
David Sabin turns in a fine comic performance as Ragueneau, the poetic baker; Andrew Long shines as the sneaky Comte de Guiche; and Lawrence Redmond sparkles as the impresario, Bellerose.
Not only has Kahn been blessed with a great cast, James Noone deserves an award for his marvelous sets. There are five acts in Cyrano, each taking place in a different location, but Noone's scenery swivels and slides with a minimum of time and effort to create the perfect effect for each. Other theaters in town could take note.
Robert Perdziola also has outdone himself with costumes. The 17th century offers a lot of scope for a costume designer, what with plumed hats and lace ruffles, and Perdziola has taken advantage of every bit of it.
Howell Binkley's lighting design and Adam Wernick's original music add to the fun.
"Cyrano de Bergerac" is a long-standing favorite, both lighthearted and deeply affecting if played right. The Shakespeare Theatre has done a great job of bringing it to life. This is one not to be missed.
To reach LUCIA ANDERSON: 540/374-5405 landerson@freelancestar.com