Review: TAM Opens Season with CYRANO DE BERGERAC

The Theater at Monmouth kicked off its ambitiously programmed 2016 summer season, Vive La France, with one of the timeless treasures of French theatre, Cyrano de Bergerac. Presented in a severely abridged seventy-five minute adaptation by Jo Roets, the Edmund Rostand play made its impact largely through the artful staging and charismatic performance of its three-person cast.

Rostand's original five-act verse drama is animated by epic characters and events and is as much a portrait of the swashbuckling 17th century as it is of the three poetic characters who form its romantic core. Roets adaptation focuses on the love story and while it does capture the essence of this anguished triangle and the poetry of Cyrano's soul, it miniaturizes the context and the epic sweep of the original. While the practical reasons for this retooling are completely understandable, the end result feels like a reduction rather than a potent distillation. A great deal of the verbal humor and poetry are gone, and the sense of years of longing is minimized, though Roets' translation maintains the rhymes, albeit with a more modern metric.

What keeps the audience's attention and engagement is the expansive, embracing performance of Christopher Holt in the title role. Holt gives a fine vocal performance, making music of the text and shading each line with the full array of nuances necessary. He captures perfectly the poet's self-deprecating wit which masks a painful vulnerability, and he wears his bravado as armor against the world's insults. Only with Roxanne and only under the guise of another man, does he pour out the torrents of his unrequited affection. Holt's death scene has a quiet intensity and acceptance that makes it all the more touching.

Tim Kopacz is tasked with playing three diverse characters: the self-satisfied, straightforward, unimaginative Christian; the pompous vengeful De Guiche; and LeBret, one of Cyrano's comrades who here often serves the function of linking episodes in the narrative. The actor acquits himself nicely, limning each with sufficient contrast and endowing Christian with a boyish charm that explains Roxanne's attraction. Marjolaine Whittlesey makes a lovely, strong-willed, worldly-wise Roxanne, though she misses a little of the original character's coquetterie and literary pretensions, which Rostand based on the 17th century précieuses - the salon ladies who made a religion of verbal wit and elegance of expression.

Tess Van Horn directs deftly, keeping the pace swift and the emotion real. Meg Anderson, with assistance from lighting designer Jim Alexander, provides the attractive unit set that, as always, utilizes the baroque house and balconies to augment the playing area. Michelle Handley designs the attractive period costumes, while Rew Tippin supplies a subtle underscoring sound design that includes some string accompaniment, as well as birdsong or cannon fire to evoke the changing locales and moods. The swordplay is staged with lively élan by Leighton Samuels.

This abbreviated Cyrano, for all its individual attractions, strikes one as an odd choice for the opening of TAM's season. One cannot help but be left wanting more from the marvelous cast, quite clearly capable of performing the original play. That said, TAM must be congratulated for programming a fascinating lineup of Shakespeare plays (Love's Labor Lost, Henry V) and French classics by Corneille, (The Illusion) Beaumarchais (Barber of Seville) and even Charles Perrault (the children's offering of Puss in Boots), and trust their audience can look forward to an interesting journey into these often neglected works.

Photos courtesy of TAM

Cyrano de Bergerac runs in repertory with throughout TAM's season June 25-August 21 at Cumston Hall, 936 Main Street, Monmouth ME. 207-933-9999 www.theateratmonmouth.org