Interview: Michael Braun on Finding the Heart—and Humor—in CYRANO at The Old Globe

Some theatrical characters are so deeply embedded in our cultural imagination that audiences arrive already knowing something about them. Cyrano de Bergerac is certainly one of those: the brilliant poet, dazzling swordsman and hopeless romantic whose wit can fill a room, even as his insecurity about his appearance keeps him from believing he can be loved. In The Old Globe’s exuberant new adaptation "Cyrano" by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers, directed by Annie Tippe, Michael Braun takes on the iconic title role with equal measures of swagger, vulnerability, and humor.

The story follows Cyrano, who has secretly loved Roxane all his life. When she falls for Christian, a handsome young soldier who lacks Cyrano’s gift with words, Cyrano agrees to supply the poetry and passion that will help his rival win her heart. In this fast-moving adaptation, comedy, romance and heartbreak collide in a production that compresses the classic story into a whirlwind of theatrical energy.

For Braun, his first encounter with Cyrano came not through Rostand’s play, but through the 1987 film Roxanne, starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.

“I loved that movie so much as a youngster,” Braun says. “It holds up so well. It’s so charming and beautiful.” Before coming to San Diego, Braun revisited the film, then spent the three months before rehearsals reading numerous translations and adaptations of Cyrano de Bergerac. 

What struck him was just how many different lives the story has had—and continues to have. “The number of them kind of really blew me away,” he says, noting the many translations and contemporary adaptations, including a recent version performed by James McAvoy in London and at BAM.

“Cyrano keeps having these lives,” Braun says. “It’s not a lot of plays that fall in that category.”

That ability to reinvent the story, he believes, comes from the complexity at its center. Audiences may think they know the basic outline—the nose, the sword, the poetry and the complicated scheme between Cyrano and Christian—but spending time with the characters reveals something much richer.

“There is no villain in this story,” he says. “There are people who appear to maybe be the villain, but ultimately they’re all trying to do what they perceive to be the right thing.” Every character has an arc, he notes, and some version of redemption. “It’s complicated the way life is.”

That complexity has to move at remarkable speed in The Old Globe production. While Rostand’s original can run more than three hours, this adaptation covers essentially the same story in roughly 90 minutes.

Braun credits director Annie Tippe with helping the cast find the right rhythm. “She has such an incredible eye for comedy, first of all, but also just momentum,” he says. Rather than focusing on speed, the company focused on the “velocity” of different sections of the story.

Braun compares it to forcing the same amount of water through a garden hose with a smaller opening. “That changes the velocity of the story,” he says. “And that’s what Annie has a really great sense of. So it sort of felt organic to end up in this whirlwind of activity.”

That creates the breathless quality of the production, but it also requires tremendous precision from the actors. The choreography, language and physical comedy all have to coexist without making the story feel rushed.

And then there is the swordplay.

The sword fights are not simply spectacle; they are another element of the storytelling, layered on top of the verbal dexterity and emotional shifts. Braun says the entire production ultimately became a matter of finding the right rhythm among all those elements.

The physical space presented its own discoveries. In the rehearsal room, the company had mapped out the set with tape on the floor. But once they moved into the actual theatre, the geography changed, andso did the layers of complexity to the performance.

“You get into the theater, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, these stairs go up,’” Braun says. “They’re not just rectangles taped out on the floor.”

One of the production’s most striking moments, however, is remarkably quiet. Before the story begins, Cyrano paints the distinctive silver mark on his nose. The image immediately establishes something essential about the character: beneath the confidence, jokes, and bravado is someone carrying a deep insecurity.

The moment has stood out to audiences, and Braun is pleased that it resonates.

“The prologue is an interesting, non-linear departure from the story,” he says. “I’m so glad it lands in a way that’s useful in the storytelling and affecting.”

The nose itself evolved during the rehearsal process. In the script, it was initially represented by a strip of black tape. “We tried that first,” Braun says, “and it kind of just looked like some sort of medical situation.”

Eventually settled on silver paint. “It felt maybe a little abstract,” Braun says. It is abstract enough to belong to the production’s heightened theatrical world, while still giving audiences a visual reminder of the insecurity that shapes Cyrano’s choices.

And then comes the final act, when the frenetic comedy gives way to stillness and profound emotion. Braun says that taking audiences through this emotional transformation has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the production.

“It’s really special,” he says. “I don’t know that I’ve ever done a show, certainly a show that is this compact, that brings, hopefully, a bunch of audience members on that big a journey.”

The San Diego audiences, he adds, have made that journey particularly meaningful. “They’re just so open and willing to go on the ride.”

For Braun, the final act is almost a release after the velocity of everything that comes before. “Once we get there, I feel like I can relax,” he says. “There’s something about the story that just naturally and very organically transpires.” After the breakneck pace of the first half, the audience has, hopefully, earned the stillness.

“I’m so happy that people are having an experience and laughing and crying,” Braun says. “It’s just such a privilege to do this show.”

That sense of privilege extends beyond the production itself. This is Braun’s first time working in San Diego and at The Old Globe, and he has quickly become an admirer of its theatre community.

“It’s been dreamy being here,” he says. “This is the first time I’ve worked in San Diego.”

He has been particularly struck by the warmth of the audiences and the sense of community surrounding the theatre. “Your guys’ audiences are wonderful,” he says. “You have a thriving theater community here.”

For an actor stepping into one of theatre’s most enduring romantic heroes, perhaps there is no better place to discover a new life for Cyrano than a community eager to take the journey with him.

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