Last performed in 2004
Smart Guide
| Program
|
Photo Gallery
Synopsis
Act I: The Hotel of Bourgogne, 1640
The theater portion of the hotel is a favorite place to see and be seen for all levels of Paris society. But unexpected drama unfolds on this particular afternoon. Cyrano interrupts the painfully inferior presentation and rids the stage of Montfleury’s “figure of a mortuary urn. ” Cyrano hates Montfleury for his histrionics, but even more because he has cast his eye upon Madeleine Robin, called Roxane, whom Cyrano secretly loves. Cyrano boldly brandishes both his brilliant wit and his flashing sword, but he considers himself utterly unworthy of Roxane due to his ugliness—a nose that he says “marches on before me by a quarter of an hour.” Roxane herself is strongly attracted to Christian de Neuvillette, a new recruit to the Cadets of Gascogne, the military unit in which Cyrano is a key member. In contrast, both to Cyrano in his pure love for Roxane and to Christian in his romantic yearnings toward her, is the debauched Antoine DeGuiche. Rich and powerful and already married, DeGuiche plans to capture Roxane for himself by marrying her to his foppish friend Valvert. Cyrano vanquishes the latter, embroidering his brilliant swordplay with poetry. Hope suddenly takes root in Cyrano’s heart when Roxane’s duenna comes to ask for a meeting early the next morning; Roxane has “certain things” to tell him.
Act II: Ragueneau’s Pastry Shop
Ragueneau is bound by necessity to pastry—but he yearns to produce poetry. His wife Lise scorns his impracticality and finds the shop’s masculine patrons attractive. Cyrano comes to the shop for the meeting with Roxane, and while he awaits her arrival he composes his first love letter to her. He cherishes the hope that Roxane may return some spark of the great flame of love burning in his heart. Roxane has indeed set their meeting for the purpose of confessing her love—her love for Christian. Cyrano’s heart breaks with disappointment. Nevertheless, the stature of his integrity and the depth of his adoration make him agree to her plea that he protect Christian from bullying by the Cadets. After Roxane’s departure the Cadets and others who have heard of last night’s dashing rescue of the poet Ligniere pour into the pastry shop and insist that Cyrano describe his exploits. DeGuiche arrives to offer Cyrano patronage by his uncle, Cardinal Richelieu. Cyrano refuses; he will not become a writer who sells his talent. By scorning the pomp and power so important to DeGuiche, Cyrano earns the Count’s deep resentment. DeGuiche storms out, and the Cadets again urge Cyrano to tell of his battle against one hundred men. The story becomes immediate, live drama as Christian brazenly interjects the forbidden word “nose” throughout the telling. Kept from his characteristic response to the offense by his promise to Roxane, Cyrano not only tolerates the challenge but also privately proposes that he and Christian become “one hero of romance”—Christian the handsome but verbally inexpressive outer man, and Cyrano the eloquent soul—to win the intellectual Roxane.
Act III: The garden of Roxane’s house
Cyrano takes secret delight in hearing Roxane rhapsodize about Christian’s marvelous written expressions of love. But the evening’s calm shatters when DeGuiche comes to tell Roxane that he has received a military commission: leadership of several units, including the Cadets. They are to attack Arras. In order to keep Christian’s unit in Paris and to prevent DeGuiche’s planned assignation with her, Roxane persuades him to leave the Cadets behind while he himself leads the other troops into battle. Christian appears after DeGuiche’s departure, determined to speak personally of his love to Roxane. When his attempt proves a dismal failure, Cyrano agrees to prompt him in his wooing. But the puppetry-like operation under the balcony is difficult, and the two men soon trade places. Cloaked in darkness, Cyrano sends his passion upward on gossamer-winged words to that one he considers so far above him. Wholly won by the eloquence, Roxane pledges herself to Christian, who climbs to the balcony for a kiss to seal the pledge. A monk comes to the garden bearing a letter to Roxane from DeGuiche. He has reneged on his agreement to lead the military campaign; instead he is hiding in a nearby monastery and will soon come to claim her. Terrified, Roxane uses her wits to adjust DeGuiche’s message, turning it into a command for the monk to marry her and Christian. While the wedding is taking place in the house, Cyrano detains DeGuiche with an impromptu madcap performance. DeGuiche is furious when he finds how totally he has been foiled, and he presents the orders for the Cadets to report immediately for battle. As they leave, Roxane begs Cyrano to have Christian write to her every day.
Act IV: The Cadets’ barricaded encampment
Cyrano has daily risked his life to carry the promised love letters through enemy lines. When Christian discovers the amazing frequency of the letters, he begins to suspect the motivation behind the feat. DeGuiche tries to gain the Cadets’ acceptance by relating an incident in which he escaped death by sacrificing his officer’s sash. Cyrano, however, says that had he been there, he would have picked up the sash and faced the enemy. DeGuiche is mortified when Cyrano proves his challenge by producing the discarded sash. DeGuiche uses it as a means of retaliation against the Cadets. He has learned that reinforcements are on their way; but one of the French positions must provide delaying action against the Spanish until help arrives. He waves the sash to signal that that Cadets’ encampment should be the focus of attack. Suddenly a coach appears in the camp: Roxane has braved the dangers of the battlefield to come to Christian, drawn by the beautiful letters. She brings with her not only much-needed food for the besieged encampment but also the Cadets’ beloved Ragueneau. As Roxane tells Christian of her captivation by the great love expressed in the daily letters and that she now loves not the handsome exterior but the beautiful soul of the writer, Christian realizes that Cyrano actually is the one beloved. He goes to take part in the battle after demanding that Roxane be told the truth, allowing her to choose between the two men who love her. Just as Cyrano is about to make that confession, however, soldiers bring in the first man to be wounded—Christian. His death binds Cyrano to silence.
Act V: A convent garden, 1655
As Christian’s widow, Roxane has chosen to live in the convent’s seclusion. She remains in mourning, cherishing his last letter. Cyrano’s selfless love has brought him to visit Roxane weekly through all the intervening years. He brings her news of the world outside the convent walls, entertaining her with his witty interpretation of events and people. One autumn afternoon DeGuiche, greatly mellowed by time’s passage, comes to pay a rare visit to Roxane. LeBret arrives for a visit as well. He reports that Cyrano is suffering poverty due to his rejection of mediocrity in character or talent. DeGuiche takes LeBret aside to warn him that Cyrano’s unswerving attack upon everything false and shabby has won him many enemies, and they are plotting against him. Once again alone in the garden, Roxane wonders about Cyrano’s delayed arrival. At last he comes, disguising the fact that he has been badly injured in a cowardly attack. With the knowledge that he is dying, Cyrano asks to read Christian’s farewell letter. As she listens, Roxane recognizes the voice that spoke to her all those years ago beneath her balcony; she realizes that he, not Christian, possessed the noble soul that won her heart. At last Cyrano confesses his love and hears Roxane speak her love for him. But the revelation comes too late. Roxane, LeBret, and Ragueneau watch, helpless, as Cyrano’s death struggles continue his lifelong fencing with falsehood, cowardice, and other unworthy human characteristics. In his final salute, Cyrano holds aloft his hat with its white plume—the symbol of his unstained integrity.