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By
Edmond Rostand Translated by Brian Hooker
Directed
by Jack Phillips
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| Dramaturg's
Diary |
Setting: 1640 |
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| Cast Actress Ixtaccihuatl Menchaca * * Denotes new to our stage Dramaturg's
Diary About the Play Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand, was first produced on December 28, 1897, at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, France. A venerated French actor named Benoit Constant Coquelin (to whom the play is dedicated) played the title role. Audience response to the first production of Rostand's historical romance was described as "the most enthusiastic reception in dramatic history." On September 28, 1898, American audiences witnessed the simultaneous premiere of two different versions of Cyrano - one in New York City and one in Philadelphia. Since its 1897 opening and subsequent run of 200 nights in Paris, Cyrano de Bergerac has enjoyed enduring international acclaim - both critical and public. The story of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac is inspired by a real-life French poet and soldier who lived from 1619-1655 and authored several plays and many satires. The man, Cyrano de Bergerac, who inspired Rostand to create his character, Cyrano de Bergerac, wasn't much like the play's leading man at all. He was well known as a humanitarian and, although he enlisted in the army at 20, later in his life he argued ardently against war and the death penalty. A portrait of Cyrano, painted by Le Doyen, featured a smiling man with a large nose. Rostand's protagonist was born. Cyrano de Bergerac has been performed in each decade of the 20th and 21st centuries. It was made into an opera, later into a musical comedy and recently into a movie starring French actor, Gerard Depardieu. The character of Cyrano is considered, "next to Hamlet, to be the theatre's most popular part," partnering Cyrano's complex character, comedic antics and grandiosity with a silent, subdued sense of sacrifice and sorrow. In Cyrano, the character and the play, we find messages about values and virtue, the dangers of deception and inner and outer beauty. About the Playwright Edmond Rostand was born in Marseilles, France in 1869 into a wealthy family. His father was a journalist; so words, their rhythm, beauty and significance were part of his birthright. Rostand earned a law degree in Paris, but his love of words drew him to poetry; and at the age of 22, Rostand published his first book of poetry. Rostand's writing career continued; and in 1894, the Comedie Francaise produced his first significant play titled The Romancers. His fame and success were firmly established with his peers when Sarah Bernhardt played leading roles in two of his plays - The Faraway Princess and The Woman of Samaria. Rostand's best known plays are Cyrano de Bergerac, L'Aiglon and Le Chanticler. With the success of these romantic plays, Rostand was a popular public figure and subjected to celebrity status not unlike today's Hollywood stars - he and his family were hounded by "paparazzi" and fans on the streets of Paris. When Rostand chose to leave Paris and live a quiet life of self-imposed exile in the beautiful French mountains, he offered ill health as the reason; but his intimates knew better.Rostand and his wife, also a poet, lived in a chateau which they built in the Pyrenees, until Rostand's death in 1918.
AcknowledgementsProduced with special permission from Dramatists Play Service, Inc. The Fruit Store, Western Springs and Hinsdale, for providing apple cider at cost with free delivery.
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Production CreditsDirector Director's
Corner Thanks to an interested subscriber, David Simpson, I have learned of a Brookfield, Illinois connection to Cyrano de Bergerac. Samuel Eberly Gross, a real estate dealer who lived in Grossdale before the town changed its name to Brookfield, wrote a play called The Merchant Prince of Cornville in 1870. In 1889 he traveled to the Paris Exhibition and left a copy of his play at the St. Martins Theatre. Apparently Edmond Rostand, the author of Cyrano, saw the play and used it for his own. In 1902, Mr. Gross filed a plagiarism suit in the city of Chicago and won. The judge declared that Mr. Gross was the author of "Cyrano's being" and that Rostand's play was a clear case of piracy. Mr. Gross was awarded an accounting of the profits of the Rostand version but waived the right for $1 and the vindication of his suit. There is in print a book published by Rand McNally showing the parallels between the two stories. It seems that piracy of creative material is not a new phenomenon. Many thanks to Mr.Simpson for sending me a copy of the article in the Chicago Tribune on January 22, 1953 detailing this wonderful connection to our area. Regardless of the source, the story of the warrior/poet, equally adept with a sword and at rhyme, who is so unhappy with his own appearance that he never admits his feelings to the one love of his life has captured the imagination of hundreds of actors and directors and thousands of readers for over one hundred years. Both the language and the characters are bigger than life. The events are like an action movie. The heart of the story can still touch us all. More Photos Page 2
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