Cyrano

adapted by Jo Roets, from the play by Edmond Rostand
Directed by Brendan Hughes
Wednesday - Saturday July 8 - August 7
curtain: 8pm - Tickets: $31 (students $15)

Cyrano de Bergerac (Robert Kropf, pictured) is a master of swordplay and wordplay, but a "magnificent Mount Everest of a nose" blocks his path to true love. A cast of just three actors triangulates Rostand's classic love story into a charming, lightning-paced romance laced with duels, panache, hopeless sacrifice--and an enormous schnoz.

"A raucus good time!" Theatremania

Provincetown Banner Stately schnoz, love triangle and all... By Reva Blau

It's not easy to show that true beauty is more than skin-deep, particularly in a time-sensitive frame of 90 minutes, but "Cyrano" at the Harbor Stage of Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater does just that.

Under the nimble direction of Brendan Hughes, WHAT offers an adaptation of the classic tale "Cyrano de Bergerac," written in 1897, by Edmond Rostand and adapted by Jo Roets, a Belgian playwright.

Cyrano is a beautifully spare production that invites the audience in at every turn. As director, Hughes introduces the production and is indeed very, very funny, which sets the stage for an evening of enjoyment. Before the actors appear, down comes a small screen and we watch a film that claims to capture the actors out and about in Wellfleet during rehearsal week...

Brenda Withers plays a radiant and intelligent Roxane, worthy of being swooned over by the 17th century Frenchmen, and Jonathan Fielding plays the handsome but inarticulate Christian. Robert Kropf plays the silver-tongued Cyrano with the nose the size of Mount Everest. In the play, Cyrano is above Christian in rank and, yet, Christian holds power through the strength of his looks and his attractiveness to Roxane...

The famous balcony scene in which Cyrano hides in the shadows lending his damp-palmed poetry to Christian is also pulled off exquisitely. While there is humor involved, the seriousness of the theme of authenticity versus artifice persists throughout...

The poetry often rhymes and drips with sentimentality but it is heart-felt and offers genuine theatrical pleasure. Who doesn't want to see Cyrano again and again?" (read full review)

Cape Cod Times Short play is long on style by Debbie Forman
"The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater production, directed by Brendan Hughes, is a fast-paced jaunt with the obviously serious undercurrent of the triangle that plays out over the platitude that beauty is only skin deep and true love is embedded in the soul. Although Roxanne falls in love at first sight with Christian, it is the poetic wooing - supplied by Cyrano - that wins her over. But she never knows until the very end that she is really in love with the unattractive Cyrano, who so passionately adores her...

The versatile Robert Kropf gives a multi-dimensional performance as Cyrano. He is passionate and funny, nimbly moving among the various emotions. He is a courageous soldier and swashbuckling swordsman dueling without a rapier, a pompous cavalier sensitive to any untoward remarks about his disfiguring nose, a disappointed lover and finally the unselfish, amorous speaker and writer of poetry. He says to Christian, "I'll lend you the words and you'll lend me your good looks and charm." "Together they make the ideal lover. Although it is Christian's face Roxanne sees, it is Cyrano's words that she loves.

In addition to playing Christian, Jonathan Fielding takes on several other roles, and his quick persona and costume changes add delightful humor to the play. He is comical as the foppish, rotund De Guiche with a pillow in his weskit, who courts the unresponsive Roxanne. With the swift discarding of a wig or donning of a hat or hood, he becomes the baker Ragueneau, a flamboyant monk and several others for good measure.

Brenda Withers sparkles as the quixotic Roxanne. Her expressive eyes and animated gestures provide a dynamic picture of the misguided young woman who can't resist a pretty face...

Hughes' direction of the play is sure and swift, a very / cavort with three actors who clearly know their business and come together for a sparkling performance. Read full review

Cast:
Cyrano - Robert Kropf*
Christian, De Guiche et al - Jonathan Fielding*
Roxanne et al - Brenda Withers*

Staff:
Stage Manager - Christopher Page*
Set Design - Ted Vitale
Lighting Design - Bridget K. Doyle
Costume Design - Carol Sherry
Sound Design - Jess Bauer
Properties Design - Sarah Beals
Dramaturg - Dan Lombardo
Casting - Norman Meranus
Production Manager - Ted Vitale

To view more production photos click on images below or here

Robert Kropf

Brenda Withers, Robert Kropf

Jonathan Fielding