Cyrano de Bergerac in the city

My parents, Audrey and I went to see Cyrano de Bergerac in New York City yesterday.

We had purchased the tickets before the stagehand strike (obviously), so we were more than happy last Tuesday night to hear that the strike had ended.

My parents exposed me and my siblings to the theater and plays early on (Mom was an English teacher for 30 years... go figure),  so the tale of the brilliant, poetic Cyrano de Bergerac and his unreturned love for the beautiful cousin (hey, it was the 16th century) Roxane has always been a favorite in our family.

Even if you have not heard of Cyrano de Bergerac, you're probably more familiar with its story than you realize.

If you've ever seen the Steve Martin/Daryl Hannah film Roxanne, then you know the story of Cyrano de Bergerac.

There is also a great scene in the 8th season episode of Seinfeld called "The Soul Mate" where Newman becomes "Cyrano" to Kramer's "Christian" and feeds Kramer lines to woo a woman he's in love with.

In any case, yesterday we were able to see Cyrano de Bergerac in person, performed by some of the most talented actors of our time.

Kevin Kline played Cyrano (in an amazing performance for which he absolutely deserves a Tony), Jennifer Garner played Roxane, and Daniel Sunjata played Christian de Neuvillette.

There was one strange thing that happened during the show.

At the top of the third act, while the actors were in character, all the lights in the Richard Rogers Theatre went on. A lady's voice came over the loudspeaker saying that they were experiencing technical difficulties with the stage curtain, and the actors were to exit the stage for 5 minutes while it was fixed.

Five minutes went by... ten minutes went by... fifteen minutes... then the lady came back over the loudspeaker and said the curtain still wasn't fixed (groans from the audience), but that the actors agreed to come out on the stage and answer audience questions (cheers from the audience).

Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner, Daniel Sunjata, Chris Sarandon and Concetta Tomei came out to speak with us.

Of course, the first questions were addressed toward Jennifer Garner, and were, "How's Violet?" and "How's Ben?"... to which she responded, "She turned 2 yesterday!" and "He's tall, dark and handsome," respectfully.

After about 10 minutes of questions-and-answers, someone finally asked, "Do you need a curtain!?"

Apparently the answer was "no," or at least, "who knows how long it will take if we keep trying to fix it" because the show started again, curtain-less.

Cyrano de Bergerac is at once a roaring comedy and a heartbreaking tragedy. And to see it performed by such incredible actors was just a phenomenal experience.

One of the many wonderful things about living in New England is its proximity to New York City and all it has to offer... including Broadway! This play only runs through January 6th, and Broadway tickets are especially hard to get right now because of the strike, but if you have the chance to go see Cyrano de Bergerac, absolutely take the opportunity to do so!

- Jane

Comments

[Fairly Odd Mother]

I love the Q&A part of your show! What a unique experience.

[Ruth Dynamite]

I love live theater and I might love Kevin Kline even more. So cool!

[JMLC]

I actually saw this play this past weekend when I was in NYC and while I agree with your assessment, I found Chris Serandon to be the best, by far. I also saw A Bronx Tale which was fantastic!!!!

[happyhippie]

It sounds like you had a great time. What a treat to see the play you love acted by such amazing actors!