Spectacle is modern theater’s fork in the road. Broadway musicals skew toward more and more elaborate and costly effects (Spider-Man) while plays, especially in regional theaters, demand economy. Classics, with their expensive period trappings and large casts, tend to get stuck in the middle, productions either minimized with abstract sets, modern dress and double-casting or just falling out of favor. The latter tended to be the case for Cyrano even Anthony Burgess’s 1970 adaptation of the 1897 Edmond Rostand play Cyrano de Bergerac requires resources excessive for most companies.
Fortunately, a new adaptation from playwright Michael Hollinger and director Aaron Posner at the Arden Theatre Company, streamlines the cast to nine (most in multiple roles) and cuts down to just enough enjoyable spectacle to emphasize that this isn’t a play about spectacle, but a deeper, intimate story. The productions I’ve loved in the past (particularly those by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Shaw Festival) also achieved this sense of balanced spectacle, albeit working against large casts, big sets and vast stages.
This modern-feeling, audience-friendly adaptation is openly theatrical: Le Bret (Keith Randolph Smith), captain of the Gascony Cadets, not only narrates exposition but practically outlines the production’s multitasking ensemble style, urging, “Let us on your imaginary forces work.” For a story that’s essentially a fairy tale for adults, their approach staged on Daniel Conway’s planked platform, lovingly lit by Thom Weaver brings out its best qualities.
So does Eric Hissom as the titular big-nosed, fantastically talented poet and duelist (simultaneously demonstrated in one scene). Though Cyrano’s incredibly intelligent and something of a superhero, at one point fighting a hundred men (a scene staged with brio and creativity by Dale Anthony Girard), he’s charmingly insecure in love. When Roxane (Jessica Cummings), whom he secretly adores, confesses her love for the newest cadet in the company, inarticulate hunk Christian (Luigi Sottile), Cyrano nobly not only agrees to protect him, but ends up facilitating the match Roxane loves poetry, Christian has none, and Cyrano has an excess he’ll never share because he’s convinced no woman can tolerate his ugliness.
Hollinger’s translation captures echoes of Rostand’s verse in key moments, but balances them with modern turns of phrase for a brisk accessibility. When Christian confesses he’s “not very good with the language thing,” we get it. Tinkering with the plot makes for a similarly agreeable update: When Roxane shows up at a battle, she demands a sword like a modern heroine. Devon Painter’s costumes likewise accentuate this: Never have I seen a Roxane less encumbered by period clothing.
An engaging five-man ensemble creates all the other roles in the story, from the Gascony cadets to Roxane’s nurse (Scott Greer) and Sister Marthe (Doug Hara). Benjamin Lloyd’s De Guiche, Roxane’s powerful suitor, is suitably unctuous but not cartoonish, making his malice palpable and his redemption pleasing. Similarly balanced are Cummings’ Roxane, who starts off as a ninny but matures beautifully and heartbreakingly, and Sottile’s Christian, less a dullard than a believable victim of his own desires by letting Cyrano impersonate him in flowery speeches and letters, Christian creates an ideal lover that he can never be.
This smart balance extends to Posner’s production. Fluid and often funny, yet fragile in its sad, glorious ending, this Cyrano succeeds as both swashbuckling adventure and tragic love story. The Arden’s production has what Cyrano calls “panache” not just showiness, but a rightness fueled by skill and integrity. And with this smart and affordable adaptation, regional theaters can share this classic story with everyone.
Through April 15, $34-$45, Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org.