Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's CYRANO Misses by a Nose

Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac is a theatrical paradox. The notoriously picky John Simon called it "not a great play, merely a perfect one." Be that as it may, companies mounting the show usually find that though this play is very hard to ruin, it's also nearly impossible to get completely right.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's attempt, running through June 27, certainly has its share of pleasures, not the least being its al fresco setting. Artistic Director Ian Gallanar's staging resourcefully utilizes the full expanse of the Patapsco Female Institute's ruins, which also serve as an imposing backdrop to the proceedings. (Gallanar is to be commended as well for his good humor in casting himself as the talentless actor, Montfleury.) Marilyn Johnson's costumes achieve sumptuousness on a budget, and Chris Niebling's fight choreography is successful as both violence and aesthetics, even if a pre-show demonstration of stage combat techniques is wittier than anything done in the play per se.

Although I prefer Brian Hooker's more romantic translation to the more satirical Anthony Burgess one used here, the latter is an undeniably brilliant achievement that reveals new delights upon each hearing. Better yet, the large cast seldom trips up on Burgess' rhymes, even if they are not always up to Rostand's demands. I particularly liked David Tabish's cheerfully cheesy Ragueneau, Dave Gamble's insidiously insouciant De Guiche, and especially Michael P. Sullivan's unsullied Le Bret, which is good enough to make one long for the day when Sullivan will be promoted to the title role.  

Alas, the lovestruck leads leave something to be desired. As the beautiful bumpkin Christian de Neuvillette, Theo Hadjimichael displays fine comic flair and even a hint of a soul beneath the simpering, but he's unconvincing as either a lover or a fighter, and his looks are not sufficiently Adonis-like to be credibly intimidating to Cyrano. As Roxane, the woman who carelessly breaks three hearts yet remains dear to them all, Ty Hallmark gives us competence where nothing less than utter enchantment will do; without it, in fact, we can't help wondering what all the fuss is about.

On opening weekend, Frank B. Moorman -- an actor I've known to do excellent work elsewhere -- was still groping for his lines almost as much as Christian does without Cyrano's prompting. Though that halting delivery may have improved by now, I suspect the more fundamental flaw of his performance remains. Possibly taking his cue from a single line about Cyrano's feigned indifference, Moorman plays the most passionate character in dramatic literature in a manner that ranges from the depths of casual aloofness to the heights of unflappable nonchalance. Indeed, whereas Cyrano's panache famously transforms a few morsels into a feast, Moorman merely sniffs at this banquet of a role as if it were yesterday's table scraps.

Nevertheless, it's a testament to this script that its final scene still left many around me in tears.  And I confess I cried a bit myself, albeit as much for the missed opportunities of this production as for what was actually transpiring onstage.

Cyrano de Bergerac runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, and this Sunday at 5 PM in Ellicott City. For ticket information, call 866-811-4111 or visit www.chesapeakeshakespeare.com

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