Review: CYRANO DE BERGERAC at The Kechi Playhouse

If you’re looking for a swashbuckling good time, do yourself a favor and see the original RomCom, Cyrano de Bergerac, at The Kechi Playhouse. You’ve got one more weekend to see this show, and you won’t want to miss it. The armed combat scenes alone are worth the price of admission! The play is a new adaptation by Joseph Urick, Professor of Theatre at Wichita State. Urick strips the original 5 act play down to its bear minimum in 2 acts. This keeps the plot very tight, and leaves the juicy language, the well loved monologues, humor, and excellent fight scenes intact.

This play has had a plethora of incarnations. Originally written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, with at least 16 adaptations to date, it is a most loved piece and is presented often.  The original  debuted in December of 1897 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, and it subsequently toured in1898, beginning in Monte Carlo and subsequently to France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, and Spain. The play ran on Broadway on and off, from 1923 to 2007, with many famous actors playing the leading role, including Walter Hampden, Jose Ferrer, Richard Chamberlain, Christoper Plummer, and Kevin Kline. In 2009, a taped performance of Kevin Kline was used to broadcast for PBS’s Great Performances. Other iterations include a 1973 musical version of Cyrano, starring Christopher Plummer, who won a Tony for his performance; a 2009 musical version Cyrano de Bergerac, by Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn; and in 2019, yet another musical Cyrano, by Erica Schmidt, with music by the band The National, and starred Schmidt's husband Peter Dinklage, who reprised the role in a 2021 film.

For those of you who don’t know the plot, our main character Hercule Savinien de Cyranno de Bergerac is a Nobelman serving in the French Army. He is perfect in so many ways - an excellent duelist, an extraordinary poet, and a loyal friend. His only flaw is that his enormous nose renders him unable to trust he is attractive enough to win the heart of his true love, Roxane, and so he doesn’t even attempt to express his feelings of love to her. Instead, Cyrano helps the man Roxane loves, the romantically inept yet extremely good looking Christian de Neuvillette, by writing love letters for Christian to send Roxane. Hilarity and tragedy ensue.

Director Misty Maynard does a great job here, getting her actors to take on many different roles at the drop of a hat, but keep the continuity of the action so the audience doesn’t get lost. The pace is quick, and it needs to be, as the run time here is 2 1/2 hours. The action is well staged, with simple yet effective set pieces provided by Richard Shultz. There are many beautiful period costume pieces here, cleverly designed by Christy Cunningham Railsback for lightning fast costume changes. The Fight Choreography was skillfully staged by Joseph Urick, which runs from comical to brutal.

Joseph Ross, a local community theatre veteran, gives a sublime, passionate performance in the titular role. His superb acting takes us through all of Cyrano’s rollercoaster emotions, and keeps us engaged right to the very end. The ensemble work here is very good, and the cast is having so much fun. Kelsi Harris, a Theatre Performance major at WSU, is a delightful, gorgeous Roxanne, with excellent diction and poise. Harris is a wonderful foil to Ross’ Cyrano, matching him wit for wit, and having fun doing it. She also slides into the ensemble as a fighting soldier, and a villager.

Cat Kee, a recent WSU grad and a member of SAFD, plays Valvert, a soldier, and various other villagers. Kee has the lion’s share of the fight scenes with Cyrano, and serves them up with much aplomb. While Kee’s swordplay looks effortless, it is the brutally frightening hand to hand fight with Cyrano at the top of Act 2 that really shows off her acting chops, with all the head butting, heinous eye gouging, and cries of agony. Very intense stuff. Zach Richardson, another WSU Theatre Performance grad, plays Cyrano’s best friend, Le Bret. Strutting like a peacock in his beautifully feathered hat, Richardson plays the straight man well. He is the voice of reason to all Cyrano’s irrational fears and crazy ideas.

Rounding out the ensemble with secondary roles are Sky Duncan, a Senior in the Theatre Performance program at WSU, who plays Ragueneau, the bumbling pastry chef, among others; Owen Klos, taking on his very first theatre role as Roxane’s lover, Christian; and Benjamin Smith, a Kechi Theatre veteran, who plays the evil de Guiche.

A few final observations! I loved Roxane’s beautiful blue dress with red details! Another standout was de Guiche’s costume, replete with a wonderful black cape with striking red and gold details. Cyrano’s exquisite final monologue was framed by the actors in a simple tableux, which complimented the moving final scene. 

Up next for Kechi Playhouse? Things My Mother Taught Me, which runs October 4-27, 2024. Shows are Friday and Saturday at 8pm; tickets are $17. The Sunday Matinee performance is at 2:30pm, and tickets are $16. To make a reservation, call 316-744-2152. Otherwise, take your chances by showing up at the door. Kechi Playhouse is located at 100 E Kechi Rd #9069, Kechi, KS 67067. 

Photo Credit: Christopher Clark
 

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