Cyrano (musical)

For the 1993 musical adaptation, see Cyrano: The Musical.

Cyrano
Original Cast Recording
Music	Michael J. Lewis
Lyrics	Anthony Burgess
Book	Anthony Burgess
Basis	Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac
Productions	1973 Broadway

Cyrano is a musical with a book and lyrics by Anthony Burgess and music by Michael J. Lewis.

Based on Edmond Rostand's classic 1897 play of the same name, it focuses on a love triangle involving the large-nosed poetic Cyrano de Bergerac, his beautiful cousin Roxana, and his classically handsome but inarticulate friend Christian de Neuvillette who, unaware of Cyrano's unrequited passion for Roxana, imposes upon him to provide the romantic words he can use to woo her successfully in mid-17th century Paris.

In the early 1960s, David Merrick had announced plans to produce a musical entitled Cyrano with a score by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, but nothing came of the project. Burgess had translated the Rostand play for the Guthrie in Minneapolis, and director Michael Langham suggested he adapt it for a musical version. Burgess joined forces with film composer Lewis, replacing dialogue in his play with musical numbers, and the completed work was staged at the Guthrie, again with Langham at the helm.

Following a tryout in Boston's Colonial Theatre and five previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd, opened on May 13, 1973 at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 49 performances. The cast included Christopher Plummer as Cyrano, Leigh Beery as Roxana, and Mark Lamos as Christian, with Tovah Feldshuh making her Broadway debut in two small supporting roles.

Plummer won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance, and Beery was Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

An original cast recording LP was released by A&M Records in 1973. An original cast recording CD was released by Decca Records in 2005.

In September 1994, an abridged version of the musical made its West Coast preview at The Newport Arts Center in Orange County, California. Directed by Kent Johnson, and starring well known regional actor John Huntington as Cyrano and actress Deirdre McGill (" A Thing Called Love " , " Dead Hollywood Blondes") as Roxanne. One of the best numbers " You have Made me Love" was recently released on a Broadway standards album sung by Deirdre McGill and is available on a CD titled " Pandora's Box" on amazon.com .

Song list

Act I Cyrano's Nose La France, La France Tell Her From Now Till Forever Bergerac Pocapdedious No, Thank You From Now Till Forever (Reprise)

Act II Roxana It's She and It's Me You Have Made Me Love Thither, Thother, Thide Pocapdedious (Reprise) Paris Cuisine Love Is Not Love Autumn Carol I Never Loved You

Original Broadway Cast

Cyrano de Bergerac - Christopher Plummer Roxana - Leigh Beery Christian de Neuvillette - Mark Lamos Le Bret, Captain of the Gascons - James Blendick Montfleury, A Romantic Tragedian - Patrick Hines Count de Guiche, Guardian of Roxana - Louis Turenne Ragueneau, A Baker and Poet - Arnold Soboloff Viscount de Valvert - J. Kenneth Campbell Roxana's Duenna, Sister Marthe - Anita Dangler Pickpocket, Capucine Monk - Geoff Garland Jodelet - Michael Goodwin The Marquis in Red - Alexander Orfaly Vendor - Tovah Feldshuh

References

• Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum, published by St. Martin's Press (1991), pages 191-92 (ISBN 0-312-06428-4)

External links

• Internet Broadway Database listing
• Time magazine review

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/newport-theatre-arts-center September 1994