Before the show begins, a sole leaf drifted down to the stage. The comment could not be avoided. All you can think is “autumn is coming.” Fans of Game of Thrones have gathered to see Emmy winner Peter Dinklage take on Cyrano based on Edmond Rostand’s 1897 classic play.
Leaves will fall later in this woefully dull musical so I assume the preview was a tiny technical snafu. Mr. Dinklage’s wife Erica Schmidt has adapted and directed this tale with music from Grammy Award winning rock band The National. Cyrano the ugly is in love with the beauty Roxanne but she instead yearns for a man with physical rather than intellectual enchantments. The story clearly feels right for a musical (which has indeed been attempted before).
The book is fairly leaden from the start and the songs, unfortunately, make it worse. This one is hard to sit through. The production interestingly aims for chamber-like dirge but there are few sparks to suggest passion on the stage. Everyone does not seem to be in the same show.
Mr. Dinklage’s dwarfism replaces the long nose of the character as written. That choice is inspired. His performance is good and his gravelly singing voice works well with the mood. The songs are all unremarkable so it is hard to say that his Cyrano was especially memorable. He does, however, know how to firmly command a stage. His pain is palpably rendered.
Jasmine Cephas Jones plays Roxanne. She created the double role of “and Peggy” and Marie Reynolds in Hamilton. I didn’t connect to her character in this production. Roxanne is shallow and favors the handsome Christian over the stylized letter writings of a heartbroken Cyrano. His pain is visibly evident. Her desirability is not necessarily so but I felt the shallow angle was handled nicely.
As Christian, Blake Jenner fares best in the part which is self-described as “I can’t write a letter. I’m so stupid, it’s shameful.” He sings more beautifully than everyone on the stage which makes the physical attractiveness of his character work and stand out. On the other hand, everyone else’s singing pales by comparison. The musical never quite gels as a result.
Some of the scenes are creatively moody and cleverly work to showcase the two men wooing Roxanne through their different selves. Ms. Schmidt’s take on Macbeth with school girls last season was tensely disturbing and visually arresting. Here, the mood is set but what happens feels staged and fake. The war scene in the second act goes on and on. The slow motion choreography by Jeff and Rick Kuperman attempted to add gravitas to the moments. The result was a overlong war ballet with large rifles.
Fans of Peter Dinklage will find this Cyrano a reason to spend time watching a marvelous actor brave this classic tale on stage. The New Group has been producing star vehicles in recent seasons. The results have been mixed. This show, sadly, is hard to recommend.
Cyrano is being performed at the Daryl Roth Theatre until December 22, 2019.