FOX21's Meaghan Collier talks with actor Khris Lewin who plays Cyrano in the classic play.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The most famous nose in dramatic history will be revealed in all its prodigious glory when THEATREWORKS presents Cyrano de Bergerac, April 23- May 17 in the Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Cyrano’s nose is impressive all by itself, but it also belongs to the greatest swordsman and poet in France, a man who can speak in fluent hexameters, a courteous and genial man who can dispatch a hundred hired villains in a single night. He is a preposterous hero, outsized in every way, and also one of the most endearing and admirable characters ever to grace the stage. The play, too, transcends every normal scale. Its spectacular five acts are full of comedy, romance, adventure, heartbreak, courage, and love---especially love. This is truly the play with everything.
Based on a historic character of 17th century France, Cyrano de Bergerac tells the story of a singular personality. Cyrano is both distinguished and disfigured by his extraordinary protuberance, which renders him incapable of fulfilling his deep romantic passion for the beautiful Roxanne. She is in love with the handsome young soldier, Christian, who looks like a Greek god, but who cannot speak the language of love his girl friend yearns to hear. Together Christian and Cyrano make a pact to woo her: Christian has the looks, Cyrano has the words. In the play’s most famous scene, Roxanne listens, enraptured, from her balcony, while Cyrano speaks to her, hidden in the dark. The moon rises. There is rapture, and then heartbrake, both achingly beautiful.
The role of Cyrano, one of the most prized in all theatre, has been brilliantly played by Jose Ferrar, Gerard Depardieu, Steve Martin, Antony Sher, Derek Jacobi, and, most recently, Kevin Kline in last year’s Broadway revival. At THEATREWORKS Cyrano will be played by Khris Lewin, winner of last year’s Pikes Peak Arts Council Best Actor award for his performance as Hamlet .
But Cyrano de Bergerac is more than a one man show; it’s a spectacular theatrical pageant which can only be staged by ambitious theatre companies. It requires a very large cast of memorable characters. It’s a costume extravaganza, with velvet and lace glowing in moonshine and candlelight. The play moves from a theater to a pastry shop, then to a balcony and a battlefield, before coming to its heartbreaking close at in a convent garden fifteen years later. In creating this world of musketeers and romance, THEATREWORKS is fortunate in having some of the best actors in the region on its stage. Julie Sweum is the lovely Roxanne, Ben Bonenfant her handsome but tongue-tied lover. Mark Hennessy is the arrogant and ruthless Comte de Guiche, David Hastings the poetry-loving pastry chef. Beniah Anderson has been especially imported to die in the greatest sword fight in stage history. The remaining French population, which includes a fruitseller, poets, Gascon cadets, Parisian viscounts, fine ladies, a monk, a duenna, three kids and a pickpocket will be played by two dozen more actors. The set design is by Michael Stansbery, the costumes are by Elizabeth Ross, and the lighting is by Lloyd Sobel.
Murray Ross, who directs the production, believes Cyrano is a play well suited for our times. “Yes, it is long ago and far away,” he says, “but we always want more romance, more courage, more sacrifice, more freedom, more love and more poetry—and Cyrano has them all, and in abundance. In dark times, we need a flash of brilliant light, a daring display of panache—the wave of Cyrano’s famous plume in the night. And that we have, right here.”
Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater
University Hall
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
719.255.3232
www.theatreworksCS.org
$25 Reserved Tickets
$15 Children Under 16
$15 Group Rate
Children under 5 will not be admitted.
For more information call the THEATREWORKS Box Office at (719) 255- 3232 or e-mail: Tickets@uccs.edu.
Reservations online at www.theatreworksCS.org
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