At the Pasadena Playhouse, Martin Crimp’s free adaptation of the Edmond Rostand classic offers a captivating Chukwudi Iwuji as the besotted dueling artiste in a production with problematic pacing.
By John Lavitt
Pasadena, CA (The Hollywood Times) 09-11-2024
There is a valid argument to make that Cyrano De Bergerac is not Cyrano De Bergerac without the protruding proboscis. In Martin Crimp’s free adaptation of the Edmond Rostand classic at the Pasadena Playhouse, director Mike Donahue makes a curious choice. Indeed, generations of actors have donned prosthetic proboscises to play Cyrano de Bergerac, including Gérard Depardieu in the classic 1990 film and Steve Martin in the 1987 American updating of the story with Daryl Hannah as the title character, Roxanne.
However, in a more recent London staging of the play, James McAvoy took to the stage with a nose that was distinctly his own. McAvoy explained to the BBC in 2019, “Rostand wrote a play about the power of words and the power of the imagination… (So, we thought), let’s really test how powerful his words and imagination are and see if they can truly engage the audience. If we’re good enough, focused enough, and disciplined enough as performers, then the audience will see a nose.”
Following this new, somewhat questionable trend, rather than giving actor Chukwudi Iwuji a prosthetic addition to look the part, director Mike Donahue has the actor go on stage without any additions or enhancements. Such a choice places the audience in the position of imagining something that is not present. As Cyrano expounds in the first act on the variety of insults that the arrogant Le Bret (Aaron Costa Ganis) could bestow upon his unsightly and unattractive appendage, it feels confusing at first without the presence of the actual nose.
Indeed, this and other choices make the first act a bit ponderous at the Pasadena Playhouse. For example, it takes over thirty minutes to get the play underway as the new production slowly and strenuously introduces the main characters during a comically atrocious performance of Hamlet. The play’s pacing is the main problem with the first act and before the intermission.
Rather than jumping into the narrative with the charismatic presence of Chukwudi Iwuji as Cyrano, the audience is teased like an awkward boy waiting for his prom date to arrive. Although building anticipation is an art in the theatre, when drawn to extremes, such constructions can seem tedious. Hence, it felt like a relief when Hamlet finally took the stage, although the audience had been a bit restless in their seats for over half an hour.
Overall, the pacing in the beginning is a shame because the cast displays such talent once the play is underway. As Cyrano, Chukwudi Iwuji provides an emotional depth and power that he often is not allowed to reveal in his parts on the big and small screens. Indeed, his performance makes you want to see more of him on stage, and, as indicated in the program, he clearly has a long history of outstanding performances. From his first steps on the stage until the end, Iwuji provides the emotional heart and core of the show.
From her cyberpunk breakout role in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel to her hallucinatory delving into horror in Brand New Cherry Flavor, Rosa Salazar is one of the most experimental and engaging young actors of her generation. As Roxane, in this updated version, she is given a tough character to play. Beautiful and intelligent, Roxane is definitely a modern woman who knows what she wants and demands that she gets it. She is so demanding of wit and poetry that the audience, however, feels sympathy for poor Christian. What is the poor man to do?
As Christian, Will Hochman expresses the pathos of the character remarkably well. He seems less of a rogue embroiled in Cyrano’s plot and more of an innocent victim. Other highlights of the cast include Michael Nathanson as De Guiche and Kimberly Scott as Madame Ragueneau. As the power-hungry, ever-plotting De Guiche, Nathanson has the broadest character arc in the entire production. He goes from being deplorable to being a victim of his hubris. As the charismatic Madame Ragueneau, Scott provides additional comic relief to the proceedings.
What is most troubling about Cyrano de Bergerac at the Pasadena Playhouse is how much better the second half is than the first. Indeed, once the play gets going, and we are caught up in the deadly throes of battle, both in war and the hearts of the central characters, the play is incredibly watchable and moving. If the first half had been edited down to size and the emotional impetus of the story made a priority, then the whole production would have been a rousing success. However, much like Felix the Cat, the production is a mixed bag of tricks that misses a certain protruding proboscis and fails to do justice to several fine performances.
Photos by Jeff Lorch Courtesy of the Pasadena Playhouse
