Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand

On 27 December 1897, the curtain rose at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin,[2] and the audience was pleasantly surprised. A full hour after the curtain fell, the audience was still applauding. The original Cyrano was Constant Coquelin, who played it over 410 times at said theatre and later toured North America in the role. The original production had sets designed by Marcel Jambon and his associates Brard and Alexandre Bailly (Acts I, III and V), Eugène Carpezat (Act II), and Alfred Lemeunier (Act IV). The earliest touring production of Cyrano was set up by Charles Moncharmont and Maurice Luguet. It was premiered in Monte Carlo on 29 March 1898, and subsequently presented in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia and Spain. Special, transportable sets emulating the Parisian production were created for this tour by Albert Dubosq:

La troupe qui interprétera Cyrano de Bergerac se composera de quarante personnes. Les costumes et les décors seront identiques à ceux de la Porte Saint-Martin; les costumes, au nombre de deux cent cinquante, faits sur mesure, les armes, cartonnages, tout le matériel seront exécutés par les fournisseurs de ce théâtre; les décors seront brossés par Dubosq qui est allé, ces jours derniers, s’entendre à Paris avec les entrepreneurs de la tournée. ... la troupe voyage avec tout un matériel de décors à appliques, charnières, pièces démontables qui, pouvant se planter sur n’importe quelle scène et se divisant en tous petits fragments, s’installe aisément dans des caisses, sans peser relativement trop lourd et dépasser les dimensions admises par les chemins de fer.[3]

{The troupe that will perform Cyrano de Bergerac will comprise forty people. The costumes and decorations will be identical to those of the Porte Saint-Martin; the costumes, two hundred and fifty in number, made to measure, the weapons, cardboard boxes, all the material will be made by the suppliers of this theater; the sets will be painted by Dubosq who, in recent days, has been to Paris to get along with the touring entrepreneurs. ... the troupe travels with a whole set of sconces, hinges, removable parts which, being able to be planted on any stage and being divided into very small fragments, can be easily installed in crates, without weighing relatively too much heavy and exceed the dimensions permitted by railways.}

Richard Mansfield was the first actor to play Cyrano in the United States in an English translation.

The longest-running Broadway production ran 232 performances in 1923 and starred Walter Hampden, who returned to the role on the Great White Way in 1926, 1928, 1932, and 1936.[4] Hampden used the 1923 Brian Hooker translation prepared especially for him, which became such a classic in itself that it was used by virtually every English-speaking Cyrano until the mid-1980s. In 1946 Hampden passed the torch to José Ferrer, who won a Tony Award for playing Cyrano in a much-praised Broadway staging, the highlight of which was a special benefit performance in which Ferrer played the title role for the first four acts and Hampden (then in his mid-sixties) assumed it for the fifth. Ferrer reprised the role on live television in 1949 and 1955, and in a 1950 film version for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. It became Ferrer's most famous role.

Other notable English-speaking Cyranos were Ralph Richardson, DeVeren Bookwalter, Derek Jacobi, Michael Kanarek, Richard Chamberlain, and Christopher Plummer, who played the part in Rostand's original play and won a Tony Award for the 1973 musical adaptation. Kevin Kline played the role in a Broadway production in 2007, with Jennifer Garner playing Roxane and Daniel Sunjata as Christian. A taped version of the production was broadcast on PBS's Great Performances in 2009. In 2018, David Serero is the first French actor to play Cyrano in America in the English language.

Later stage versions

• 1962–1963 Stratford Shakespeare Festival performed the play for two seasons, with John Colicos in the title role.[5]
• 1970 Anthony Burgess wrote a new translation and adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, which had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Paul Hecht was Cyrano. Also in the cast were Len Cariou as Christian, and Roberta Maxwell as Roxane. A later production was the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed 1983 stage production, starring Derek Jacobi as Cyrano and Alice Krige (later Sinéad Cusack) as Roxane, which was videotaped and broadcast on television in 1985. For this production, Burgess very significantly reworked his earlier translation; both Burgess translations have appeared in book form.
• 1977 A condensed version of Rostand's play, in prose, was written by the Scottish writer Tom Gallacher and performed at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
• 1982–1983 The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, produced the play for two seasons, directed by Derek Goldby and starring Heath Lamberts.[6]
• 1983–1985 Emily Frankel[7] wrote a condensed prose adaptation for her husband John Cullum which was first performed at Syracuse Stage, directed by Arthur Storch in 1983, then at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in 1984. A national tour in 1985–1986 concluded with a month's stay at Baltimore's Morris Mechanic Theatre.
• 1989 Off Broadway the play has been staged several times, including a New York City parks tour starring Frank Muller, produced by the Riverside Shakespeare Company.[8]
• 1990 Staged by the Tanghalang Pilipino with the translation written by Soc Rodrigo, and directed by Tony Mabesa.
• 1992 John Wells wrote an adaptation called Cyrano, first presented at the Haymarket Theatre in London.[9]
• 1992 Edwin Morgan wrote a translation in Scots verse, which was first performed by the Communicado Theatre Company.[10] The National Theatre of Scotland also produced this version in 2018.[11]
• 1994 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival presented the play, directed by Derek Goldby and starring Colm Feore.[12]
• 1995 Jatinder Verma wrote and directed an adaptation in English, Hindi and Urdu set in 1930s India, starring Naseeruddin Shah. The play opened at the National Theatre, London, in October.
• 1997 Pierre Lebeau starred in the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde's 1996 production. A great success, the January production was reprised in July (without air conditioning). In November, Antony Sher performed the title role in the Lyric Theatre's production directed by partner Gregory Doran. Frank Langella created and directed and performed the title role in a stripped-down version of the play simply titled Cyrano.
• 2001 David Grapes II starred as Cyrano in a new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Robert Neblett and Todd Olson at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, TN
• 2004 Barksdale Theatre in Richmond began its 50th-anniversary season with a production of Emily Frankel's Cyrano, starring David Bridgewater.
• 2005 A new adaptation written in verse by Barry Kornhauser was produced by The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC, under the direction of Artistic Director Michael Kahn, and went on to become the most highly honored of DC's plays that year, winning multiple Helen Hayes Awards, including "Outstanding Play."
• 2007 A new translation of the play by Ranjit Bolt opened at Bristol Old Vic in May.[13] Sound & Fury, a Los Angeles-based comedy trio, presented their parody of the play, called Cyranose! in L.A. at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in September 2007. It was also filmed and released on DVD.
• 2009 The Stratford Shakespeare Festival again performed the play during their 2009 season, with Colm Feore returning in the title role, directed by Donna Feore. This production was unique in that it combined the translation by Anthony Burgess with portions of the original French text, taking advantage of Canadian bilingualism for dramatic effect.[14]
• 2011 Another new translation by Michael Hollinger had its premier at the Folger Theatre, Washington, D.C., directed by Aaron Posner and produced by Janet Griffin.
• 2012 Roundabout Theatre Company presented a production of Cyrano de Bergerac from 11 October to 25 November with Douglas Hodge in the lead at the American Airlines Theatre for a limited engagement.[15][16] The production was directed by Jamie Lloyd, who would later helm a more radical reinterpretation of the play.
• 2013 The Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey presented a version directed by Gene Simakowicz as part of their annual Shakespeare in the Parks tour. The version starred Jon Ciccareli as Cyrano, Laura Barbiea as Roxane and Matt Hansen as Christian.[17]
• 2013 The play was adapted by Glyn Maxwell and performed at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester[18]
• 2014 the Sydney Theatre Company presented a version of the play adapted by Andrew Upton with Richard Roxburgh in the lead role, Eryn Jean Norvill as Roxane and Julia Zemiro as Duenna.[19][20][21][22]
• 2015 A new and gender-swapped translation was adapted and directed by Professor Doug Zschiegner with Niagara University Theatre titled, CyranA.[23]
• 2018 The Gloucester Stage Company premiered an adaptation for five actors by Jason O'Connell and Brenda Withers. This adaptation was performed at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival during the summer of 2019.[24]
• 2019 The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis produced an adapted version of the show.[25]
• 2019 The Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Jackson, and Canton MI, Directed by Janice L. Blixt.
• 2019 The Shaw Festival again produced the play for the 2019 season, with a new translation by Kate Hennig, directed by Chris Abraham, and starring Tom Rooney.[26]
• 2019 A new adaptation by Martin Crimp produced by The Jamie Lloyd Company and starring James McAvoy started at the Playhouse Theatre in London on 27 November.[27] This adaptation returned in 2022, initially playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London before transferring to the Theatre Royal Glasgow and then the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.[28]
• 2022 Melbourne Theatre Company produced a modernized adaptation of the play written by Virginia Gay, who also starred as a gender-flipped Cyrano.[29]
• 2023 Synetic Theater produced a silent physical theater adaptation.[30]
• 2023 University of St Andrews’s Performing Arts Fund, Mermaids, staged a comedic adaptation written by student Kilda Kennedy, wherein Christian and numerous minor characters were performed with puppets, titled Cyrano de Puppet.[31]