Cyrano de Bergerac: Directed by Sanford Robbins

The Milwaukee Repetory Theater just opened a croduction of Cyrano de Bergerac directed by Sanford Robbins that was reviewed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

From the Journal Sentinal sept, 9 2007

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater traditionally opens its Quadracci Powerhouse Theater season with a bang. Being the first in line of 14 productions the company mounts during its year, the Powerhouse opener can be given a little more preparation time and attention. "Cyrano de Bergerac" continues through Oct. 7 in the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater at the Baker Theater Complex, 108 E. Wells St.Tickets are on sale at the Rep box office in the complex's lobby, by phone at (414) 224-9490, and online at www.milwaukeerep.com.

In seasons past, the Rep has used the first slot for large original works - the Frank Lloyd Wright biography "Work Song" and Eric Simonson's adaptation of "Moby Dick" - and sprawling epics such as "Angels in America" and "King Lear." This year, "Cyrano de Bergerac" breaks the ice and shows us why it is the most appropriate season opener of them all.
Edmond Rostand's unabashedly sentimental swashbuckling romance is a metaphor for the theater. The title character with the super-sized nose loves to make the grand, dramatic gesture. Panacheis his favorite word.

But there is much more to Cyrano than a flair for showmanship. His craving the limelight is accompanied by deep-running passion, sensitivity, loyalty and a commitment to doing the right thing. We can even find noble selflessness in him.

"To make myself in all things admirable" is Cyrano's declared goal.

Those of us who cherish the theater see all of those qualities beneath the designers' art and the director's skill. Heart and soul are the essence of the stage.

The Rep's new production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," which opened Friday night, crystallizes the metaphor for us. Milwaukee audiences are overly generous in their awarding of standing ovations, but the fervor with which people leaped to their feet at the close of Friday's performance was testimony to the connection they made with the play.

This "Cyrano" is directed by Sanford Robbins, the founder of the moribund Professional Theatre Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The program was highly influential in promoting and shaping the growth of theater in the state before Robbins and most of his faculty left for the University of Delaware in 1988. Despite the departure, the director and his acting graduates continue to return here to work with Wisconsin stage companies, and seven of Robbins' former students, including those playing the three leads, are in this show.
The team of director, designers and actors achieve a curious effect. The framework they create to tell Rostand's story is fittingly large and sweeping, but the relationships and emotions reflected within that structure are precise, specific and possess the tight focus of a movie close-up.
This begins with Cyrano, a character who fits Rep veteran Lee Ernst's talents and abilities so well. Ernst is a physical actor who dotes on perfecting disguises and bits of stage combat and movement. But he is also capable of attaining sublime levels of sensitivity and human vulnerability.

If Ernst were performing in Europe at the end of the 19th century, Rostand could have written Cyrano for him.

Roxanne, the comely woman he loves but refuses to pursue, is more than an ingénue. Although it initially appears she is on the verge of acquiescing to a marriage she knows will be bad for her, we can perceive flickers of early feminism. Erin Partin brings a sense of grounded maturity and inner wisdom as well as beauty to the role.

Not as much is asked of the actor who plays Christian de Neuvillette, the inarticulate but dashingly handsome military cadet for whom Cyrano ghost writes love letters to Roxanne. Andre Martin gives the character as much authenticity as we can expect.

It's a treat to see Steve Hauck, portraying the villainous de Guiche, back on a Milwaukee stage after an absence of too many years.