{"id":89707,"date":"2026-08-20T15:52:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=89707"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:11:07","slug":"theater-review-a-modernized-cyrano-de-bergerac-brings-enthusiasm-and-an-excellent-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/see\/theater-review-a-modernized-cyrano-de-bergerac-brings-enthusiasm-and-an-excellent-lead","title":{"rendered":"Theater Review: A modernized \u2018Cyrano de Bergerac\u2019 brings enthusiasm and an excellent lead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company\u2019s current production of \u201cCyrano de Bergerac\u201d brings a youthful take on Edmond Rostand\u2019s 1897 play<\/a>. The play itself is witty and charming, but the young, mostly female cast infuses it with modern inflections and gestures, boldly having fun with the material and making it their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps that director Renee Schwarz bravely added a play-within-a-play dimension to the show, in which a troupe of contemporary actors is actually rehearsing \u201cCyrano de Bergerac,\u201d slowly morphing into a full-on production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that added metatheatrical layer, we see actors dressed in everyday clothes meeting in rehearsal while the show\u2019s stressed stage manager (Alex Lohman) checks her phone for production details. She tells one actor to ditch his sock puppet (\u201cSay it to his eyes,\u201d he replies) and another to put out her cigarette (which she doesn\u2019t).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening of this experimental add-on is delightful, and I would absolutely watch a reality show of this ensemble staging any play. It does put the audience in a slightly awkward position at first because the troupe serves as their own audience as they read lines, peering from the sidelines and cheering each other on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But once Paul D. Flores joins them as Cyrano \u2014 a confident yet unassuming soldier with plumed cap and long nose, as deft with his words as he is with his sword \u2014 it seems to throw the cast off balance as he\u2019s already in character and fully costumed from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left: Paul D. Flores, Julianne Holmquist and Shane Weikel in Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Photo by Mark Chen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The play seems to \u201cstart\u201d at that point, though it\u2019s hard to tell as the lines between rehearsing and performing still remain blurred, and it doesn\u2019t help that the first scene of the play has the characters arriving at a play (within the play).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we do meet Cyrano\u2019s younger cousin Roxane (played with nuanced delicacy by Julianne Holmquist), whom he clearly loves and not just in a sisterly way. We first see her looking down from a window, much like Taylor Swift watching an NFL game from a luxury box, catching the eye of Travis Kelce, or rather handsome soldier Christian (Shane Weikel). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But though Roxane likes poetry, sadly for her, Christian is not very lyrical. Enter Cyrano, whom we see using words like mini daggers, not only to cut his enemies but also pierce Roxane\u2019s heart like Cupid\u2019s arrows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Except he\u2019s not winning her over for himself but for Christian, writing her love letters in Christian\u2019s name and at one point even speaking for Christian to win him some make-out time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another beau in the mix as well \u2014 the powerful Compte de Guiche (played with relish by Ryan Hollon), who proves to be cowardly and selfish beneath his arrogance, especially during a war that Cyrano, Christian and their fellow Gascon soldiers must fight in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even playing starving soldiers on the war front, cast members throw themselves cheekily into their roles, yelling quips about empty stomachs and humming the Darth Vader tune from \u201cStar Wars\u201d when de Guiche enters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when Roxanne also makes an unexpected but regal appearance at their camp \u2014 somehow conjuring baskets of food from poetic French chef Ragueneau (Ren Warzecha, in a thick accent) \u2014 we see a captain (Charlie Rodriguez) amazingly swallow an entire bunch of grapes and drink an entire bottle of wine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left: Alan Bornemann and Paul D. Flores in Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Photo by Mark Chen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A final scene takes place 15 years later, featuring Roxane and Cyrano in an emotionally poignant moment \u2014 a fitting closure to a long love saga. The play itself is long, too, and could have stood some abridging, especially given the added \u201creality\u201d parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s refreshing to see an ensemble play their roles so enthusiastically throughout, adding joie de vivre to what must seem like dusty lines. The production also has fun with music \u2014 a perilous snippet from \u201cStar Trek\u201d plays during a sword-fighting scene, and Cyrano\u2019s band of out-of-tune musicians sing snippets of The Police\u2019s \u201cRoxanne\u201d and Queen\u2019s \u201cBohemian Rhapsody.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, Flores\u2019 grounded performance as Cyrano anchors the production, the ensemble boisterously swirling around him as he stays centered in his character\u2019s clever brilliance. Flores\u2019 delivery and demeanor capture his character\u2019s self-awareness, self-possession and vulnerable heart from start to finish, making this (long) show definitely worth seeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Shakespeare Company\u2019s \u201cCyrano de Bergerac\u201d continues through Aug. 29 at the Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call the box office at 562-997-1494 or visit <\/em>LBShakespeare.org<\/em><\/a>. Run time is 3 hours, including intermission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewer Anita Harris says it\u2019s refreshing to see an ensemble play their roles so enthusiastically throughout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":89711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32366],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-89707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-see","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89707"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89713,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89707\/revisions\/89713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89707"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=89707"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=89707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}