The story is as familiar as that of the sword in the stone or the vacillating Danish prince. Swashbuckling solider-poet Cyrano loves his winsome cousin Roxane, but despite his valor and popularity among his comrades his huge nose prevents him (or so he is convinced) from being taken seriously in matters of the heart. Learning that his beloved has taken a shine to another soldier, and that the handsome but tongue-tied Christian loves her back, Cyrano swallows his pride and settles for wooing Roxane indirectly by feeding Christian the high-flying, romantic poetry and wit Roxane demands.
The ruse is working, but Colonel DeGuiche, a jealous suitor, sends Cyrano and Christian's unit on a dangerous mission to the front lines just after Christian and Roxane have, with Cyrano's anguished help, hurriedly wed. 
Misunderstanding and tragedy carry the day, until the truth comes out years later when it's too late.
Though the story is familiar, we don't often get the chance to see it up close on a small stage, and certainly not with as fine an actor as Daniel Wolfe in the lead role. Mr. Wolfe's commanding performance in this Queens Players production – passionate, witty, antic, elastic, full-throated – is nearly enough all by itself to carry the weight of this very long (even though somewhat cut) production of Edmond Rostand's century-old classic. And fortunately, Mr. Wolfe is not alone, getting able backup from Anthony Martinez – who was a spirited Orlando in the company's recent As You Like It – as a suitably comical yet sympathetic Christian, and from a charming if slightly less sure-footed Sarah Bonner as Roxane. Ms. Bonner seemed to warm up as the long evening rolled on, perhaps inspired by Mr. Wolfe's blistering presence.
Of the supporting cast, some are quite good, while others turn in merely adequate performances, and there are one or two glaring failures. A more general problem mars the production as well. It's very difficult to understand what's going on during the lengthy opening scene, which is supposed to give us a cross-section of Parisian society before Cyrano's entrance; though the scene is briskly paced, some dialogue is lost through a combination of poor diction and the echoey sound of the Queens Players' new, larger space in the Long Island City Art Center (you can still smell the paint). Overall the ensemble scenes are prone to weakness. Rostand's picture of the society in which his heroes move, which ought to be sharp as tacks, comes through hazily at best.
Article comments
1 - A Geek Girl
I really miss NY theatre. This was one of my favorite stories growing up. I would have loved to see it on stage.
I'll be in NY the week after XMas. You must let me know if you have theater plans. That would be fun.
I wanted so badly to see Wicked my last trip, but time didn't allow. I can't get tickets this time. Looking for alternatives.
2 - abarral
The performance of Daniel Wolfe as Cyrano was absolutely riveting and a must see. Cyrano is a complex hero and his nuanced performance was illuminating of his many facets: wit and poet, brave military man, generous companion and friend but above all the frustrated lover of the beautiful Roxane.
The 19th Century play by Rostand is based on a real well known French writer of the 17th Century , but his life was quite different from the play although he did have a large nose. His great love was Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy, a man that was very much his match intellectually as he was a gifted musician and poet, well acquainted with the court and the greatest playwrights of the day, Corneille and Moliere. He was also a much better courtier than the Cyrano of the play and managed to get a position and a pension from the Sun King himself. Although they later quarrelled and wrote satires about each other. Cyrano did have a cousin named Roxane and she married one of his companions at the battle of Arras, the Baron de Neuvillette but the writing of the love letters is fictional.
The real advantage in going to Queens (which is easier and faster than you can imagine) and see this wonderful Cyrano production is to buy a subscription to the Secret Theater! Richard Mazda has been presenting real quality theater of the kind that I thought had disappeared from NY's stage, on and off Broadway. Both have been overtaken over the last decade by boring, repetitive, mechanical commercial entertainment forms that can hardly be called theater.
This Cyrano is REAL theater, with talent, passion, originality and meaning. More importantly, Mazda's direction brings real art to the stage and shows that it can be done, and excellently well, even on a shoestring. The production of Marlowe's "Faust" was unforgettable, dark, red and everything hell should be. Sopholcles' "Antigone" a total voyage to Ancient Greece and his Hamlet was amazing for the way the space was used, which managed to include Ophelia in the river's water and real digging for Hamlet's skull soliloquy in a space much smaller than the one they are using now.
This Cyrano marks another sucess for the company, and I'll go see it again, for sure.