‘Cyrano’ Woos, But Timidly

The Three Musketeers, Don Quixote, Hamlet, Romeo: The French dramatist Edmond Rostand samples a world’s worth of gallants in “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

Rostand left no literary echoes to chance. In his 1897 ode to panache, now back in moderately gallant theatrical action courtesy of A Noise Within, one of Cyrano’s panache-free nemeses warns our hero that Quixote tilted at windmills--and the windmills won.

Yet for more than a century, in various languages, in musical versions, in the films “Roxanne” and “The Truth About Cats and Dogs,” even, the “Cyrano” legend has endured. The man tilts his famous nose at the same windmill, over and over, dreaming the impossible dream, fighting the unbeatable foe, waging the battle for truth, justice and the French way.

“Dear and foolish words” lie that way. So says Roxane (Jennifer Erin Roberts), the widely beloved cousin of love-struck Cyrano (Geoff Elliott). Rostand’s play is precisely that, a thing of dear and foolish and noble sentiment.

English critic Max Beerbohm reviewed the original Paris production visiting London and called it “a wonderfully ingenious counterfeit” of a classic. That description holds. Cyrano’s a floridly romantic showcase role, and if the play surrounding it tends to creak, well, the thing always was old-fashioned, even in 1897.

A Noise Within staged “Cyrano” in 1995, with company co-founder Elliott in the lead. They’re back together, role and actor, for the company’s inaugural season in a new home.

It may take a show or two for the company (formerly housed in a converted Masonic temple in downtown Glendale) to settle comfortably into the 1,150-seat proscenium stage at Cal State L.A.’s Luckman Fine Arts Complex. The program notes put it this way: “Due to the unique design of the auditorium . . . we are able to use just the first 9 rows of the orchestra level this season, and expand the audience capacity as needed.” The downside? A feeling of suddenly playing to tiny houses, dwarfed by a big room.

Partly too it may involve A Noise Within developing a more expansive performance style than it’s used to. Bigger, but still human-scaled--that’s the trick.

Elliott already knows that one. He’s an interesting presence, modest but witty in his vocal flourishes, with a glint of Peter Sellers craziness in his eyes. Sometimes, though, you want more from this Cyrano, more anger or edginess underneath the stylish surface.

Director Art Manke’s staging is clear and clean in the main, especially effective in the early, bustling scenes set at the Hotel de Bourgogne theater. But the first Roxane-Cyrano encounter--when Cyrano learns it’s not he she loves, but the hunky, averaged-nosed Christian, played by Brian McGovern--lacks poignancy. We don’t feel Cyrano’s stabbing moment of realization. Later, when Cyrano and his fellow poets gaze out into the Paris night, we’re not given much to look at in scenic designer Michael C. Smith’s vision (though Ken Booth’s lighting does what it can). A moment of visual poetry is missing at that juncture.

The text has been trimmed considerably; the last two “Cyranos” I saw elsewhere, using different translations, ran a full half-hour longer. Brian Hooker’s translation, adapted by Dennis Powers, ditches the verse for a brisk prose attack. Still, more time in performance could be taken with the hushed, heart-rending wooing scenes. They’re the reason for this play’s being.

It’s a pretty solid revival. Better than that would be better, of course. This enterprising, classy company’s capable of it.

* “Cyrano de Bergerac,” A Noise Within, Luckman Fine Arts Complex, California State University, Los Angeles, 515 State University Drive, Los Angeles. Oct. 6-8, 8 p.m.; Oct. 24, 2 and 7 p.m.; Oct. 30, 2 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 4, 8 p.m.; Nov. 7, 2 and 8 p.m. Ends Nov. 7. $22-$30. (818) 546-1924 or (323) 224-6420. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Brian McGovern: Christian

Robertson Dean: Ligniere

Darin Anthony: Cuigy/Cadet

Charls Sedgwick Hall: Marquis/Cadet

Apollo Dukakis: Rageuneau

Anna C. Miller: Lise/Sister Marie Therese

Rod Menzies: Le Bret

Jennifer Erin Roberts: Roxane

June Claman: Roxane’s Duena/Mother Marguerite

Robert Pescovitz: Comte de Guiche

Kenneth R. Merckx Jr.: Valvert/Cadet

Richard Soto: Cutpurse/Cadet

Mitchell Edmonds: Montfleury/Capuchin Monk

Geoff Elliott: Cyrano

Christopher Younggren: Bellrose/Cadet

Steve Rockwell: Meddler/Poet/Cadet

Julie Remala: Orange Seller/Nun

Chris Bultman: Musketeer/Cadet

Christopher Gottshalk: Poet/Cadet

Graham Barnard: Merchant/Cadet

Varenia Nicholas: Merchant’s Wife/Nun

Oliver Young: Boy

Jennifer Harrison: Wine Seller/Baker/Sister Marthe

Jennifer Mack: Countess/Sister Claire

Eric Nenninger: Poet/Cadet

Aaron Perez: Cadet

Denise Tarr: Countess/Nun

Angela Allen: Cake Seller/Nun

Dena De Cola: Flower Seller

John Staley: Cadet

Written by Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker, adapted by Dennis Powers. Directed by Art Manke. Set by Michael C. Smith. Costumes by Angela Balogh Calin. Lighting by Ken Booth. Music by Michael Welsh. Stage manager Tricia Druliner.