Tea at Trianon: Cyrano

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Cyrano

The Broadway revival of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, one of my favorite dramas, sounds wonderful. It stars Kevin Kline in the title role, with Jennifer Garner as Lady Roxane. According to The Washington Post:

Kline, we were sure, could hold it together on a stage. Garner, not so much. Known for her TV dramas ("Alias"), action movies ("Elektra") and husband (Ben Affleck), she seemed a sales-driven and potentially plastic choice for the role of a 17th-century Gallic damsel who falls wrongly and rightly for a man with a sword in his scabbard and a rhyme on his lips.
Well, vive la fleur-de-lis and whistle "La Marseillaise"! Garner is a poised, vivacious and plucky Roxane -- just the sort of woman to whom a lovesick poet might scribble quatrains. Playing off Kline's warmly embraceable idea of Cyrano as a hero of leonine forbearance, Garner adds her own grace notes -- as well as finely tuned antennae for comedy.

If a measure of relief seasons a theatergoer's appreciation of Garner, there is nothing but pure admiration for Kline, whose autumnal air is the dominant spirit of this appealing revival, which opened last night at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

yellojkt said...: I saw it yesterday and reviewed it today on my blog today. I even got some autographs from the cast. The show was ultra-faithful to the play and had very high production values.; November 4, 2007 at 8:58:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Thanks for the review! I would love to see it!; November 4, 2007 at 9:11:00 PM EST