Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...For this play to work, you have to believe in, and pull for, the relationship between the title character with the big sniffer (here played by Harry Groener) and Roxane (the wholly miscast Julie Jesneck). In this production, you're constantly pulled out of the action by the sense that these two would not be happy, even if Roxane could get past her youthful obsession with good looks. This show only works if Roxane, that flaw aside, is every bit the equal in eloquence and charm of the man who is wooing her through a handsome surrogate. That just does not happen in this production. Even in the famous last scene - when done right, it is almost too painful to watch, so eloquent is its encapsulation of life's brevity and the permanence of some errors - Jesneck's dominant emotion comes off as anger. She seems to feel almost nothing. It is a brittle performance in a role that must be all heart."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...In her lavish new production of "Cyrano," director Penny Metropulos (who did such a memorable job with Bennett's "The Madness of George III" in 2011), captures the splendor and deceit and showmanship of the play. And as Cyrano, which is a true bear of a role, her leading actor, Harry Groener (brilliant as the title character in "King George III"), once again demonstrates his masterful way with language, as well as his impressive physical grace, including a fearless way with Rick Sordelet's thrilling fight choreography. But something absolutely crucial is missing: The heartbreaking emotion."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Still, Metropulos and company turn it into a fluid and gorgeous one. Fight director Rick Sordelet supplies some of the best swordplay I've seen on a stage. The set by Kevin Depinet includes projections of clouds and of the moon that confer just the right suggestion of a dream, while Chicago Shakespeare regulars like Ross Lehman, William Dick, Wendy Robie, and Sean Fortunato counterbalance the dream with their affable reality. And Burgess's script is thrilling. Though it may not seem that way, A Clockwork Orange is a cry against modernity. Burgess is precisely in his element with Rostand."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Such a bias can be refreshing: Roxane, for example, is not the familiar romantic-age airhead, but a "bookish" damsel whose quick wit enables her to gull adversaries in service of her allies, and whose penchant for pretty words reflects, not vanity, but a revulsion for vulgar animal appetites. On the other hand, Burgess' puritanism mandates a Cyrano so wholly absorbed in his own genius as to appear an unsuitable match for any wife not prepared to share his monastic lifestyle. Would the love of a good woman mellow him, or would his misanthropy ultimately sour her?"
Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended
"...After the warmth and energy of the first half, the play’s second act drags at times, especially during the long, autumnal scene that ends the play. This is the fault not of the players but of Edmund Rostand’s text, which dances between mirth and melancholy throughout, but grows increasingly mournful towards the end. Rostand can be forgiven though, since he had a complicated point to make. Ideals of honor and love are worth fighting for, even if they turn out to be, like Rageneau’s verses and Cyrano’s letters, mere fictions."
Chicagoist - Somewhat Recommended
"...Metropulos’s production is a lot like the pretty boy Christian. Thanks to beautifully detailed costumes by Susan Mickey and a hard-working ensemble (Ross Lehman as the baker Ragueneau is a stand-out), the play is beautifully wrought. Ultimately, though, the content fails to fully satisfy on an emotional level. After three long hours waiting for the big emotional payout, we’re left wishing the production focused a little less on looks and a little more on what truly matters: the heart-wrenching, raw power of unrequited love."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The weakness of this production is, sadly, in its central romantic conflict; Groener holds up his end, but there's a serious lack of heat. Jesneck's Roxane comes off as shallow from the get-go, at the expense of us seeing what inspires such a tragic, all-consuming love in Cyrano. Only when she lambasts Christian for his failure to produce any grander words than "I love you" does she begin to feel like Cyrano's equal, but even here anger and petulance dominates any other layers of her character that moment could have revealed. Dillenburg's Christian, meanwhile, just doesn't seem that into Roxane. We don't have to root for their success, but I never got the sense that either of them believed in it at all. As a consequence, reveals go flat, and that final scene-in which Cyrano is finally reunited with his words-feels unearned. As good as many elements of this production are, if it can only intellectualize Cyrano's devotion and not cause us to feel it ourselves, it may be missing something of the spirit of its subject."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Superb character work comes from the always reliable Ross Lehman as the all-purpose pastry cook Ragueneau, Sean Fortunato as Cyrano's supple confidant, Wendy Robie as Roxane's foxy companion, and Aloysius Gigl is a dignified villain as the Count de Guiche, Cyrano's aristocratic rival and military superior. (Curiously, the production omits Raguneau's all-important wagon in the fourth act-where Christian and Roxane finally consummate their marriage before the Siege of Arras.) The ensemble of Gascon cadets, patrons of the Theatre Beaujolais, pastry-shop patrons, and the nuns in Roxane's convent acquit themselves with all the splendor of a sumptuous budget."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...If ever there were an ironic, painful tale of missed opportunity, it is this one, coupled with theme of looking beyond superficial beauty, which is as poignant and relevant today as when it was written 116 years ago. The story and acting are so heart wrenching that many in the audience were wiping away tears at the same moment that they rose for the highly deserved standing ovation."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Somewhat Recommended
"...Metropulos' overall direction is slow-paced. She takes her time setting up the scenes. Even potential action oriented scenes become mere backdrop to the ongoing lecture circuit. The continual addresses are delivered in such a slow cadence that my audience mates are lulled into intermittent slumber. Chicago Shake's CYRANO de BERGERAC is indeed a sleepy production."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"..."Love is a many splenored thing" was a song that I remember growing up in the 50′s. I also grew up wanting to be as daring and romantic as Edmond Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac after watching the brilliant portrayal of this "hero" by Jose Ferrer. In fact in all my speech and drama classes in high school and in college, I used speeches from this fabulous text to show my abilities on the stage. When it was announced that Chicago Shakespeare was going to have this play on it's schedule, goose bumps were my response and today, after seeing this production, the same goose bumps came back to me as this is a solid production of a classic story."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...While Cyrano's story is ultimately sad and lamentable, there is much humor and humanity to Penny Metropolus' production. An enormous amount of her success, however, is her collaboration with her terrific lead, Harry Groener, so flawless in the title role, and supported by a large cast and scores of theatre artisans making Rostand's play a fragrant rose."
Huffington Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...What's the issue? Metropulos's direction is fine, if flat. Production values, including some pretty jewel-tone gowns designed by Susan E. Mickey, are lovely, but uninspired. The showy Groener gives his all, but his scenes between Roxanne (Julie Jesneck) feel off. The mousey Jesneck offers a Roxanne that's intelligent and grounded, but lacking vulnerability. She also seems kind of a brat. One isn't quite sure what all the fuss over her is, especially from Christian (Nick Dillenburg), a pretty boy who lacks the gift of gab (thus leans on Cyrano) but remains gobsmacked by Roxanne's beauty."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Somewhat Recommended
"...Newcomers to "Cyrano de Bergerac" might leave the theater believing they had seen a play whose shelf life was close to expiration. The lack of coherent narrative and the thinness of every character but Cyrano and the length of the production date the play back to an era that wasn't too particular about niceties of plot and character development. And yet I saw a revival at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival many years ago that starred Christopher Plummer and was radiant in its humor and epic sweep. So there is still classic stuff in the Rostand warhorse, but it needs an expansive and fanciful treatment too seldom found in the CST presentation."
