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swordsman. . . musician . . .sky voyager . . . great debater. . . lover, too, not for his own good. Here lies Hercules-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who did everything and did nothing. - Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac ![]() From the New York Times
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Just for Fun
The Cyrano Server, now defunct, was an online service that would write both love and break-up letters for you.The site used a MadLibs approach to construction.
Teacher Materials Cyrano de Bergerac: Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder Lesson Plans for Cyrano approach the play through a discussion of what beauty is for men and for women. Jeana Rock, the teacher who developed the unit, has some great ideas for accessing and using music videos, song lyrics, film adaptations, social media accounts as a way of engaging students. Uses Brad Paisleys Online music video to introduce unit, available on YouTube.
Three full units with 10 lessons and relevant handouts, developed for seventh grade but useful for older students as well --
Enriched Classics has an excellent group research project associated with the play. The Glencoe Literature Library 30-page guide includes activities and worksheets for every act, with a strong focus on active reading. Excellent. The Signet Teacher Guide incudes activities, discussion questions, and deeper analysis. Teach with Movies has a detailed guide, keyed to the 1990 Depardieu film, in French, with English subtitles. The Shmoop Guide for the play is insightful and seductive. It could easily serve as an introduction to the reading. Always interesting is the Shmoop Why Should I Care? answer -- not usually the expected answer. Also covers symbolism, tone, writing style, title, genre, and plot analysis (classic Freytags Pyramid and Booker’s Seven Basic Archetypal Plots). The Best of the Web Resources page links to videos and art files. Online cheat sheet guides -- Book Rags, Cliff Notes, GradeSaver, Novelguide, or SparkNotes. Miscellaneous Reviews “Fighting and Writing” by John Lahr -- 2007 Kevine Kline & Jennifer Gardner Broadway (New Yorker, 4 November 2007). “Why Is ‘Cyrano’ Still So Potent? Ask Anyone Who’s Loved at All” by Jason Bailey -- History of the play’s popularity, to Dinklage (New York Times, 25 February 2022). “‘Cyrano de Bergerac,’ Now Noseless and Drunk on Words” by Jesse Green -- emphasizes the word-craziness of the language (New York Times, 14 April 2022). ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ at Synetic Theater by Justin Rustle (MD Theatre Guide, 8 August 2023 -- all-clown cast. Yes, clowns. Derivative Interpretations Mary T. Christel, an AP English veteran, discusses common elements in several films derived from Cyrano de Bergerac in her article “Making the Unfamiliar Familiar Through Film.” Offering practical suggestions for three major adaptations. Cyrano & Roxanne
The famous Nose Speech from Roxanne. Video clip of the Twenty Something Betters (actually 25). Both are a little racey, maybe PG-13ish. Cyrano
Paraphrase - vocabulary activity based on sentences from
reviews of Roxanne. Viewing Guide for Cyrano -- Worksheet to takecomparison/contrast notes and culminating essay activity. Trailer for the Movie -- overview could almost serve as a review of Cyrano, as well as an introduction to Roxanne. The Truth about Cats and Dogs Not as clever as Roxanne, but still derived from Cyrano de Bergerac, The Truth about Cats and Dogs demonstrates the similarities in its trailer, while reversing the genders in the romantic triangle. Abby, a veterinarian and radio talk show host who asks her model friend Noelle to impersonate her when a handsome man shows interest in her, and the role reversals begin. Let It Shine Let It Shine follows 16-year-old Cyrus DeBarge, an aspiring musician who has a gift for rhyme yet lacks the self-confidence to take the stage and, through his rap song, tell his longtime crush Roxanne Andrews how he feels about her. His flighty best friend, Kris McDuffy is mistakenly named the winner for a song Cyrus wrote. Fearful of being thrust into the spotlight, Cyrus panics and allows Kris to take credit for his heartfelt lyrics and soon he’s standing by as Roxanne begins to fall for Kris. . .
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Two Very Diferent Recent Versions of Cyrano | ||
Not the usual elegant period production, McAvoy’s intensity may appeal to our students. Jamie Lloyd’s production uses everything from rap and beat-boxing to poetry slam mics front of stage. Martin Crimp adapts Rostand’s Alexandrine verse with modern parlance and street slang. James McAvoy’s Cyrano raps in a Scottish accent, in leather and denim, unencumbered by an exaggerated nose. And it kind of works. Reviews
Video Clips The National Theater offers a paid streaming service, worth keeping an eye on for encore dates (NT Live). Not currently available. Martin Crimp Script available on Amazon (Kindle & paperback). |
Joe Wright’s Cyrano is not a direct adaptation of Rostand’s play, but a screen translation of Erica Schmidt’s stage musical, which ran in 2018 with Peter Dinklage (her real life husband) playing Cyrano. In this version, Cyrano de Bergerac is not a man with an outrageously large nose, but a man of short stature. Reviews
Video Clips
Erica Schmidt Full Screenplay (full text). |
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