Cyrano: A classic successfully reborn

There are two real-world couples at the heart of this newest iteration of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play.

Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour), bouncing back from whatever The Woman in the Window was supposed to be, directs his partner Haley Bennett in this wildly inventive new musical.

The title character’s proboscis is no longer the prosthetic that cast a shadow on such famous Cyrano interpreters as José Ferrer (who won an Oscar in the role), Gérard Depardieu and Steve Martin.

Instead, playwright and theatre director Erica Schmidt has reworked Rostand’s romantic hero as an unrequited lover of short stature, an ideal role for her husband Peter Dinklage, who originated the role in Schmidt’s 2018 stage musical. In doing so, she has rekindled the tragedy of the tale.

The nuts and bolts of the plot are unchanged. Cyrano (Dinklage), a man possessed of wit, wiles and mad sword skills, has yearned for the clever, charming Roxanne (Bennett) since his youth. She, however, has fallen in love with a handsome young soldier named Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr). The tongue-tied Christian enlists the articulate Cyrano’s help in writing love letters, an arrangement that allows for Cyrano to express his true feelings while another man seduces the object of his affections.

The songs and vocal performances are solid. Aaron and Bryce Dessner, recent Grammy winners for their work on Taylor Swift’s Folklore, wrote and composed the soundtrack, with lyrics from Matt Berninger, the frontman of their band The National , and his wife Carin Besser. (The best track features a melancholic chorus and Glen Hansard, making his first film appearance since Once.)

The spectacle, however, is the main event. Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran’s costume designs, Seamus McGarvey’s whirling camera, and Alessandro Bertolazzi and Sian Miller’s hair and make-up give Cyrano the lavish look and feel of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s grander, golden-age musicals.

Wright adds to the occasion with imaginative storytelling. The film-maker excels at both huge set pieces, including a Franco-Spanish battle shot on a snow-capped Sicilian mountain and such moviemaking magic as an impressionistic fight scene in which Cyrano is cornered by ten assailants.

In an ideal world, it’ll do Greatest Showman box office business. Mind you, in an ideal world, Dinklage’s forlorn turn would be nominated for an Oscar.