Playwright: Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker. At: Oak Park Festival Theatre at Austin Gardens, 150 Forest, Oak Park. Phone: 708-445-4440; $$27. Runs through: August 15
Why Edmond Rostand chose a deformed nose as the visual embodiment of his hero's tragic flaw is for the cultural anthropologists to argue. Whatever its inspiration, the plot for this 1898 romantic tragedy has proven one of the most reliable in 20th-century American playwrighting, recycled countless times into a variety of ethnic, geographical and social milieus. The universality of its appeal is hardly a mysterywho cannot admire the dashing Cyrano de Bergerac, a cavalier-soldier possessed of all the manly virtues, but so conscious of his ugly face that he courts the object of his affections on behalf of his handsome rival?
Indeed, so rigidly selfless are the deeds performed by this paragon that it's easy to overlook the darker aspects of the character. His acquaintances constantly remind us that he tolerates no slight to his honora duty extending to the protection of his supportersand recklessly embarks on imprudent risks to avenge himself upon those he feels deserving of comeuppance. ( In the first scene alone, he composes a poem while engaging in a duel, and follows this up by vowing to take on the hundred hired thugs who threaten a weaker comrade's safety. ) And as long as nobody dies, we enjoy the swaggering of this bully boy champion who fears only a lady's scorn. But when war looms on the horizon, the stakes escalate in this game of flirting and fighting.
Director Kevin Theis' decision to cast an actor more often associated with comedic roles to play this complex nonpareil might initially seem an odd choice. Festival Theatre regular Jack Hickey proves himself adroit in his interpretation of Brian Hooker's florid translation, however, his textual sensitivity assuring our equal awareness of both Cyrano's sardonic humor and the pride that fuels it, the better to heighten the tragedy when he must finally confront the defeat that ultimately undoes all such self-styled invincibles.
Hickey can't do it all alone, of course. Katherine Keberlein moves effortlessly from Disney-princess girlishness to womanly wisdom in the role of the beautiful Lady Roxane, as does Wesley Scott as the likewise dumb-but-pretty Christian de Neuvillette, and a uniformly agile ensemble of players who sprint through their pacesincluding triple Jeff-winner Geoff Coates' intricate swordplaywith an alacrity and enthusiasm to overcome the unseasonable chill in Oak Park's Austin Gardens, making every minute of this outdoor production an event to remember.