The Annual Theatre Review

On Sunday we made our annual pilgrimage to Stratford to see some 'thay-tuh.' It was Mavis' birthday present. Seems to be becoming a regular event. Last year we took the young 'uns and saw 'The Music Man,' which was darn good. "There's trouble in River City" and all that. Lots of parallels to life here in Hicksville, Ohio on the banks of the River Thames.

But this time it was just the two of us. The play I chose was one of those 'romantic comedies,' and I was hoping to set a certain 'mood.' As I reminded Mave all afternoon, "I'll give you your 'real' birthday present later tonight." Deja vu.

Anyway, we took in a matinee of this play called 'Cyrano!' Apparently it was written by one of those Shakespeare guys because everyone was wearing old-fashioned clothes like from the 'Three Musketeers' time. Lots of sword-fighting and battle scenes too. Action packed!

It's all about this Cyrano de Bergerac guy who has this big nose and has all these adventures and stuff. Sort of like 'Pinocchio' but without the big whale and the six-legged sidekick. Ol' Cyrano didn't need any wise-beyond-his-days insect anyway. The guy was pretty smart all on his own.

Not too smart though, because he didn't get the girl until it was too late. In the end, he did get her and seemed alright with that. But that's kind of sad. Weren't a dry eye in the house at that point. Turns out that Cyrano was a lot like Pinocchio all along. His whole life was a lie.

But Cyrano was pretty funny too. He made jokes about his nose all the time. Even though he was supposedly sensitive about it. Maybe it was one of those self-defence things. You know, you beat others from making fun of you by making jest of yourself first.

Such as, when Cyrano's rival, a young pretty-boy jock named 'Christian' first spies Cyrano as he's coming around the corner because his nose preceded him by a foot, Christian lets loose with a number of zingers. Like, "Hey, is that a banana you're eating - or is that your nose?"

But one-liners were in short supply whenever Cyrano opened his mouth. One of those guys in love with the sound of his own voice if you know what I mean. Why use five words to describe something if you can say it with a hundred?

And when he was finally dying (*** Oops, SPOILER ALERT !!! *** one (or two) of the main characters die during the course of the movie,) I swear it was the looooonnngest death scene I've ever seen.

Let's just say that he didn't go quietly into that good night. The guy just wouldn't shut up. I don't know if he was trying to postpone his appointment with the Grim Reaper or just bore him to death. Which would be ironic, if you really think about it. ... Whoa!

Anyway, it was a great production. Colm Feore played Cyrano. And he's always good. I think it plays till the end of the first week of November. I highly recommend it.