Review: Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cyrano

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What do you get when you add some swash-buckling sword fighting, a blind priest and a heart-wrenching love story? A great ballet by David Bintley.

Elisha Willis as Roxane and Iain Mackay as Christian photo by Bill Cooper

Bintley’s Cyrano has hit the Birmingham stage once more, and after critical acclaim for its relaunch in 2007, this production does not fail to please the audience of 2009.

The first essential ingredient is an impeccable story – based on the French 19th century play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, Bintley transforms the essentials of the complicated plot to the ballet stage – a fair feat, requiring a heavy dose of mime. In a nutshell, Cyrano is a charming fellow who has been dealt an unfortunate hand by mother nature in the form of a grossly unattractive large nose. He makes up for this defect, however, by having a huge heart, unbeatable sword action and gift with words. He soon realises he’ll never be able to capture the attention of the most sought after girl in town – Roxane – but decides to help young Christian win her heart by a series of love letters and poems – written by Cyrano but signed by Christian.

And here is the crux of Bintley’s ballet – the poetry from Rostand’s play must be translated into dance – cue Carl Davis’ beautiful score. Without the repeated string phrase which symbolises Cyrano’s penned odes to Roxanne, much of the sentiment from the original play would be lost. Combine this with impressive set designs by Hayden Griffin and superb dancing from the principals in the company and you have a night of unparalleled entertainment.

Robert Parker, on whom Cyrano was created, could not bring more expression and depth to his character, and in dancing terms is in a league of his own. While maintaining excellent technique, Parker gives Cyrano a layered narrative – letting the audience see his gracious and tender heart, alongside the cocky facade he puts on for his pals. The characterisation can make Christian, danced by Iain Mackay, seem more one-dimensional and the duet between himself and Roxane – Elisha Willis – lack the passion and emotion reserved for her dances with Parker. Bintley’s daring choreography showcases Willis’s perfect jetées and some trademark double-loop dipping lifts. She brings a wholesomeness to her character, required to let the audience feel she deserves Cyrano’s love and the intricate mime sequences from all three main characters propel the ballet from start to finish.

Aside from the tender love story there are some truly memorable moments from the rest of the corps de ballet. Notably a mock-Rose adagio from Sleeping Beauty danced by four flexed-footed male cooks, a scene where Cyrano pretends to be an alien with a lampshade on his head to stall Roxanne’s ill-willed suitor, and a number of captivating all-male ensemble dances. Bintley balances the romance with humour to make the tragedy complete and move you from laughter to tears.

Some elements of the stage management do distract from the focus of the dancing – including some over-elaborate pyrotechnics, long interuptions for scene changes and the dark puffed-sleaved puffed-trousered zorro costumes – which can detract from the dancer’s lines.

But the audience on opening night was full of bustle and excitement – and gave a roaring cheers for the cast as the curtain fell – a testament to their appreciation for all the hard work gone into the production, their love for the lead characters and, ultimately, empathy for Cyrano’s plight. Rostand’s romanticism is captured in this story of unrequited love, selflessness, and self-awareness – if only Roxane could have seen beyond that big old nose!

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cyrano runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 3 October and will then tour to venues in Belfast, Plymouth, Sunderland and London. See BRB’s website for more details.