Bennet and Dinklage
Critics have given generally favorable reviews to the upcoming film musical Cyrano, based on the 2019 Off-Broadway stage musical adapted from Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. The movie was screened September 2 at Telluride Film Festival and is scheduled for release December 31. Joe Wright directs the screenplay by musical librettist Erica Schmidt, whose take on Rostand’s work is to emphasize the title character’s height rather than his nose. The remaining creative team includes Aaron and Bryce Dessner (music), Matt Berninger and Carin Besser (lyrics), Seamus McGarvey (cinematography), Valerio Bonelli (editing), Sarah Greenwood (production design), Katie Spencer (set decoration), and Massimo Cantini Parrini (costumes).
Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennet, who headline the film cast as Cyrano and Roxanne, also starred in Goodspeed Opera House’s 2018 workshop of the stage musical. Jasmine Cephas Jones played opposite Dinklage in the show’s Off-Broadway premiere. The film cast also features Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Christian), Ben Mendelsohn (De Guiche), and Bashir Salahuddin (Le Bret). Below is a clip of Dinklage singing “Madly” in the Off-Broadway production.
Deadline (Pete Hammond): MGM in its golden era was the movie musical factory. … Cyrano is worthy of that tradition — and then some. … I have no doubt that Peter Dinklage, transforming brilliantly here into the heart and soul of this man, will find his just rewards as well. He certainly deserves to. … [Schmidt] and Wright also masterfully have made a musical where characters break from dialogue into song with such ease it doesn’t intrude at all, but rather feels natural, which is no easy feat.
IndieWire (David Ehrlich): Is it good? In parts! Is it intoxicated with the same demented bravado that its namesake embodies? … Absolutely. And that’s plenty to sing about. … Dinklage, Harrison, Bennett and the rest can carry a tune and then some, but only a cameo appearance … compels the movie to serve up a meatier song. It’s an outlier in a movie that swirls together too many strong ingredients for any one of them to leave much of a taste. Any one of them except for Peter Dinklage. Grade: B-
The Playlist (Gregory Ellwood): Dinklage and Bennett both appeared together in the musical workshops of Schmidt’s version, and it’s easy to recognize the natural chemistry they have on screen. … What hinders their performances and the film itself is some atrociously clumsy dialogue that pops up at the most inopportune times. … This version of Cyrano feels less fresh or contemporary than it wants to be. Something is missing either in the songs, the staging, or, more likely, the screenplay. [B-/C+]
Variety (Peter Debruge): Wright’s splendid new adaptation presents Cyrano as 21st-century MGM musical. … Dinklage truly merits leading-man status, and while his singing voice leaves something to be desired, Schmidt’s bespoke script plays to many of the star’s unique strengths — it’s a love letter the likes of which Rostand would no doubt approve. … Brilliant though Schmidt’s script may be, Cyrano would be the first to admit, “Words can only get me so far.” Wright’s direction does the rest.
The Wrap (Monica Castillo): Cyrano … is the latest stab at the story, but it’s one that arrives with a decidedly mixed result. … It’s admirable that Wright, Schmidt, Dinklage, Bennett and the rest of the crew and crew aimed so ambitiously high in their attempt to create a version of Cyrano de Bergerac that’s unlike any other adaptation in the way it ditches the nose and adds musical numbers. … Perhaps it’s why this version of Cyrano felt so bittersweet, leaving the audience with a sense of what might have been.