Cyrano! on PBS! tonight!

[ellenkushner]

Hey! The Kevin Kline Cyrano de Bergarac that I saw (and posted about) last year on Broadway is on PBS "Great Performances" tonight at 8:00!

Aha, thinks I, I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to record via my new DVD player/recorder...

Oh, ha. No f*in' way. The words of the Manual, they are as the Hindu Greek to me - or rather, the things it does when I ask it to obey the manual are just plain silly, and not at all to the point.

So if anyone else manages to capture it, I would be much obliged to you for a copy. [ADDED: My tech god, Mr E-- M--, is doing so even as I type. Let's hope his works! - He was kind enough to point out to me that the reason the Input Cable thingie was coming up blank was because there is, indeed, no cable put in to my DVD yet. Ha. I'm not as dumb as I look.]

If you read my old post, you'll see why: it does seem like a Sign from the New Year, showing up as it does this very week, to sit down and get started on the thing. You may be sure I will consult your many helpful comments of 12/8/07 as I do so.

**ADDED**
I'm so happy that lots of people got to see it because of my post (useful, for once!) - and that more technosavvy (or better-endowed) than I will look it up and record the 2 a.m./repeat broadcasts...)! Enjoy - and let me know what you thought.

Comments

[fatfred.livejournal.com]

I'm taping it down here in Florida... I can give you a copy.
I am waiting to see it. I'm not as fond of the Burgess translation, it seems to lose some of it's poetry. But I would like to see what Kline does with it.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

It's not just Kevin - the supporting cast is the creme de la creme of NYC stage actors - some of the best "small parts" I've ever seen! Enjoy! (And Eugene is taping it for me to DVD up here, so I think I can save us postage....But thank you very much for coming to my rescue!)

[fatfred.livejournal.com]

De Nada.
If things don't work out, offer still applies.

[jodi-davis.livejournal.com]

You really make me wish I lived close enough to hoof it over and help you with the tech stuff. I would love too - and then I'd arrange your calendar and be your assistant ;)

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

I'm watching it. The only other version I've seen is the movie with Gerard Depardieu, and IMHO Kevin is no Gerard, but I really like this translation. I'd forgotten what a good play this is.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

We've got the Depardieu, and I must watch it again now. It's not just the acting, it's the scene-setting that is so utterly scrumptious in that one!

It is a remarkably well-constructed play, isn't it?

[girasole.livejournal.com]

I loved that version - I thought Kline was brilliant, although that is not the translation I love.
I just turned it on the TV, too late to record, but that's OK.

[jdulac.livejournal.com]

thank you for the news, I am watching it now!

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Way back in the 70s there was a Great Performances production of Cyrano that is my personal standard, although I haven't seen it since then. Pity it was shown too early to have been archived and reproduced.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for the heads-up! And if all else fails, we've got it recording to the DVR and can burn a DVD from there. But it looks like you're covered :).

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

ah crap. so naturally I don't see this post until about 9:15. Hmm, methinks I'll have to use the VIOS search feature...

[ebenstone.livejournal.com]

I almost missed this...but they are replaying it at midnight, so I'm DVRing it.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yay! So happy I was instrumental in helping lots of good people to see this!

[theniwokesoftly.livejournal.com]

I got so excited when I saw that! I've recorded it :D

[paulakate.livejournal.com]

Thanks, now that I know it exists, we put it in our Netflix queue!!

[crossbow1.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Jennifer Garner nearly killed me with her scenery chewing. In your review you said she was "weak" but that didn't prepare me. I thought she wrecked it. Roxanne's lovability is key to the entire play, and I just wanted her to shut up. It was like, why are these people in love with this idiot? She's not supposed to be an idiot.

I liked everyone else, and as I said I liked the translation for the most part, but for me Jennifer made the whole thing fall flat.

Still, I'm glad you mentioned it, because I had forgotten what a good play it is and now I want to see it again - with a better Roxanne.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Yeah - she was pretty hard to take onstage live, but shot close-up she was pretty night unbearable...

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for mentioning this! I should never have managed to catch it, else -- although, like you, I've set up to record the later replay. Still though, Cryano's been my favorite for years now, and after your review of it last year, I'm thrilled to get a chance to see Kevin Klein's spin on the role.

[margdean56.livejournal.com]

I saw it! Of course I was already planning to, but...

I have to second (third?) the criticism of Roxane; I thought she was too loud and not refined enough (I mean, isn't that the whole point?), but on the whole I liked it.

And, oh Ellen, =was= that "Les Barricades Mysterieuses" they were playing at the end? Just a few bars, but...

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Hi, Margaret!!

Yep, that was "Barricades Mysterieuses" all right - stars for noticing!

And yes, Roxane was downright shrill. Even harder to watch on TV than she was live in the theatre. I really felt for poor Kevin, playing against her - she gave him nothing to work with; he just had to hold his focus, which he did....

[oleander9999.livejournal.com]

I loved it, and I love Cyrano. I am partial to the Hooker translation, though. My standard is my childhood favorite -- the Caedmon recording of Ralph Richardson and Anna Massey (wish they'd put those Caedmon treasures on CD or online!!!!)

I remember seeing All About Eve for the first time and realizing that the Aged Actor who gives Eve the award in the first scene was WALTER HAMPDEN, the original American Cyrano! Yikes. And oh, my goodness, I just wiki'd him and he was the father in Sabrina, too.

But Kevin Kline was born for the role (as was Depardieu.) Both, alas, had substandard Roxanes. Roxane is hard to get right! I thought Anna Massey (her voice, anyway) was perfect. Hope someday to see a comparable actress in the role.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

They haven't put the Caedmons on CD?! ARgh! Must be a rights issue. But that is immensely regrettable. Wow, and entire generation that's never heard T.S. Elliot reading "Jellicle Cats" or Dylan Thomas intoning "Fern Hill" . . . . .

I don't think I've ever seen a Roxane I've really liked. I'll just have to write one.

[oleander9999.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently Harper Audio owns the Caedmon catalog and they have SOME stuff out, though way too much still on audiocassette (!?!?!) They have a lot of Dylan Thomas, thank goodness, so that's all right. But not a ton of the plays. I imagine they think there's no market for them, but the feebleness of their website indicates that they don't have a clue how to market their treasure trove anyway. I guess I wish they'd just put them on iTunes or eMusic or Rhapsody or wherever and wait for the niche market to come to them...

I so honor the two young women who started Caedmon -- think of the magic they created!

And, while we're at it, where is the complete Cyril Ritchard Alice and Through the Looking Glass with music by Alec Wilder??

[bluestalking.livejournal.com]

KEVIN KLINE = CYRANO DE BERGERAC?!?

Someday I must find this. O_O

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the pointer to Cyrano! We watched and recorded. Kline was fantastic. Garner, not so much, but the rest of the cast was amazing. What possessed her to play it as melodrama?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Melodrama? She should only be so lucky. I thought she played it as "I'm going to shout a bunch of lines I don't really understand, all at the exact same level." The only time she exhibited any variety was when she was being comical. Is she normally supposed to be a good actress?

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

Just an FYI--recording was successful! I'll burn it to a DVD tonight.

I enjoyed Garner's work in Alias, but she was completely out of her element on the stage, from the few minutes I saw last night. I look forward to watching the full program though. Thanks for the heads up! :)