What is it with Ben Mendelssohn and Joe Wright?

Wright casts him in supporting roles and Mendelssohn walks away with the picture.

It happened in Darkest Hour and it’s happened again in CYRANO.

Mendelssohn stars as de Guiche, with the swagger of Errol Flynn and the sneer of Basil Rathbone, a nasty nobleman nuptial inclined towards Roxanne, the secret love of Cyrano, who serves de Guiche as captain of his garrison guard.

Cyrano has secretly been in love with Roxanne for his entire adult life, but also convinced that his appearance and short stature renders him unworthy of her love. Fearless in all other respects, Cyrano has faint heart in letting her know his true feelings and so loses fair lady to newly arrived King’s Guard recruit Christian, handsome air headed inarticulate.

Roxanne pleads with Cyrano to promise her that he will watch over and protect Christian, an offer he cannot refuse, and in doing so catfishes his object of desire, writing love letters on Christian’s behalf, at last able to express his true feelings to Roxanne, albeit through someone else.

Eschewing the prominent proboscis for the unique physique of Peter Dinklage is a definite plus in this adaptation of the body issue play, too proud to ask, too good to receive.

This production of CYRANO is written by Erica Schmidt, based on her stage musical version of Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac. Members of the celebrated group, The National, brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner composed music, and husband and wife Matt Berninger and Carin Besser wrote the lyrics.

The songs range from the lacklustre, lame and lachrymose to the stirring Wherever I Fall( performed by Glen Hansard, Sam Amidon, and Scott Folan) and the deliciously delivered What I Deserve (sung by Ben Mendelssohn) but they are not the sole cause of the flatness of the piece.

Director Joe Wright fails to integrate the music and choreography into a holistic narrative. The numbers become intrusive instead of inclusive, the steps stilted and distractedly out of synch. Tom Hopper made Cats and his career hasn’t recovered. Will Joe survive a similar blow?