‘Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage and film actress Haley Bennett (“The Girl on the Train” and “Thank You for Your Service”) will star in the new musical “Cyrano” at Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre Aug. 3 through Sept. 9.
The project was announced months ago but without casting details. The rest of the show’s cast has yet to be announced. The musical, based on the classic play by Edmond Rostand, already had some big names attached on the creative side: The show features music by Aaron and Bryce Dessner and lyrics by Matt Berninger, all of whom are members of the rock band The National.
“Cyrano” will be directed by Erica Schmidt, Dinklage’s wife, with whom he worked previously on a production of the Ivan Turgenev drama “A Month in the Country.”
Goodspeed Executive Director Michael Gennaro says “Cyrano” developed from a talk he had with Schmidt more than a decade ago.
“I was at Paper Mill Playhouse [in New Jersey] then and she did a production of ‘Carnival’ for me. I asked her what she wanted to do next and she said she wanted to do a musical version of ‘Cyrano de Bergerac.’ Years later, when I came here, we started talking again.
“Erica wanted to do something unconventional with the music, and I said ‘Why don’t you look for a band?’ Not long after that, she saw The National and they were interested.
“Erica’s dream was always that Peter [Dinklage] would be able to do it. We’re so fortunate that it fit his schedule.”
Gennaro says that the show is set in a purposefully indistinct time period “between 1500 and 1880,” and that there are around 10 people in the cast. The score is played live by a rock band, though not by The National itself, since the band is constantly on tour.
Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister on “Game of Thrones” and who has appeared in such acclaimed films as “The Station Agent” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” will star as Cyrano, the swordsman and poet who loves a woman named Roxanne but can’t bring himself to tell her. Bennett will play Roxanne.
Dinklage’s previous stage roles have ranged from “Knickerbocker” at the Williamstown Theatre Festival to a Christmas revue headed by singer/comedian Misty Rowe, which played the Stamford Center for the Arts in the 1980s.
Tickets to “Cyrano” are available now to Goodspeed season subscribers. Three-show 2018 Norma Terris season subscriptions will go on sale May 7 and single tickets to the individual shows will go on sale May 21. The other two shows at the Norma Terris this year are “You Are Here” and “A Connecticut Christmas Carol.” goodspeed.org/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that eight performances have been added to “Cyrano,” which will now run Aug. 3 to Sept. 9 at the Goodspeed’s Terrace Theatre.
