Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac is massively influential to contemporary theater—so it’s easy to forget that the show itself was influenced by so many other stories. Rostand took the real-life history of Bergerac (a 17th-century author and playwright) and created a modern myth: The talented French cadet Cyrano falls in love with his distant cousin Roxane, but because of his large nose and insecurity, only expresses his love in hidden ways. Within his play, Rostand references Greek tragedy, the Pygmalion myth, and William Shakespeare—and Rostand has since inspired everything from a Steve Martin comedy to a sumptuous recent musical.

This cycle of adaptation continues with Taffety Punk Theatre Company’s Cyrano, now playing at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Lise Bruneau writes

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