(stage photo from losextras.es)

I’ve been on and offline a lot lately and suddenly, I saw something that made me crazy excited. I suppose this “musical theater” interest came at the right time, because I was about to watch an old MST3K episode (The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, and yes, I know, by now they’re ALL old) on YouTube when a trailer came on.

Cyrano.

As in Cyrano de Bergerac, and instead of the crazy nose issue, it’s gonna be Peter Dinklage trying to get past his stature as some kind of flaw when wooing the woman he loves.

I had no idea that this was a stage musical and much of the original cast was gonna be in this movie. Or maybe I briefly heard that PD was doing theater and the name cropped up at some point, but I wasn’t paying attention. All I know was that I saw the trailer, saw him in the first few clips, and realized they weren’t gonna do some other weird nose and makeup job, just use the dwarfism.

Fucking. Brilliant.

I think it looks like it works well because there’s still an obvious physical component for the hero to deal with. The original prominent nose angle worked so well because it would be impossible to cover up or hide, and so would a short stature. You can put any perceived major physical flaw out there to depress the hero or make them think themselves unworthy, even if they have better more important qualities deep down.

Is it just me or do some of the best classics in French literature revolve around either physical vs. internal deformity or vanity run amuck (which I guess is a spin-off of the first thing)? I keep thinking of The Beast, The Hunchback, The Phantom of the Opera… the last one’s probably why the trailer made me fangirl-squee when I saw the possibilities. And I just got some POTO sheet music in the mail and can’t wait to look through it.

But I digress.

Now I have 3 things I want to see in theaters: John Wick 4 (whenever that comes), Dune, and Cyrano. Never wanted to see a musical on a big screen before, and figured this would be a doozy. I adore Peter Dinklage and have been trying to catch up on some of his earlier stuff over the years.

What I love is what was said about the singing. I’m getting similar vibes of what people thought of Gerard Butler’s 2004 Phantom singing in some of the descriptions. Peter doesn’t have the professional prolonged training as a singer, but the emotion comes through wonderfully, according to one site.

THAT is what sold me. That right there. Now I REALLY wanna see and hear it to discover how it all turns out. Maybe these reviews and criticisms appeal to me because I’ve grown annoyed with “perfection,” especially in regards to the human voice. I’ve probably listened to too many rants over auto-tune and the like the past few months, but when the voice is fine-tuned or overly perfect, it’s like going to someone’s house and their downstairs looks like it came from a spread in a furniture catalog. Looks too cold,  uncomfortable and you’d be afraid to sneeze or walk in the room. Same with the voice, a little personality and rawness to let in the emotion is fantastic.

Oh man, I’m gonna watch the trailer again. There’s some opinion that the music’s not all it’s cracked up to be, but honestly, it’s the story that’ll sell it for me. And that idiot Tom Hooper isn’t directing (whew!).