If you've seen the José Ferrer "Cyrano de Bergerac", it's permanently etched in your memory. (The Depardieu version is good-but-not-great.) It's one of the great romances, true or fictional, and Ferrer's Oscar-winning performance will leave you in tears. What can you do to improve it?
NOTHING. Leave it alone. A timeless work doesn't need updating, let alone a translation to another venue, which only diminishes it.
"Roxanne" has a basically happy ending, which spoils the whole thing. We all cry over the things we want, but can't have. (In 2008, I lost the thing I most loved in life, but could never have.) We need catharsis. "Cyrano" supplies it. "Roxanne" is devoid of any real emotion.
NOTHING. Leave it alone. A timeless work doesn't need updating, let alone a translation to another venue, which only diminishes it.
"Roxanne" has a basically happy ending, which spoils the whole thing. We all cry over the things we want, but can't have. (In 2008, I lost the thing I most loved in life, but could never have.) We need catharsis. "Cyrano" supplies it. "Roxanne" is devoid of any real emotion.