The drama department at Tunstall gave the performance of “Cyrano de Burger Shack” for staff and students. “Cyrano de Burger Shack” is a modern retelling of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” a French play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897. 

The original play was about a swordsman and poet, Cyrano, who fell in love but can’t show his love because his large nose creates self-doubt and hurts his self-confidence. This weakness in his character allows another character, Christian, to steal Roxanne’s heart. Instead of acting defensive towards Christian, he helps him, breaking the age-long trope of a traditional love triangle.

Christian, played by Anders Lindenberger, was excited about the play and felt that the cast did really well regardless of nerves, and he was proud of the effort the cast put into working on the production, which was a little over three months.

“There was a lot of panic because it’s so weird since it’s the same play we’ve been doing for months,” said Lindenberger.

Cast member Magdalena Raber, who played Cyrano, had to wear a very large prosthetic nose that had some audience members wondering how one would be able to sing in it. 

“It was not hard to breathe in the nose because there were holes. The only issue was when my nose gets stopped up, and I can’t blow it. It’s really hard to drink and impossible to eat too,” said Raber.

There are a number of similarities between the original play and the performance. The jukebox musical adaptation borrowed some key scenes from the original. In the original, Rostand wrote a scene where Christian attempts to charm Roxanne with words right outside her window. In the adaptation this scene happens in the drive-thru.

In the school production, Christian attempts to charm Roxanne (Miranda Smallwood). Cyrano (Raber) and his big nose comes to help and speaks to Roxanne making her think those moving words are coming from Christian.

The play’s audience had nothing but wonders to say about the actors and actresses’ performances. But the song choices were the real star of the show. “I really liked Wanda and her outfits, they were really good. I also really enjoyed the drive-thru scene. It was a good song choice,” said Kelsie Scott.

Another audience member, Mollie Hanks, also enjoyed the music. “I loved the turtle song a lot but all the song choices were amazing,” Hanks said.

The next performances are March 23-25, and they will begin at 7:00 pm and doors open at 6:30 pm in the THS auditorium for family members and friends. The cast welcomes the community and any students who were unable to attend during the school day, or anyone who wants to see the performance again.