No One Nose

Picture a man who has it all: manly, brave, intelligent, the soul of a poet. He also has a great big honkin' schnoz. His friend is less gifted in the personality department, but damn is he good-looking. Women, being driven entirely by superficial concerns, always opt for the good-looking guy, right? Well, that's what Cyrano de Bergerac thinks, so the rakish swashbuckler with the peninsular nose acts as an eloquent go-between for his young friend, Christian, while the latter romances Roxane. Even though Cyrano acutely loves Roxane, he woos her for his friend because he can't believe she could be interested in a disfigured man such as himself — why, it's as plain as the nose on his face that he's mistaken. Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac proves that love trips up the best of us, and makes fools of us all — but we mostly fool ourselves. St. Louis Shakespeare presents Cyrano de Bergerac at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (March 11 through 20) at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue; 314-361-9017 or www.stlshakespeare.org). Tickets are $20 to $25.
Thursdays-Sundays. Starts: March 11. Continues through March 20, 2011