Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner Set for Broadway Cyrano de Bergerac

Kevin Kline will play the title role in a forthcoming Broadway production of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, co-starring with Jennifer Garner as the object of his affection, Roxane, and Daniel Sunjata as his protege, Christian. The 10-week limited engagement, directed by David Leveaux Fiddler on the Roof, Nine, Jumpers, The Real Thing, will be performed with a text translated and adaptated by Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange. Previews will begin October 12 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, and opening night is set for November 1, through December 23 only.

Based on a true story, Cyrano de Bergerac is a classic tale of romance and tragedy. The soulful poet/philosopher and brilliant swordsman Cyrano Kline, a cadet in the French Army, falls for the beautiful, strong-willed Roxane Garner, but is too ashamed of his large nose to tell her. Instead, when he learns that she loves the handsome but not-so-bright Christian de Neuvillette Sunjata, he writes poetry and love letters to Roxane on Christian's behalf. After many years, the truth is revealed. Will love or beauty conquer all?

The original production of Cyrano de Bergerac opened in Paris 1897 starring Benoît-Constant Coquelin, who performed the role over 400 times. A translated production opened on Broadway at The Garden Theatre in 1899. The longest-running Broadway production starred Walter Hampden in 1923. José Ferrer won a Tony Award for his performance in a 1946 Broadway staging, the highlight of which was a special performance in which Ferrer played the title role for the first four acts and Hampden assumed it for the fifth. The play was last seen on Broadway in 1984 starring Derek Jacobi; Frank Langella starred in a shortened off-Broadway production in 1997.

Kline played the title role in King Lear at the Public Theater last season and has starred in two productions of Hamlet as well as in Henry V, Richard III, Henry IV, Mother Courage, The Seagull, Ivanov, Much Ado About Nothing, Arms and the Man and Loose Ends. He earned Tony Awards for The Pirates of Penzance and On the Twentieth Century. On film, Kline won an Academy Award for A Fish Called Wanda and has starred in De-Lovely, Life as a House, Cry Freedom, In & Out, The Ice Storm, The Pirates of Penzance, Dave, The Big Chill and Sophie's Choice.

Garner was an understudy in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 1995 Broadway revival of A Month in the Country. A Golden Globe winner for TV's Alias, she has appeared in the films Daredevil, Catch Me If You Can, 13 Going On 30, Catch & Release and the upcoming The Kingdom.

Sunjata received a 2003 Tony nomination for Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out and appeared in a 1997 Central Park production of Henry VIII and a Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Camino Real. He is currently featured as Reggie Jackson in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx is Burning and is a regular on FX's Rescue Me. Sunjata has appeared on TV in Sex and The City and in the feature film The Devil Wears Prada.