In 1640 at the Hall of the Hotel de Bourgogne—a large, crowded theater impatiently awaits the performance of the play La Clorise. As the people wait, a thief moves through the crowd, stealing handkerchiefs and purses from different people. Suddenly, two elegant marquises, with their swords, walk through the crowd and the crowd cheers, knowing the performance will commence soon. As the audience awaits for the play to commence, Cyrano is informed that an actor he banned from performing, Montfleury, is about to act. Knowing this, Cyrano plans to crash his acting.
At this point, Christian has not heard of Cyrano and asks Le Bret who he is. Le Bret describes him as an outstanding poet and swordsman. Suddenly, Christian spots the woman he has fallen in love with, Roxanne, but is sad to hear that she is an intellectual knowing he is not so smart himself.
As the crowd begins to chant for the play, the guards want to make sure that Cyrano is out of sight because they know that Cyrano would start a fight with Montfleury. As Montfleury begins to say his lines, he is over-voiced by Cyrano in the background telling Montfleury to leave the stage at once.
The importance of this first act is how we get introduced to the characters. It also tells us how badly Cyrano hates Montfleury. It also keeps us with the suspense as to what Cyrano will do when he confronts Montfleury.
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