Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Lady Roxane was also a real person—de Bergerac's cousin—and was married to the Baron of Neuvillette. (Source)
The crazy "man on the moon" scene in the play is based off the real de Bergerac's speculations on space travel. (Source)
Young Rostand was befriended by an usher at his school. This usher had a conspicuously shiny nose that made him the target of ridicule by the students. He befriended young Eddy when he discovered unfinished verses in the boy's desk. (Source: Hooker, Elisabeth. "Introduction: I. Edmond Rostand." Cyrano de Bergerac. Trans. Brian Hooker. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1937. ix.)
Rostand was forced to study law though he did not like it. By night he wrote poetry—sound a little like a certain pastry chef we all know? (Source: Hooker, Elisabeth. "Introduction: I. Edmond Rostand." Cyrano de Bergerac. Trans. Brian Hooker. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1937. xi.)
Actor Constant Coquelin advised Rostand during his writing of Cyrano. Scholar Elisabeth Hooker believes he was quite influential because the stage directions and the action have the feel of an experienced actor. (Source: Hooker, Elisabeth. "Introduction: I. Edmond Rostand." Cyrano de Bergerac. Trans. Brian Hooker. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1937. xiii.)
Rostand dedicated the play to Constant Coquelin, the first actor to portray Cyrano on stage. (Source)
In Walter Hampden's production of Cyrano, a real chicken is released on stage in Act IV when Ragueneau brings fowl to feed the soldiers. (Source)