Customer Reviews

Homme De La Mancha

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This cd was already known for me, when Thelma sent me another copy, provided with a copy of original American casting. It was interesting to hear it, the original casting was very good. I enjoyed their beautiful voices and Sancho Panza's comic performance.

BUT: Jacques Brel did it better. There never was a singer as dramatic and different from anyone else. When I first heard his 'La quete', I understood Don Quijote for the first time, though I didn't know much French back then. Brel's voice said it all: the struggle of a man, whose vision of the world is dramatically different from "normal", but who still hangs on to his truth, no matter how much hardship and ridicule he has to take because of it. There the human tragedy, loneliness and heroism surpasses the comedy of Don Quijote. Brel could do this: bring out all the aspects at once, make us laugh and pity at the same time. He did touch similar themes several times in his original songs: a man who lives believing in an illusion created by alcohol (L'ivrogne), hopeless love (Madeleine) or just dreams (Knokke-le-Zoute tango), at times recognizing the truth but deciding to hang on to his illusion, because it's better. And it could be the real truth, though others are too blind to see it. Especially Knokke-le-Zoute takes one back to this performance and the point where Don Quijote meets the knight of mirrors who convinces him to see the truth - but he starts thinking: "What if.. it wasn't a dream?"

Joan Diener was apparently a very goodlooking woman and a marvellous singer. However, she did much better in original version, in French the operatic side seems to take over and her singing is out of place compared to Brel's harsh, natural style. Except in Aldonza, where she lets her voice crack and bring out more than an operatic singing can do.

The leaflet provided contains some information of Brel's production and is written by Thelma Blitz, an ardent fan who knows more about Brel than I do. It's well worth reading. Thank you Thelma, I did enjoy listening to these. And I do think the original American version was very good, but it's not their fault there was only one Brel. He was an actor/singer/songwriter wrapped in one person and exceptional in all those areas. You don't have to read the book to understand Don Quijote, you don't even have to understand many words of French, just listen to Brel's voice.

I know French speaking people are going to hate the above title of this "review". I'm speaking for "the average" English speaking person here. I didn't compare the English versions with this one. In listening to this one I am taking it on "its own merits" as a "listenting experience". Even though I couldn't understand most of the words, I do know the story which helped me understand "the emotion" underlying the words. After listening to this CD twice, I can honestly say that it is an "experience" ---- a "fulfilling experience" to hear the different types of voices in this production....and to hear the emotion conveyed by the singers. Without making any protestations that this is "the best one", I will say that I think if you like "Man of La Mancha" you will appreciate this version very much. Why not buy one of The English versions AND this one to complement them....or vice versa....as I say, I'm not comparing here----all I'm saying is that this one is very good and possibly "great" in its own right. You will enjoy it!(There are two editions of this version: An import with French Liner Notes and this one with excellent ENGLISH Liner Notes by Thelma Blitz of NYC. Of course, this is the edition to purchase if you happen to be one of those people who are "handicapped" by speaking only English! :o) Email:boland7214@aol.

One of those artistic miracles that is almost impossible to believe. Man of La Mancha, of course, is the Show That Cannot Die. (I've been in productions that were so bad they *should* have died, but that didn't stop the standing ovations for one of the most profound musicals of the 20th century.) Brel, meanwhile, is a singer whose passion, sorrow and wisdom cut through any language barrier. So how strange and wonderful that Brel should translate Man of La Mancha into French, then star it it himself! What prompted him I've never fully understood. (The story is recounted in Eric Blau's book about "Jaques Brel is Alive and Well...") I gather that Brel, who himself always seemed so intent on facing life as it is with courage, found some strange sympathy with the Cervantes who said "Perhaps insanity lies in seeing life as it is, and not as it should be." There is no way to listen to this recording without hearing both the English (Richard Kiley) version and Brel's own songs in one's head. You'll be pondering it for days afterwards.

While the power and the passion of Brel's performance comes through on no matter whether you understand French or not, the complete brilliance of what he's done come through in multiple layers if you do. Not only did he play the lead in this production (first done in Brussels, then in Paris), he also translated the script and lyrics himself. This brought him to butt heads one more than one occasion with the original American writers, who wanted a totally literal, word-for-word translation. But Brel knew that while the words might translate, the poetry would not -- experience no doubt gained from hearing what Rod McKuen had done to his songs "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and "Le Moribond," turning them into "If You Go Away" and "Seasons in the Sun". One such battle occurred over an apparently simple line, when the prisoners in the dungeon ask Cervantes what he does for a living, Cervantes responds (in the American version) "I am a poet." Brel insisted on "Je deviens poète" -- "I am becoming a poet." He knew that to a European sensibility, particularly in Cervantes' time, to say baldly "I am a poet" would have been the height of arrogance. That is for others to say about you, not for you to say about yourself. For yourself, you express humbly, "Well, I'm trying to become a poet."

Another simple example comes in Sancho's verse in the opening song. In English: "I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho! / I'll follow my master till the end/ I'll tell all the world proudly / I'm his squire! I'm his friend!" In French: "Et moi je suis Sancho / Sancho, Sancho / Son valet, son fils, son frère / Sancho, son seul amigo / Son seul suivant mais pour toujours / Et j'en suis fier." ("I'm Sancho, Sancho, Sancho, his servant, his son, his brother / Sancho, his only friend / His only follower, but forever, to him I'm faithful.") In French the words have a poignancy that they don't carry in English.

There are a couple of clips of Brel's performance as Cervantes/Quixote on the DVD set "Brel: Comme quand on était beau" and in various places on YouTube. One wishes that the whole thing had been taped and released, even by the primitive video standards of 1968.

This is the only recording I can think of where the foreign language production surpasses the original English language production. Jacques Brel IS Don Quixote and Joan Diener gives a singing performance from the ages which is quite different than her more toned-down Aldonza in the OBC. Even if you don't speak French, this is a MUST-LISTEN for all fans of musical theatre.

As an enthusiast of the "Man of La Mancha", I was very interested in this French language version, which is quite expressive. Even though I don't speak French, I can tell this by the inflection of the singers. All the roles are portrayed with a great deal of verve. For example, in the song "Aldonza", the soloist Joan Diener, exudes a great deal of anguish and frustration bordering on a complete meltdown.

Then again, this IS the FRENCH version. One would expect a language so Romantic and nasal, to carry a musical such as "Man of La Mancha" with a certain touch of European fire and sophistication. It is quite different from the English language versions, but still nice and worthy of a powerful message.

I am still waiting for a Spanish language version which would be quite appropriate giving the setting.

Comparisons: Original Broadway Cast; Brian Stokes Mitchell as Quixote; Placido Domingo as Quixote; Jim Nabors as Quixote.

I know French speaking people are going to hate the above title of this "review". I'm speaking for "the average" English speaking person here. I didn't compare the English versions with this one. In listening to this one I am taking it on "its own merits" as a "listenting experience". Even though I couldn't understand most of the words, I do know the story which helped me understand "the emotion" underlying the words. After listening to this CD twice, I can honestly say that it is an "experience" ---- a "fulfilling experience" to hear the different types of voices in this production....and to hear the emotion conveyed by the singers. Without making any protestations that this is "the best one", I will say that I think if you like "Man of La Mancha" you will appreciate this version very much. Why not buy one of The English versions AND this one to complement them....or vice versa....as I say, I'm not comparing here----all I'm saying is that this one is very good and possibly "great" in its own right. You will enjoy it! (There are two editions of this CD: this is the edition with FRENCH LINER NOTES published in 2004. If you are "handicapped" by speaking only English, you should consider THE OTHER version published in 2005 which has excellent Liner Notes written by Thelma Blitz of NYC) Email:boland7214@aol.

I received this product in May and I just had time to hear it and I discovered that it is incomplete. I really hate the fact that I thought I was ordering from a serious place. I like to know if I could return it and get a full version of the L'Homme de la Mancha. The problem is that I open the CD and listen to it already.
I am trying to know what to do with an incomplete CD. I was also thinking if I decided to send it to somebody as a present what a frustrating situation.
Thanks,L' Homme de la Mancha (Man of La Mancha 1968 French Cast)