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Man of La Mancha: A Musical Play

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I was introduced to Hidalgo Quixote, Knight of the Woeful Countenance in high school and was overtaken by the power of the music and the story. Two years later, I was living in Portugal. Though it wasn't Spain, I still felt the same breeze, and saw the same type of windmills that Quixote tilted in his tilted reason.

Joseph Smith once observed that, "by proving contraries, truth is made manifest," (History of the Church 6:428), and Aristotle once said that if you want to find truth, invert. Cervantes follows this pattern of putting things upside-down to show right-side-upness. He accentuates reality by taking an insane man as his lead character. The paradox, however, is that Quixote seems to be the sanest person in the story.

"The Man of La Mancha" has two advantages over its parent-text "Don Quixote." The first is that Wasserman, et al. did a marvelous job of pairing down Cervantes' two part book into a one act play. A lot of Quixote's adventures are funny parody, but it at times becomes a bit over-done. The play captures the essence of the Quixote-Idea without any gas. "Brevity is the soul of wit," as Shakespeare testified.

The second advantage is the music. "The Quest (The Impossible Dream)" is a triumph not only for Wasserman et al, but it is a triumph for humanity. So this book needs to be read with the soundtrack. The original Broadway is my favorite, since it captures the Iberian wind that blows over the story. The Peter O'Toole film is too produced and had too many sweet strings that drench out the Spanish guitars.

You know how good a work of art is by seeing how it is parodies. Quixote has been copied on "Quantum Leap," and Alf, and Jim Neighbors sung "The Quest" on Gomer Pyle. There is even a cartoon "Don Coyote and Sancho Panda." And, of course, there is the classic Mr. Magoo (Jim Baccus) version of Don Quixote.

So buy, and enjoy this play. Read along with the movie, and ponder reality through the eyes of an insane man.

Man of La Mancha remains my alltime favorite musical. Others such as Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera are perhaps better in many ways, but nevertheless, Man of La Mancha holds a very dear place in my heart. It is a powerfull tale of a man who, disalusioned with everyday life, decides to become a Knight Errant and sally forth into the world righting all wrongs. Its overall themes of good over evil, and the search for happyness are an inspiration. Don Quixote may be a bit out of his time, but is he really so insane? Perhaps its the rest of the world that could do with some of his peculuar brand of boldness.

Maddest of all is to see things as they are and not as they should be.

This simple premise lies at the heart of every marriage proposal, politcal campaign, revolution and of course the birth of every religion.

That such a poignant essence was successfully reduced for theatrical presentation from the lengthy Cervantes work is nothing short of genius.

All too often its easy for story tellers, playwrights and movie makers to tease out the prurient drama of human suffering. It is so much more compelling when someone manages to capture that moment of inspiration when someone dares to believe and others chance to join.

First with Sancho, then fair Dulcinea, then ultimately maybe us, we gather eagerly to that spark of faith that grows in this play.

If you think about it, "Impossible Dream" could easily have been rendered maudlin in the wrong hands. It's a testiment to this play and this writer that it actually inspires.

The above is, as I see it, the theme of this splendid adaptation of the adventures of Cervantes' "Mad Knight." It is about the infectiousness of Hope, the transference of dreams, especially of the "Impossible Dream!"

The character of Aldonza starts as a self-described "Strumpet men use and forget" She sings of being "born on a dung heap, to die on a dung heap," and sings "what use is the sky to a creature who'll never do better than crawl?" She rails against the hope he brings her and tells him that "of all the cruel bastards who've badgered and battered me, you are the cruelest of all."

Yet, something magical happens, and by the end of the show she is singing, for herself, of her own "Impossible Dream" and is joined by many others. A new disease, HOPE, has claimed another victim, and so is passed on to another generation.

It IS catching. Catch it for yourself.

I really enjoy the story of Don Quixote and all of his quests. In all honesty, (it could be my fault) but i thought this was going to be a straight up book of Man a la Mancha, but instead it was more like a script of the musical. It's still great though. If you order the book you should definitely get the CD to play along with it.

Man of La Mancha / 0-394-40619-2

Though I find the Don Quixote story to be moving and meaningful, I am the first to admit that the full work of Cervantes can be incredibly daunting - not exactly light evening reading. "Man of La Mancha" has managed to perfectly distill the Don Quixote story into a short, heart-warming play that is, if possible, even greater than the source material.

Whereas, in the original, Don Quixote's ravings are regularly used as witty insight or satirical commentary, in "Man of La Mancha", the ravings of our madman show us the veneer of the world we ought to live in. The character of Dulcinea is particularly touching - where those who would use and abuse her see only a whore broken by life's cruelties and painful necessities, our mad hero sees a woman capable of love, kindness, and friendship. He sees a person, with pain and sorrow and strength and inner beauty. How can we know that this view is "insanity"? Perhaps it is the rest of the world that is mad, and only our dear man of La Mancha has clear senses.

~ Ana Mardoll

I read this stage play as research for something I'm working on. I saw a production of the play when I was in high school (long time ago) and remember liking it. It's the condensed story of Don Quijote, book-ended by Cervantes in a Spanish prison, awaiting his trial before the Inquisition. Obviously, reading the play, especially a musical, is nothing compared to seeing it live. But it's entertaining, you get a good sense for the characters, and the story, though goofy and slapstick, still comes across well.

Having performed a goodly segment of this script during an ill-fated production from hell, I must say that it was quite good to have a copy of the script that was what I was looking for. Man of La Mancha is most certainly NOT the original (Don Quixote), but it doesn't need to be. If you want the original book, you may as well read it in it's original, Spanish text (as I have). Have fun with the story, it's one of the more referenced, when dealing with insanity.

I cried. It's sad, yet beautiful -- a refreshingly simplistic,and elegant musical which was oddly conceived in an era of gaudy,whimsical Broadway cheesecake.

Ok, call me ignorant!

The only reason I bought this book is because I've heard of it before and I'm trying to read some classics.

Who knew it was a play? Not me!

A little hard to understand, but after I got past the introduction, I quite enjoyed the play itself. It was very funny.

Not sure if you like this kind of thing, but it was just ok for me.