Poet in Prison Puts on a Play.
Seattle Musical Theatre kicked off the 2014-2015 Season with Man of La Mancha, a 1965 Tony Award winning adaptation of the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Considered the first novel ever written, it was published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615, that is to say long after its subject matter, Chivalry and Knights, had ceased to exist.
Mixing fact and fiction, the musical opens with Cervantes, the poet, novelist and tax-collector being thrown into prison, awaiting the Inquisition for defying the powerful, oppressive Catholic Church. While in prison, the low-life prison hierarchy stages a mock trial, in which he has to account for his life. During the trial, Cervantes acts out various scenes from Don Quixote, using the inmates of the prison, while playing Don Quixote himself.
Don Quixote, a self-proclaimed knight-errant, who is missing more than his share of cerebral matter, runs around the country not only tilting his lance at Windmills ( mistaking them for monsters) but also trying to right wrongs, treating people with respect and love, while behaving virtuously. In the end, the prisoners exonerate Don Quixote/Cervantes, come to respect him, and shower him with love and support before he goes to trial.
In spite of its multiple awards, I found this musical rather unsatisfactory. One of the ironies of this script is that Cervantes wrote Don Quixote as a spoof of Romantic Chivalry, not as an endorsement of its sentimentality. Yet Man of La Mancha is dripping with sentimentality, so there was difficulty identifying with the hero. Except for a few songs, such as “It is I Don Quixote the Lord of La Mancha” and , “ I’m only Thinking of Him, “ the music wasn’t all that interesting. The big hit of the show, “To Dream the Impossible Dream”, sounds much too much like a Las Vegas piano bar number for my taste. In addition, there isn’t much of a drama arc, the story just moves from one disconnected anecdote to another.
The supporting actors delivered the best performances: David Caldwell as the Padre, Melissa Fleming as Antonia- Don Quixote’s scheming heir. Dustyn Moir was a delightfully irreverent Sancho Panzo, and sang a genuinely funny song-“A Little Gossip” with impish choreography. Jeff Church as Don Quixote looked the part, tall, thin, statuesque with a resounding voice; however, his diction was splashy and his performance was wooden. The script didn’t help as his lines tended to be too wordy with no contractions of auxiliary verbs so he sounded ponderous all the time. Cherisse Martinelli as Aldonz/ Dulcinea, had an excellent voice but tended to screech on the high notes. In general, the sound system was too strong and all the actor’s and singer’s voices were distorted, since they seemed to be powerful singers, I wondered if it was necessary.
Man of La Mancha. Seattle Musical Theatre, Magnuson Park 7120-62nd Ave NE, Building 47 Seattle, WA 98115. Fri, Sat 7:30, Sun 2 pm. Thurs. Sept. 25 7:30. Thru: September 28th. Tickets: www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org 1-800-838-3006