By Carol Davis
ESCONDIDO, California — It mattered not that the actors in the Dale Wasserman (Book), Mitch Leigh (Music) and Joe Darion (Music) mega musical hit of the 1965 Broadway Production, Man Of La Mancha, based on the 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, by Wasserman were also the musicians in this current offering of Man of La Mancha at The Welk Musical Theatre in Escondido. (I counted three guitars, a piccolo, a recorder, a couple of tambourines, a triangle, wooden plates, bottles, and two drums. Musical director Justin Gray was off stage on the piano.)
What mattered was that up close and personal, (we sat in row B) the production under the direction of Dan Mojica, (he also choreographed) proved to be effective (for the most part), moving and had no hitches, glitches or missteps given the multi tiered and tight playing space on the Welk Stage (Chuck Ketter, Greg Hinrichsen). Jennifer Edwards-Northover’s lighting design helps, as it is spot-on perfect for the light streaming through the dungeon bars while the shadows give the playing space a grungy look.
Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical the production ran for 2,328 performances on Broadway and has played in countries as far away as Hungary and has been translated into no less than eleven languages and nine different dialects of Spanish. It has been revived four times on Broadway and I can’t count how many times I have seen it either at the Civic Center downtown as a touring show or in any number of our local theatres. And if you don’t know all the words to the quintessential “Impossible Dream” you could ‘name that tune’ after about the second note.
The story of Don Quixote (John Lalonde is marvelous) is a play within a play set during the Spanish Inquisition. Spanish writer Manuel de Cervantes is arrested by the inquisition after an attempt to collect taxes on the church resulted in foreclosure. He is thrown into the dungeon for high crimes. As soon as the guards leave him in the dungeon, the other prisoners want to try him and burn his books, which he holds dear.
He pleads for their indulgence not to burn his books until after he finishes telling them the story of his famous character, Don Quixote de La Mancha, knight errant and his long time sidekick Sancho Panza (Daniel Berlin adds good comic relief but needs help in the singing department). If after he tells his story they find him guilty, then so be it. And so the play starring Don Quixote begins.
It never ceases to amaze watching the change from simple storyteller to knight errant using props from an old trunk that belonged to Cervantes that was tossed into the dungeon after he made his entrance. Slowly and meticulously, in front of our eyes, a rather young man is transformed into a somewhat mad knight who is on an adventurous quest to follow his dream while weaving an unbelievable story of chivalry and innocence to a rough and tumble group including Aldonza (Natalie Nucci) the rag tag stable girl that he renames Dulcinea (“To Each His Dulcinea”).
With a cast of not more than nine (playing several roles) the story unfolds opening with a great trumpet blast from the Governor/ Innkeeper (John Polhamus who plays a mean trumpet) signaling the beginning of the story. In no particular order the Duke/Dr. is played by Benjamin Zep Misek, A.J. Mendoza, who is more than up for the task with a fine pair of chops, is the Padre, April Henry plays the mother and Karenssa Le Gear (“I’m Only Thinking of Him”) is Antonia, Quixote’s niece. Both of these women have quality voices and add another dimension to the overall production.
My big disappointment was in Natalie Nucci’s voice, which is just wrong for the part of Aldonza. Nucci’s is more operatic and, by the way, beautiful voice, but her voice was strained in “It’s All The Same”. A more gritty and robust voice would have served this music better. John LaLonde is one of the most convincing and sympathetic (at the same time) Don Quixote’s I’ve seen in some time. His voice is a powerful instrument and most effective. I can readily confess that when he sang “The Impossible Dream” there were tears streaming down my cheeks.
What’s there not to like with a playlist that includes: “Man of La Mancha” (“I Don Quixote”), “I Really Like Him”, “Little Bird, Little Bird”, “Golden Helmet of Mombrino”, “To Each His Dulcinea”, “Night of the Woeful Countenance” and “Impossible Dream” among others?
It’s worth a visit to the Welk Village to see this lovely staging of a great musical.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Oct.30th
Organization: Welk Theatre
Phone: 888-802-7469
Production Type: Musical
Where: 8860 Lawrence Weld Drive, Escondido, CA 92026
Ticket Prices: $44.00-$47.00
Web: welktheatresandiego.com
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