No La Mancha is a Desert

When I first heard the words "Man of La Mancha" in the proper context at least it was in an episode of Quantum Leap where Sam had to be part of a play while he solves that episode's mystery. The play of course was Man of La Mancha and Sam's host played the part of Cervantes. Now I didn't see much of the play's plot being not the focus of the show, but I did hear a couple of songs and those stayed with me.

Fast forward a couple of years and I hear the name Man of La Mancha again. More like read it (thanks, kelson). The Reprise Theatre Company was going to do a production of Man of La Mancha for 2 weeks at the Freud Playhouse in UCLA. Not knowing specifics but knowing that I'm interested, I bought a ticket with gusto.

Fast forward another month and I'm at UCLA with kelson and alenxa entering the Freud Playhouse. The stage greeted me and I greeted it with a wow. Iron barred pillars with scattered drapes of cloth encircled a risen wooden plank stage, all cast in a shadowed orange glow. If anyone has seen a production of Cirque du Soleil, you may understand the feeling I got. Minimalistic but full of presence, waiting for the audience to truly see what it can do.

As we sat down, the cast also drifted in; stoking a fire here, playing a guitar there, inserting themselves into the woodwork. Until the moment Cervantes arrives.

Miguel de Cervantes -- errant playwright and naive tax collector -- walks into the revealed jail common room. Brent Spiner of Star Trek's android Data fame is hardly a robot in this role. As Cervantes, Spiner portrays a vulnerable yet determined dreamer of a better world that he hopes to bring with his plays.

At the threat of his life's work being burned, Cervantes persuades his fellow inmates to perform his play as entertainment and thus a cocktail of fantasy and reality is prepared with the play itself based on the novel Don Quixote providing a double helping.

Here's where the stage and lighting truly shine. The simple iron bar columns embodying the jail grounds gives way to housing walls or forest trees. Costumes and set pieces for the Don Quixote play are taken out of the trunk Cervantes carries in with him. A giant cloth would act as an occasional backdrop (windmill fight scene, remember that one). And various planks and a barrel act as furniture and even steeds. The mood is set by the varying brightness of the lights with even a very clever setup made for the "We're Only Thinking of Him" sequence where the lights formed the pattern of a chess board the actors are standing on as they plot out Don Quixote's apparent malady.

Where the play really grabs me is in the actors and the direction. Man of La Mancha is set during the time of the Spanish Inquisition where any little felony or even misunderstanding could put you in the "purification" room to be cleansed of your sins. In the light of this dark age, a play like Cervantes' becomes a light, even a beacon of hope to the disenchanted inmates. And we the audience are reminded of that in the active changing and explanation of scenes in Cervantes' direction and the interruption by Spanish Inquisition inquisitors dragging off another prisoner.

Brent Spiner plays Cervantes well in his innocence tempered by wisdom and in turn Don Quixote in his earnestness and forthrightness. Lee Wilkof as Cervantes' manservant is actually more memorable to me as Don Quixote's squire Sancho Panza with his energy and unswerving loyalty perfectly and even humorously embodied in the numbers "I Really Like Him" and "A Little Gossip". Escalante may be quiet as a prisoner but Julia Migenes plays Aldonza with a deep throated savvy that both displays her saucy barmaid role and also exudes her emotion at being dubbed a lady by Quixote turning her indeed into the ladyship Dulcinea.

With other notable performances by George Ball's hardened practical Governor yet gentler accomodating Innkeeper and Christopher Guilmet as both equally acidic yet perceivably just Duke and Dr. Carrasco, I quickly engaged myself into the story.

I found myself cheering for Don Quixote in his fight with the windm- er monster and really cheering in his teamup against the ruffian muleteers in the inn- well, castle. I felt for Aldonza when she tried to make sense of Quixote's infatuation with her. And though I laughed at the dishrag perceived as gossamer, I felt happy that Quixote loved Ald- Dulcinea enough to accept it as such. My heart swelled at the final scenes where Don Quixote showed his true spirit. And I felt the chill when a prisoner was taken away to be purified.

All this made me realize how emotional a story Man of Le Mancha really is. How the actors have made it so.

This production of Man of La Mancha also happens to be the last one with the direct involvement of original late playwright Dale Wasserman and approved with his full blessing.

And after seeing this production myself, I know director Michael Michetti achieved one dream: Reprise's Man of La Mancha is a classic with a cast worth seeing. Though not a quantum leap (wink) technically in theater production, the heart of the show is evident and strong.

Cervantes had pleaded guilty to being an idealist, a poet, and a virtuous man. Don Quixote sings of the Impossible Dream worth fighting impossible odds for. Let's just hope -- regardless of conditions -- we continue to have both dreams and dreamers to realize those dreams.

For the quest.


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