HOW TO GO
What: “Man of La Mancha”
Where: Lebanon Theatre Company, 10 S. Mechanic St., Lebanon
When: May 8-17, 8 p.m., Friday-Saturdays, and 2 p.m., Sundays
Cost: $18
More Info: 513-228-0932 or visit www.ltcplays.com
A few great artists have notably failed to turn the classic Miguel Cervantes novel, “Don Quixote,” into a movie. Orson Welles tried and failed for years due to lack of funding and his own changing whims. Terry Gilliam’s production was interrupted by bad weather, illnesses and airplanes that wouldn’t stop flying over what was supposed to be 17th-century Spain.
Adapting “Don Quixote” into a musical, however, has met with a little more success. “Man of La Mancha” debuted on Broadway in 1965, won five Tony Awards, and has been revived four times. “Man of La Mancha” is coming locally to the Lebanon Theatre May 8 to 17 and director Steven Haines had some insights on why “Quixote” translates easier to the stage than film.
“Movies want to make everything realistic,” he said. “While it’s often said that, for theater, all you need is four boards and a passion.”
Proving Haines’ point, “Man of La Mancha” is a play within a play, opening with Miguel Cervantes himself being thrown into the dungeon by the Spanish Inquisition along with his possessions, including a precious manuscript.
When Cervantes is attacked by his fellow prisoners through a mock trial, Cervantes offers as his defense to tell the story of Don Quixote, an old aristocrat who has read so many books about chivalry and justice that he convinces himself he’s a knight errant and rides forth into the world, confusing windmills with four-armed giants, inns for castles, and prostitutes for noble ladies. The fact that Cervantes has an audience both onstage and off helps make “Don Quixote,” a story that largely takes place outdoors across vast plains and mountains, easier for stage adapters.
“From the outset, he says, ‘Enter my imagination,’ and at that point everything becomes makeshift,” Haines said. “Cervantes doesn’t have anything but his four boards, and his audience is rapt. There are large pieces of action that take place offstage. You don’t see the windmills, but the aftermath, how Quixote interprets them.”
Pondering “Man of La Mancha’s” original stage success, as in why a story set in 17th-century Spain appealed to a modern American audience, Haines thought it had a lot to do with what was happening in America at the time.
“I think you just have to look at the year it premiered,” Haines said. “I was a high school senior at the time. We were heading into the height of the Vietnam era. I think people just wanted to see something positive.”
However, the fact that the musical has been revived four times since coincides with Haines’s claim that the story’s themes are universal.
“It has a lot to say about the power of the individual, the power of dreams,” he said. “It’s caricatured, but Don Quixote is unafraid to be a true individualist, and he shows how that mindset can make a difference in people’s lives.”
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