This story is featured in CityBeat’s Aug. 9 print edition.
If you ask a handful of musical theater lovers their top favorite shows, it’s entirely possible that they’ll all name Man of La Mancha, which won the 1966 Tony for Best Musical. Its popularity is certainly why Cincinnati Landmark Productions (CLP) chose it to cap off its four-show Summer Classics Season at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater. Freelance director and choreographer Dee Anne Bryll is staging the legendary musical based on Miguel de Cervantes’ masterwork, Don Quixote. “It’s such an interesting show,” Bryll said in a recent phone interview with CityBeat. “Its concept, how it came about, its structure — and its beautiful message.”
Bryll has been directing shows locally for community theaters and area colleges including Xavier and Northern Kentucky universities. She’s also choreographed productions for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. In the past, she staged summer productions for CLP when it operated the Majestic Showboat on Cincinnati’s Public Landing, before that season moved to its Incline Theater, which opened in 2015. “It’s a beautiful space to work in and do a show in,” Bryll says. “Brett Bowling, the resident set designer, really understands how to design for the space.” That’s important for each show, because the summer productions come along one after the other in short order.
The original production of Man of La Mancha followed an unusual path to Broadway success. It was initially a TV drama by playwright Dale Wasserman, I, Don Quixote, that aired in 1959. His teleplay was inspired by Cervantes’ 17th century novel about a well-intentioned but misguided gentleman and tax collector, Alonso Quijano, who imagines himself a chivalric knight-errant. Quixote’s mad quest has given us the adjective “quixotic,” meaning “exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical.” Wasserman and his creative team had a hard time marshaling support, and the show’s debut happened in an off-Broadway venue in 1965. But it quickly became a hit and moved to the Broadway theater district, leading to a nearly six-year run (2,328 performances) plus a three-year national tour.
Wasserman’s script places Cervantes in prison awaiting a hearing during the Spanish Inquisition. His fellow prisoners and guards conduct a mock trial with the promise that, if he proves himself innocent of his acts against the church (foreclosing on a monastery), he can be set free. With nothing more than a few props and modest costumes from a trunk, plus boxes and barrels in his prison cell, he reenacts the story of the adventurous knight, Don Quixote de La Mancha. He envisions Aldonza, a part-time whore, as his lady Dulcinea, and battles a mortal enemy. The story eventually returns to his prison cell where the show concludes with Cervantes singing “The Impossible Dream,” an anthem of idealism — joined by the prisoners he has convinced of the value of his mission.
Bryll says that’s the show’s big number. “The scene that goes into it is just a beautifully constructed moment. People love the show for those certain moments. There are so many songs and encounters in it, something for every character. They all have their special moments and musical numbers — all of which are integral to the storytelling.”
Community theater veteran Rick Kramer is playing Cervantes/Quixote. Interestingly, he produced the show for Cincinnati Music Theatre in 1996, in the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theatre. “It’s a role he’s always wanted to do,” Bryll says, “and he is at the perfect time in his life to play it.” She adds that her cast has a broad array of performers — other community theater veterans, regular CLP performers and a number of students from Wright State, Xavier and Northern Kentucky universities. “It’s definitely an ensemble show — people of a lot of different ages, quite a range.” According to Bryll, many of them were not familiar with the show. “They’re learning that it’s a really important, great musical that they haven’t experienced.”
Bryll loves the way Wasserman’s script tells the story. “It’s as much a play about Cervantes as it is about Don Quixote. The play within the play, with the prisoners taking part in it, really works. When Cervantes invites the prisoners to take part, some are excited about it; some are sheepish. But as they do it, they start to develop the interest and understand much more about what he’s trying to say — because they are actually performing it. They are learning about these characters in Cervantes’ story.”
“This is a classic American musical,” Bryll says when asked why people should see Man of La Mancha. “It’s not done a whole lot — but many people say, ‘It’s my favorite.’ I have a terrific cast — we have a great production, very collaborative. It has a beautiful message about idealism and hope. Quixote sees the good in so many people. It’s a story about people who have lost hope, but his story shows them that things can be better.”
Bryll confesses that she’s not previously worked on a full production of Man of La Mancha. “It’s been a great experience to approach something that is almost new to me.” She loves how it inspires idealism and adds that it’s a perfect, timeless musical to wrap up a summer season.
Man of La Mancha, presented by Cincinnati Landmark Productions at the Warsaw Federal Incline Theater in East Price Hill, opens on Aug. 16 and continues through Sept. 10. Info: cincinnatilandmarkproductions.com.
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This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 8, 2023.
