Northern Kentucky University’s Summer Dinner Theatre, now in its 27th season, has the formula down pat: It routinely sells out its productions by giving audiences what they love — musicals and comedies. The season opener, Man of La Mancha, offers both in a well-seasoned production. In May, NKU took La Mancha to Romania and presented it at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival. The preparations for that event are benefiting audiences in Highland Heights this summer.
Faculty member Ken Jones directed the show, with music direction by Jamey Strawn, who plays piano with Evan Brass on guitar. They’re the orchestra. The show’s memorable score (including the standard “The Impossible Dream”) by Mitch Leigh is interpreted by the cast who become “instruments” — they beat out rhythms by clapping and pounding, and they hum and vocalize parts of the score (including the overture, which features dancers Mark Scheter and Kim Popa) rather than use musical instruments.
The approach works because La Mancha is set in a prison in 16th-century Spain where writer Miguel Cervantes awaits a hearing during the Spanish Inquisition. He tells (and enacts) the story of Don Quixote for fellow prisoners, drawing them in as players. Much of the tale is seemingly improvised, so the minimalist concept works well.
It’s helped by strong performers, especially Mark Hardy, a professional actor and NKU faculty member, as Cervantes/
Quixote. He’s believable as the harassed writer and appropriately mad and idealistic as the “Knight-Errant.” Recent NKU grad Roderick Justice applies a strong comic touch to Sancho Panza, “a fat little bag stuffed with proverbs.” Another NKU grad, Denise Devlin, is Aldonza, the whore Quixote envisions as his high-born lady. She’s a bit too pretty for the part, but she sings it well.
The production’s only shortcoming is an overplaying of comic moments, not trusting the script’s blend of wry humor and poignant drama. It’s likely a mechanism to give actors in lesser roles more to do, but it distracts from the dramatic impact. Nevertheless, I suspect audiences will love this production — a strong performance in the summer when audiences are too often treated to fare that merely entertains. Grade: B+
MAN OF LA MANCHA, presented by Northern Kentucky University, continues through July 1. (Many performances are already sold out.)
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2007.
