Though not ideal, works well even on the printed page

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	• Man of La Mancha Dale Wasserman Random House, 1966 - 112 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Like as it really is...

Maddest of all is to see things as they are and not as they should be.

This simple premise lies at the heart of every marriage proposal, politcal campaign, revolution and of course the birth of every religion.

That such a poignant essence was successfully reduced for theatrical presentation from the lengthy Cervantes work is nothing short of genius.

All too often its easy for story tellers, playwrights and movie makers to tease out the prurient drama of human suffering. It is so much more compelling when someone manages to capture that moment of inspiration when someone dares to believe and others chance to join.

First with Sancho, then fair Dulcinea, then ultimately maybe us, we gather eagerly to that spark of faith that grows in this play.

If you think about it, "Impossible Dream" could easily have been rendered maudlin in the wrong hands. It's a testiment to this play and this writer that it actually inspires.

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Though not ideal, works well even on the printed page

I read this stage play as research for something I'm working on. I saw a production of the play when I was in high school (long time ago) and remember liking it. It's the condensed story of Don Quijote, book-ended by Cervantes in a Spanish prison, awaiting his trial before the Inquisition. Obviously, reading the play, especially a musical, is nothing compared to seeing it live. But it's entertaining, you get a good sense for the characters, and the story, though goofy and slapstick, still comes across well.

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This is Exactly What You Should Expect From It

Having performed a goodly segment of this script during an ill-fated production from hell, I must say that it was quite good to have a copy of the script that was what I was looking for. Man of La Mancha is most certainly NOT the original (Don Quixote), but it doesn't need to be. If you want the original book, you may as well read it in it's original, Spanish text (as I have). Have fun with the story, it's one of the more referenced, when dealing with insanity.

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Superb Snapshot

Man of La Mancha / 0-394-40619-2

Though I find the Don Quixote story to be moving and meaningful, I am the first to admit that the full work of Cervantes can be incredibly daunting - not exactly light evening reading. Man of La Mancha has managed to perfectly distill the Don Quixote story into a short, heart-warming play that is, if possible, even greater than the source material.

Whereas, in the original, Don Quixote's ravings are regularly used as witty insight or satirical commentary, in Man of La Mancha, the ravings of our madman show us the veneer of the world we ought to live in. The character of Dulcinea is particularly touching - where those who would use and abuse her see only a whore broken by life's cruelties and painful necessities, our mad hero sees a woman capable of love, kindness, and friendship. He sees a person, with pain and sorrow and strength and inner beauty. How can we know that this view is "insanity" - perhaps it is the rest of the world that is mad, and only our dear man of La Mancha has clear senses.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Winner of the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Musical, 1966

"To me the most interesting aspect of the success of Man of La Mancha is the fact that it plows squarely upstream against the prevailing current of philosophy in the theater. That current is best identified by its catch-labels--Theater of the Absurd, Black Comedy, the Theater of Cruelty--which is to say the theater of alienation, of moral anarchy and despair. To the practitioners of those philosophies Man of La Mancha must seem hopelessly naive in its espousal of illusion as man's strongest spiritual need, the most meaningful function of his imagination. But I've no unhappiness about that. "Facts are the enemy of truth," says Cervantes-Don Quixote. And that is precisely what I felt and meant."--Dale Wasserman, from the Preface.

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