Audience enthusiastically applauds The Man of La Mancha

Going into The Man of La Mancha, I expected a musical. I anticipated some cheesiness, overacting, and corny jokes. But at the end of the play I stood with the rest of the audience during a standing ovation.

The opening scene, starting with the house lights on as the audience settled in, featured an acoustic guitarist and a lovely dance by Sharon Gallo. The moving orchestral backing and mediocre yet touching singing led me to enjoy this opening act. My initial motivation for attending this performance was simply so I could write this article. It was also the first play I have seen at RPI, but it won’t be the last.

After the cast was situated, the two guards who were standing by the doors as the audience members walked in marched to the front and recited the rules of the theatre. One of the rules stated was “no smoking unless you are being burned at the stake,” to which there was rip-roaring laughter. Following this welcome introduction, the feature preformance started.

The poignant story begins as Miguel de Cervantes is thrown into prison for idealism. He was a tax worker who foreclosed on a church. While waiting for the inquisition to burn him at the stake, his fellow inmates try him in attempts to “rightfully” steal his belongings. His defense is the enactment of Don Quixote de la Mancha. All of the prisoners take part in the play.

Some of the more notable characters were Cervantes (Quixote) played by Bradley Lamoureux ’05, his Manservant (Sancho Panza) played by Ben Zeigler ’05, and Aldonza (renamed Dulcinea by Quixote) played by Meighan Carivan-Esmond.

Lamoureux’s transition from Cervantes to Quixote was charming. While on stage he put a chalky gray substance in his hair, a fake beard and moustache on his face, and looked like a completely different person. The entire transformation took about 30 seconds.

The shift from the songs “Dulcinea” to “I’m Only Thinking of Him” was smooth and wonderful. The front lights dimmed and a backlight shone to show a lighted rendition of a stained glass window. “I’m Only Thinking of Him” featured The Padre, Cervantes’ niece Antonia, and Cervantes’ housekeeper. It showed a frustrated priest elaborately sliding a confessional window open and closed going between the two women, both of whom believe that only they have Cervantes’ best intentions at heart. By this time in the play it is thought that Cervantes is mad, as he has gone out to become a knight in a time when knights are no more. It seamlessly goes into “We’re Only Thinking of Him,” which features the two women, the Padre and Carrasco (Antonia’s fiancé). In this scene, it is decided that Carrasco and the priest will go find Cervantes and bring him home.

There is a scene­—“The Abduction”—in which the rape of Aldonza is alluded to. In the program there is a special note in which this is addressed and the importance of it is discussed. Aldonza is able to overcome this rape, and her profession as a prostitute, to eventually visit Cervantes, or Quixote, on his deathbed and reignite his desire to fight. The closing scene is a rendition of “Impossible Dream” by the cast of prisoners as Cervantes is led out of the cell by guards, presumably to his death.

The story of the The Man of La Mancha was endearing and Lamoureaux played him in such a way that made you love him. I am looking forward to the fall and more shows at the RPI Playhouse.