1966  THE MAN OF LA MANCHA

Opened 11/22/1965   Closed June 1, 1972
           2,328 performances

Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's  seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote. It tells the story of the "mad"  knight, Don Quixote, as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.


The original 1965 Broadway production ran for 2,328 performances and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The musical has been revived many times on
Broadway, becoming one of the most enduring works of musical theatre. The principal song, "The Impossible Dream", became a standard. The musical  has played in many other countries around the world. Man of La Mancha was first performed at the Goodspeed Opera House in  Connecticut in 1965, and had its New York premiere on the thrust stage of the  ANTA Washington Square Theatre in 1965.

Musical Numbers

Man of La Mancha
It's All the Same
Dulcinea
I'm Only Thinking of Him
I Really Like Him
What Do You Want of Me?
The Barber's Song 
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
To Each His Dulcinea (To Every Man His Dream) 
The Impossible Dream (The Quest)
The Combat
Little Bird, Little Bird 
The Dubbing (Knight of the Woeful Countenance)
The Abduction
Moorish
Dance
Aldonza
The Knight of the Mirrors
A Little Gossip

THE REVIVALS AND A FILM:

    1972 - with Richard Kiley as Cervantes/Quixote,  running for 140 performances
    1977 - with Richard Kiley as  Cervantes/Quixote, Tony Martinez as Sancho Panza and Emily Yancy as  Aldonza/Dulcinea, running for 124 performances
    1992 - with  Raúl Juliá as Cervantes/Quixote and Sheena Easton as Aldonza/Dulcinea, running  for 108 performances. Easton was replaced, late in the run, by Joan  Diener.
    2002 - with Brian Stokes Mitchell as  Cervantes/Quixote, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Aldonza/Dulcinea, and Ernie  Sabella as Sancho Panza, running for 304 performances; Marin Mazzie took over as
Aldonza (Dulcinea) on July 1, 2003.


In the film (1972), the title role went to Peter O'Toole (singing voice dubbed by Simon Gilbert), James Coco was Sancho, and  Sophia Loren was Aldonza.


Hal Linden played Quixote in the show's 1988 U.S. National tour,
and Robert Goulet played Quixote in the 1997-98 U.S. National tour.


                         THE AWARDS

1966 Tony Award Nominations
winner Best Musical
winnerBest Composer and  Lyricist
winnerBest Actor in a Musical - Richard Kiley
winnerBest Scenic  Design
winnerBest Direction of a Musical
 Best Costume  Design
 Best Choreography


1978 Drama Desk Award Nominations
 Outstanding Actor in a Musical - Richard Kiley

2003 Tony Award Nominations
 Best Revival of a  Musical
 Best Actor in a Musical - Brian Stokes Mitchell
 Best Actress in a Musical - Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio


2003 Drama Desk Award Nominations
 Outstanding Revival of a  Musical
 Outstanding Actor in a Musical - Brian Stokes Mitchell 





                  SOME  HIGHLIGHTS:

                Richard Kiley performs the major song