Due to Kathleen’s impending delivery date, we knew if we wanted to see the revival of “Man of La Mancha” on Broadway, we’d need to go sooner rather than later. So it was that we were there in the first performance of the first premiere.
Well, it’s certainly in a *lot* better shape than the other premiere we recently saw (“Dance of the Vampires.”) But hëll, look at the material. And this time out, they didn’t screw with it the way they did at the Goodspeed Opera House a year or two ago–cutting songs (“What Does He Want of Me?”, “The Gypsy Dance”), or deciding to have Quixote speaking in a Castillian accent (transforming “Dulcinea” into “Dulthinea,” giving it a distinctly Daffy Duck sound.)
Solid to excellent casting. Brian Stokes Mitchell as Quixote doesn’t quite capture the air of madness in the old man, and he motors through Cervante’s pivitol speech about having seen life without milking the world-weariness and pain Cervantes has experienced, but you can’t argue with the man’s pipes. His “Impossible Dream” becomes a showstopper. Ernie Sabella wrings every last laugh out of Sancho (although Ariel looked up at me loyally at the end of the show and said, “You were a better Sancho, daddy.”) Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has a far more comprehensive theatrical track record than I’d realized, and I think she has the potential to be one of the great Aldonzas. She not quite there yet, though. She conveys some nice sneering contempt every now and then, but the broken spirit and burning bitterness of the tavern šlûŧ isn’t fully in evidence. And you really need that to make her transformation at the end more striking. On the upside, she’s a lot better than Sheena Easton or (oy) Sophia Loren.
And hey, comics fans. The production was directed by Jonathan Kent.
PAD
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Don’t get me started on Sophia Loren…I used to work in a video store, and periodically someone would come in looking for the Man of La Mancha movie. I’d always feel compelled to tell them that, unfortunately, it simply wasn’t very good.
To this day, I’m kinda pìššëd that no one preserved Richard Kiley’s performance.
Trivia point: Did you know that before they approached Kiley, the author’s first choice was Rex Harrison? Think how different *that* performance would have been…
From what David Gabriel tells me (he’s friendly with some of the cast members), Dance of the Vampires has undergone much more tightening since you saw it. I’ll let you know how we find the December 4 showing.
I first became acquainted with “La Mancha” during the Quantum Leap episode “Catch A Falling Star”, then later caught a touring company performance of it featuring John Collum (sp?) from the episode in the lead!
Scott Bakula does a wonderful performance of the three main songs as a medley on the QL soundtrack from GNP Records, and have always wondered how he’d do in a full length production of the musical.
Meanwhile, if Ben Varkentine and anyone else is interested in Richard Kiley’s performance, there have been a few editions of the original Broadway soundtrack over the years, the most recent ones by MCA/Universal Records.
And if you can find it, Decca Records (besides the original B’way edition) also released a two record set of the ENTIRE production from overture to final curtain! But good luck finding it, I’m still looking myself.
Hi PAD,
Thanks for the review. I get to see it for myself in January. I can not wait. Hope all is well with you and the family.
Happy Thanksgiving
Hey Lee
Have you tried Footlights records? http://www.footlight.com. Generally if they don’t have a cast album — it doesn’t exist. Very reasonably priced too.
There’s also Colony Records in MidTown but they’ll charge you out the whazoo for something Footlights will have much cheaper.
Also Dress Circle in London (not sure of the website) is an excellent source for cast albums and they’re reasonably priced, although you do have to ship from England.
I’ve directed and been in La Mancha – it’s easily one of my favorite shows, and I hope to catch the revival. My question for any who’ve seen it – does Mastrontonio have the pipes? Aldonza is an enormously difficult role to sing, much more so than Cervantes/Quixote. (When the revival was announced, I was praying they’d reunite Mitchell with Audra McDonald, who would be stunning in the role. Oh well.)
I’ve never understood completely why the “La Mancha” film is so universally despised.
I grant that it’s uneven, and Loren’s rendition of “Aldonza” at the end IS really weak. Still, I think her characterization APART from her singing is wonderful, as is all of the cast’s.
What I find particularly striking about the film is that it seems somehow a lot more thoughtful and reserved, which brings things out of the script that I certainly didn’t see, for example, in the production starring Robert Goulet. In that version, Goulet was a complete ham, and everything was played for corny slapstick.
Perhaps I’ve just never seen a truly well-done stage version, but I maintain that the film is better than people give it credit for. I liked that they took the risk of doing it differently from most stage interps (e.g., making Sancho less slapstick, taking the bombast out of certain musical numbers), rather than just taking the stage version and slapping it onto film– as is often done with other Broadway musicals.
I can’t speak for the universe, but I despise the film because none of the three lead actors can sing, at least to the standard required by one of the strongest scores, I think, in Broadway history.
For me, saying an actor in a musical’s characterization is wonderful apart from their singing is like saying a campaign was splendidly run, it’s just that we lost the election.
The music in Man of La Mancha is gorgeous; no argument from me there. But I don’t think the actors in Man of La Mancha sing *badly* (except for Loren’s rendition of “Aldonza”); they sing in character.
The movie doesn’t contain, perhaps, the most technically proficient renditions of “I Like Him,” or “Dulcinea,” etc., but I think they’re still effective renditions, because — again — the characterizations are so strong.
I mean, you mentioned Rex Harrison in an earlier post. People constantly praise his Henry Higgins, and I don’t recall him singing a single bloody note. But the characterization was so strong that it worked anyway.
Oh, Mastrantonio definitely has the pipes. Vocally, she doesn’t strike a false note.
Look, I’m indulging in mind-reading here, but my suspicion is that she’s thrilled to be on Broadway and playing this part. So her genuine happiness comes through. But Aldonza is someone who would rather be anywhere but where she is. You can’t have a beaming Aldonza. Still, she’s a strong enough actress that I think she’ll only improve in the role.
PAD
As for Harrison, his Higgins didn’t work just because the characterization was so strong (although it was) it worked also because (his parts of)that score were prepared wholly for him, keeping in mind his limitations as a singer, and working to create something brilliant and unique.
That’s why when it came time to make the film, Cary Grant told the studio when they offered him the part, “If you don’t cast Rex, not only will I not do the film I won’t even see it!”
In the case of the Man of La Mancha film, though, we have a score that was written for men and women with rich, strong voices (except for Sancho, which is a comedy part, but you do still have to be able to sing better than James Coco)given to actors who simply don’t have them. In comparison to the originals, especially Kiley, the voices are just so weak…
Well, fair enough on Rex Harrison. I didn’t know the part was written for him, although when I’ve seen other productions of it, the part is sung, and I’ve seen a copy of the score from when I was in a revue, and there were notes written for the vocal line of all of Higgins’ songs. I assumed from that that Harrison was given those notes and chose not to sing them, but now I’m guessing it was the other way around: that those notes were put in after the fact.
In any case, getting back to “La Mancha”… perhaps it’s a matter of subjectivity, but I didn’t really think James Coco sang badly. Certainly no worse than the Sancho from the original Broadway CD, who’s (perhaps deliberately) out of tune. With O’Toole, well… again, it’s just a matter of opinion, probably, but his “weaker” voice occasionally allowed for more nuances than what I hear from Kiley’s renditions on the CD.
While it may be true that the parts were originally written for more operatic singers, I think there were some surprisingly good results borne of having less bombastic singers in the roles. Certain lyrics came out more, for example, and different emotional resonances were struck. (Sorry if that’s vague, but I’m getting the impression that I’m rambling, so I’m trying to conclude this post…)
I just don’t see where the character of Don Quixote in “La Mancha” *demands* a Kiley-type voice. O’Toole ended up emphasizing the frailty, the agedness of the character, via his singing, and I thought that was a really interesting choice. Sancho, meanwhile, became a bit more thoughtful via Coco’s delivery, and Aldonza’s character, thanks to Loren, became less shrill in her discontent… more quietly menacing.
Almost all these choices work for me, personally, and are supported in the script (except, again, in Loren’s “Aldonza”, which really came out hollow, unfortunately).
But I guess it’s a matter of opinion, as I certainly can’t argue the cold, hard fact that O’Toole, et al, aren’t the best singers in the world.
May I ask: what do you think of the album version of “La Mancha” with Placido Domingo in the lead role?
“what do you think of the album version of “La Mancha” with Placido Domingo in the lead role?”
I confess I haven’t heard it. Maybe I’ll see if my library has a copy.
Re: Rex Harrisson
The songs, I think, had melodies, the melodies were just crafted so they he could skate over them easily. I’ve always maintained that the score works better when Higgins DOES sing – “Accustomed to Her Face” has one of the most gorgeous melodies Broadway has ever produced, and it’s a shame to not sing it.
Re: Mastrontonio:
Glad to hear she has the pipes; it’s such a great vocal role, and so rarely done well.
Re: The Film
Put me in the camp that hated it, for the same reasons already noted. I’ve always felt that if you’re going to go to the trouble to write notes, they should be sung well. O’Toole might have added some character to the songs, but a good singer can bring all of that charcater PLUS the character the melodies have built into them. La Mancha is one of the great scores, and the songs should be sung by great singers, not because they’re great songs (although they are) but because the melodies themselves add so much to the characters.
I’m probably fighting the unbeatable foe by continuing to defend my stance here, but…
… well, the melodies are still THERE in the film. Unlike Harrison, O’Toole still DOES sing the notes.
I’m probably getting to the point where I’m just hairsplitting, and I know that I’m not going to win anyone to my side, but… just because the songs are not sung with technical profiency doesn’t mean they weren’t sung “well.” Again, this probably comes down to a subjective level, where it’s either, “Do I enjoy listening to this, or don’t I?”
I’ve got the film soundtrack, and I do enjoy listening to the songs sung by everyone but Loren. Clearly, folks like you and Ben do not. Don’t get me wrong; I can easily recognize the lack of technical skill in the singers’ voices, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy their efforts, which are — I think — admirable.
And again, it may just be me, but when I listen to the Broadway soundtrack, I get very little sense of character in comparison. For all that the songs are sung with more full voices, and more gusto– overall, they are sung “better” — many tracks sound empty to me. Like exercises in skill rather than expressions of character. Perhaps that would not have been the case had I SEEN those performers singing those songs on the stage. But I never have.
Ideally, I’d love to see a version of La Mancha that had all the acting elements I loved from the film, with singers of a somewhat higher quality. I’m not keeping my fingers crossed, though.