It is a play that celebrates the human condition, and all its triumphs and tragedies, just as its original author did, and the collaboration, with score by Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion, and book by Dale Wasserman, created a magical musical. Joneal Joplin, a month shy of 38 years on St. Louis stages, brings complete understanding to the role and scores triumphantly in "Man of LaMancha," which opened last night as an excellent production by the Insight Theatre Company, playing through Aug. 22 at the Heagney Theatre at Nerinx Hall High School.
Joplin inhabits the character perfectly, and while his singing ranges from good to adequate, his acting is well-nigh perfect. A wince here, a shudder there, a twist of his shoulders or a tilt to his chin demonstrate excellently the mood of the moment of Miguel Cervantes or his alter egos, Don Quiana, an elderly country squire, and Don Quixote de la Mancha, a knight-errant and later the Knight of the Woeful Countenance. Cervantes is in prison, about to be "cleansed" by the forces of the Spanish Inquisition, probably the worst-ever abusers of human beings until Adolf Hitler came along more than four centuries later.
But before he faces the Inquisitors, his fellow prisoners have their own kangaroo court and charge Quixote with a number of crimes, including being a bad poet.
He asks for a trial, which allows him to tell his story. He also is playing for time, creating an entertainment and turning the prisoners into actors. Is he crazy? Well, he's an idealist, an honest man, a courteous one, but a stubborn one who sees the world through his own particular focus, just as we all do.
Are we all crazy, too? Undoubtedly, at least sometimes, but Cervantes' single-minded zeal and dramatic approach causes a few prisoners, including Aldonza, a scullery maid and prostitute, to see a different point of view and follow it–and him–blindly down another path.
Just as Sarah Palin does. Just as Jesus did.
Director Edward Coffield, choreographer Michael Baxter and musical director Ross Bell
have done splendid work with a young, semi-professional group, developing a cohesiveness and an attitude that makes the drama almost seamless. Baxter's work on the fight scene is exemplary, and it's only a shame we can't have instant reply to single out some of the wonderful moments and see them again. I'm sure I missed a lot, but I caught Billy Bommarito in a handful of marvelous moves. Troy Turnipseed and Nate McClure, as mules hitched to a wagon, also were very impressive.
Christopher Hickey, as Sancho Panza, who is Tonto to Joplin's Lone Ranger, was a wonder. He had the voice and the attitude to perfection, and the comedy worked because Hickey played it perfectly, with total seriousness. A rich, multi-layered performance, and his two songs, the playful "A Little Gossip" and the plaintive "I Really Like Him," were spot-on. Julie O'Neill got off to a slow start as Aldonza/Dulcinea but picked up nicely as the play rolled on. When she sings her bitter autobiography, she was solid.
Others who stood out were Doug Irwin, leader of the prisoners and the Innkeeper, unstrung by the strange and fearless man and splendid in the song that accompanies the dubbing; Laura Ernst as the niece; Paul Balfe, as the baffled barber who cannot understand why someone wants his shaving basin; and Christina Ramirez as a little girl, a ghostly presence as she moves around the set, watching, never speaking (but singing) and often acting almost as an exclamation point to the action.
Caitlyn Ayer designed the set, Kaitlyn Breen the highly effective lighting and Laura Hanson the costumes. And because no one sees them, a nod to Bell's pit orchestra, Duane Bridges, Grace Fitter, Abby Halley, Jason Harris, Adam Kopff, Mary McKinis, Andrew Miramonti, Kurt Silver and John Thomas.
A good production for a classic musical.
"Man of La Mancha," by the Insight Theatre Company at the Heagney Theatre at Nerinx Hall High School through Aug. 22
–Joe