Burnt Marsh-wiggle of La Mancha

Dana says she and her friend Tristen talk about what's wrong with the world sometimes. I don't think I've ever done that with one of my friends. Not seriously. No wait, I guess that's what me and Millie did at the library the other day. Anyway. It's just so easy to get depressed with a conversation like that. What sometimes needs talking up is being a decent person despite the overwhelming number of people who will think you are crazy for it. To stand up to the things that are wrong with the world is the hard part. In a lot of ways I can't make much of a difference in the world but I have to try anyway. So, where am I going with this? And what does it have to do with the title of this post? *Karen tries for several moments to remember* oh yes, the next musical on my list of favorites deals with this hopeless situation we find ourselves in when we are trying to live as citizens of the Kingdom of Christ in fallen, corrupt world. The Man of La Mancha smells of Burnt Marsh-Wiggle.

I have never managed to read Crevantes' Don Quixote so I don't know how the book compares to the musical as far as plot and such. I'm not very good at plot summaries anyway.
The whole play is written with all these layers of metaphor. It's set in a dungeon where the pensioners are acting out the story together under the direction of Crecantes. We weave in and out of Crevantes' dream and Don Quxiote's.
This musical is on my list because the message (which everyone ought to hear) is so inseparable from the music and the music from the story. This is the way musicals are supposed to be.

Content warning: There is much adult content in this story. It is not always handled tactfully. Certainly PG-13 rating for sexual content. Generally, I don't like shows like that. Phantom of the Opera could have been a little higher up on the list if it wasn't for all the sensuality in it. La Mancha is an exception because, although it's much worse than Phantom in that regard, the sexual content serves a purpose in the story and is not meant to be a crowd pleaser.

Don Quixote is out on his quest to right all wrongs. Righting all wrongs includes slaying windmills and (in one really fun song) rescuing a legendary helmets from a traveling barbers who has mistaken it for a shaving basin. It also involves defending the honor of a woman whom Quixote calls Dulcinea and everyone else knows as Aldonza. Aldonza makes her living selling drinks and food and herself to whatever man walks into her inn. Not much honor to defend. Quixote doesn't see it that way. He sees Aldonza as she was meant to be (Dulcinea) and raises her up out of the life she has been living to something more worthy of her. Aldonza thinks he's crazy. Okay, he is crazy but maybe being crazy is better than being sane and hateful like Aldonza is. First she mocks him with everyone else, but she finds she cannot laugh at him. Why? He lives in a dream world where good always triumphs over evil and people are moral and honorable by default. What Does He Want of Me, she sings (Gorgeous song)

"no one can be what he wants me to be."

The real world simply isn't like that. Aldonza has a very dim view of the world. She can only hate it and she cannot comprehend Quixote who seems to love it even when it is just as cruel to him as it has been to her. Taking her hate from her leaves Aldonza with only despair (or so she tells him in one of her songs) but Quixote is full of hope even in the face of his hopeless quest.

The only recordings I could find from this show are sung by a British guy. And it's obvious. It might be Peter O'Toole cause he plays Quixote in the movie version. I've never seen it. This is really wrong because the actor who play Don Quixote should at least fake a Spanish accent if he doesn't have one naturally. I hear the movie makers cast with singing ability second to acting. That's a matter of opinion I guess. I don't think I would like it. And I absolutely refused to put Frank Sinatra singing the Impossible Dream. It's just wrong. *Sigh* the recordings I find are seldom what I was hoping for. My apologies, you all need to go find the sound track with Placido Domingo.
There is so much passion in these songs. Some of them, I cannot sing along to because they are not G rated but the ones that are clean are very beautiful. I love the Spanish flavor; the brass and the castanets. Ah! It's so good!

Other favorites of mine from this show are "I Really Like Him" in which Quixote's faithful 'squire' Sancho attempts to explain his devotion to a bewildered Aldonza. Okay, any time Sancho sings it's great fun. While Don Quixote lies dyeing his servant comes to his bed side with 'a little gossip' mostly to cheer himself up, since Quixote is unconscious. He's full of common sense and nonsense.
And there is this little song... Quixote's death scene is very moving and at the end, while Dulcinea and Sancho try to make sense of the mans life the good Padre sings a prayer under their dialog and it might be my favorite part in the whole sound track. Maybe it's just cause it's in Latin. *grin*

The Man of La Mancha opens

Hear me now, or thou bleak and unbearable world
thou art base and debauched as can be.
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now throws down his gauntlet to thee!

That may be the theme song and opening number but The Quest is really the heart of the show. It pretty much sums it up.

Quixote: It is the mission of each true knight, his duty, nay, his privilege..
{sing}
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chase from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest: to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
To fight for the right, without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell for a heavenly cause.
And I know if I only be true to this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this;
That one man, scorned and covered with scares
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreadable star