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Sunday, October 21, 2012

REVIEW: “THE MAN OF LA MANCHA” @ STNJ

If you have seen The Man of La Mancha in any of its iterations—the 1966 original production, the 1972 film or the 2002 Broadway revival—I suggest that you park your expectations at the door of the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre when you pick up your tickets for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's version of the iconic musical which opened on Saturday night and runs through November 18.

Reimagining the show for a smaller stage (and a smaller budget), Director Bonnie J. Monte has eschewed traditional casting too. While the role of Miguel de Cervantes/Don Quixote remains as monumental as ever, two supporting roles, those of the squire Sancho Panza and the whore/lady Aldonza/Dulcinea have been so muted that they—especially Sancho—are almost unrecognizable among the multitude of prisoners re-enacting Cervantes' epic tale of knight errantry.

LaMancha_IMG_0267Based on one of the seminal works of Western literature, The Man of La Mancha uses the conceit of the author's being thrown into prison by the Inquisition where, while awaiting interrogation, he is put on trial by his fellow prisoners. To defend himself, he opens his trunk and hands out costumes and props to perform a "charade" that recounts the misadventures of a lunatic country squire who, besotted with tales chivalry, dons knight's armor, recruits a peasant to act as his squire and, in search of adventure, fights a monster and some Moors, meets a lady to whom he dedicates his quest and is dubbed a knight, before dying in his own house, stripped of his idealism and lunacy.

The great divide between Don Quixote's mad fantasies and brute reality provides much of the humor in the play, and in the opening scene, Cervantes' ability to transform this rag-tag group of prisoners into various characters is spellbinding. As he puts on make-up and a beard and wig to "become" Don Quixote, the actors' faces register disbelief and delight at his transformation. When they too don various bits of costume, they morph into various characters and perform their roles with relish.

Once again, the production values of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey are superb. Michael Schwiekardt's set, dominated by a huge trefoil, staircase and stone walls, is a constant reminder that this is a prison cell, and a dank one at that. Michael Giannitti's atmospheric lighting and Michelle Eden Humphrey's wonderfully ragged and overtly theatrical costumes add to the show's power. And Rick Sordelet's agile fight choreography conveys the violence prevalent both in prison and in the dung heap that is the real world of early 17th century Spain.

LaMancha_IMG_0008William Michals's Cervantes/Don Quixote commands our attention throughout the play's two and a quarter hour running time. As Cervantes, he goes from frightened, newly arrived prisoner to confident stage director to main character, moving from sanity to lunacy with ease. His nobility in the midst of squalor (in prison and the outside world) is touching and inspiring, especially when he sings the show's anthem, "The Impossible Dream"; his rich baritone soars to fills the theater auditorium. His fine performance is matched by Drew Dix as the Innkeeper and Patrick Boll as Dr. Carrasco, fiancé of Don Quixote's niece. The former, though bemused by his strange guest, goes along with the fantasy that his inn is a castle; the latter imperiously sets out to "cure" the Don of his insanity by cruelly scaring the old man into relinquishing his folly, leading to his sad demise. The innkeeper is likeable; the Doctor is not.

LaMancha_IMG_0199However, director Monte has not done similar justice to the two characters so important to the plot: Sancho Panza and Aldonza/Dulcinea. Traditionally, Sancho Panza has been portrayed by a portly actor (his name, "Panza," means belly or paunch). In this production, Blake Pfiel's slight stature and voice unfortunately mute the larger-than-life vulgar wit and earthy skepticism so necessary as an antidote to the knight's elevated diction and wild flights of fancy. His recital of Sancho's ever-ready proverbs falls flat so that, instead of being a worthy—and very funny—sidekick, Pfiel's Sancho Panza blends into the background to become just another prisoner actor.

While not the lusty, luscious whore of previous productions but a plain-looking creature who has been beaten down by life, Jane Pfitsch's appearance works well to convey the idea that an ordinary woman can be ennobled when someone (in this case Don Quixote) notices her and thinks she's beautiful. As he extols her beauty in "Dulcinea," Pftisch's chin trembles and her eyes fill with tears to produce a very touching moment. But these moments are intermittent: Her rather diffident performance in Act I fails to convey disgust and anger at the life she leads but improves markedly after the intermission (and her rape by the muleteers). This gamble on the part of the director to cast against the accepted type would have worked better had Pfitsch's performance been stronger from the very start.

Accompaniment is provided by musicians seated to the back of the stage left and right and by several prisoners who played the guitar. I don't know what the sound was like throughout the theater, but from my second row center aisle seat, there were times I had difficulty hearing the singers (they do not wear microphones), either because they didn't sing loudly enough or the accompaniment drowned them out.

The total impression, therefore, is of a diminished version of The Man of La Mancha. It's not the smaller stage, but smaller performances that rob this wonderfully theatrical play of its power, humor and truth. Without the raw reality provided by the common characters of Sancho and Aldonza, Don Quixote's lunatic fantasies look, well, nutty, rather than the idealism to which we all should aspire. And that's the point of the play.

The Man of la Mancha will be performed at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre on the Drew University campus in Madison through November 18. For information and tickets, call the box office at 973.408.5600.