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Title: Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman ISBN: 0-394-40619-2 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 12 October, 1966 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This is Exactly What You Should Expect From It
Comment: Having performed a goodly segment of this script during an ill-fated production from hell, I must say that it was quite good to have a copy of the script that was what I was looking for. Man of La Mancha is most certainly NOT the original (Don Quixote), but it doesn't need to be. If you want the original book, you may as well read it in it's original, Spanish text (as I have). Have fun with the story, it's one of the more referenced, when dealing with insanity.
Rating: 5
Summary: Is this a different version of "Don Quixtoe"? You decide
Comment: Whenever I would teach "Don Quixote" I would take one class period and play the "Man of La Mancha" album for my students. Of course, "Don Quixote" is really a story told in two parts, and there are some significant differences between the first and second parts written by Miquel de Cervantes. If you have read both parts of the first great novel then I think you have an appropriate perspective for looking at the script of "Man of La Mancha" with a critical eye. The big question is whether this version by Dale Wasserman and company achieves a creative synthesis of the two parts of "Don Quixote" or whether this constitutes a totally new and different telling of the tale. There is probably enough evidence from reading the synopsis of the play and listening to the soundtrack, but having this script in hand can really facilitate your analysis. Of course, having an entire class read this script in addition to the entire novel (or a decent abridged version) is probably a bit much. But if I were to convince a teacher to use the synopsis/album as a starting point for discussion, then I would certain urge such teachers to pick up the script for their own personal reference, especially if they have never had the opportunity to see "Man of La Mancha" in performance (and this does not mean having seen the fairly wretched film version). Ironically, the framing device of "Man of La Mancha" makes the story of Don Quixote an extremely personal work to Cervantes, while the musical attempts to craft a unique version of the character and his life's story. Just be warned that becoming familiar with each version is ultimately going to require you to make a choice between the two (or three) versions.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Mirror of Reality is cracked!
Comment: I was introduced to Hidalgo Quixote, Knight of the Woeful Countenance in high school and was overtaken by the power of the music and the story. Two years later, I was living in Portugal. Though it wasn't Spain, I still felt the same breeze, and saw the same type of windmills that Quixote tilted in his tilted reason.
Joseph Smith once observed that, "by proving contraries, truth is made manifest," (History of the Church 6:428), and Aristotle once said that if you want to find truth, invert. Cervantes follows this pattern of putting things upside-down to show right-side-upness. He accentuates reality by taking an insane man as his lead character. The paradox, however, is that Quixote seems to be the sanest person in the story.
"The Man of La Mancha" has two advantages over its parent-text "Don Quixote." The first is that Wasserman, et al. did a marvelous job of pairing down Cervantes' two part book into a one act play. A lot of Quixote's adventures are funny parody, but it at times becomes a bit over-done. The play captures the essence of the Quixote-Idea without any gas. "Brevity is the soul of wit," as Shakespeare testified.
The second advantage is the music. "The Quest (The Impossible Dream)" is a triumph not only for Wasserman et al, but it is a triumph for humanity. So this book needs to be read with the soundtrack. The original Broadway is my favorite, since it captures the Iberian wind that blows over the story. The Peter O'Toole film is too produced and had too many sweet strings that drench out the Spanish guitars.
You know how good a work of art is by seeing how it is parodies. Quixote has been copied on "Quantum Leap," and Alf, and Jim Neighbors sung "The Quest" on Gomer Pyle. There is even a cartoon "Don Coyote and Sancho Panda." And, of course, there is the classic Mr. Magoo (Jim Baccus) version of Don Quixote.
So buy, and enjoy this play. Read along with the movie, and ponder reality through the eyes of an insane man.
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Title: Man of La Mancha : Vocal Score by Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion, Ludwig Flato ISBN: 0895245582 Publisher: Cherry Lane Music Pub. Date: 01 December, 1986 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title:Man of La Mancha (2002 Broadway Revival Cast) ASIN: B00007GZM1 Publisher: Rca Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $14.99 |
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Title: Fiddler on the Roof by Jerry Bock, Jerome Robbins, Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick, Sholem Aleichem ISBN: 0879101369 Publisher: Limelight Editions Pub. Date: April, 1990 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title:Man of La Mancha (Original 1965 Broadway Cast) ASIN: B00005A8KE Publisher: Polygram Records Pub. Date: 06 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.99 |
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Title:Man of La Mancha ASIN: B0001AW11A Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pub. Date: 11 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $10.47 |
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