Man of
La Mancha
With an
impressive cast in the setting of the beautiful London Coliseum, I went to see
the Man of La Mancha as the show returns to the West End for the first time in
fifty years.
The
musical tells a story within a story as Miguel De Cervantes / Don Quixote
(Kelsey Grammer) is imprisoned with his servant Sancho Panza (Peter
Plolycarpou) awaiting trial during the Spanish Inquisition. As the other
prisoners try to steal his belongings he fights to keep his precious manuscript,
and in order to do this, he tells them the story of Alonso Quijano, who believes
he is the knight Don Quixote. This leads us into the adventures of the
man who pursues the beautiful Dulcinea (Danielle de Niese) fighting for his love and following the
path he believes to be true. Moving between the reality of the prison and the
imagined world of Don Quixote is confusing in the beginning with a variety of
different characters introduced, but this does settle down.
Overall
there is a slow start to the show as Grammer persuades the Captain / Innkeeper
(Nicholas Lyndhurst) to let him tell his tale, and really only picks up
momentum before the interval. However,
the second half made up for this. Danielle de Niese's brings vibrancy
and strength to her character and her voice is beautiful as she outshines all
the other performers on the stage. Peter Polycarpou's role is limited but
he ensures he brings all the humour he can from his character.
The one
song everyone knows from this musical is the Impossible Dream and although
Grammer does his best, it is obvious that he does not come from a musical theatre
background. However when it is repeated
at the end of the play, there is a poignancy to the piece that gives the
play a fitting ending.
The show
is playing for a very limited season from 1st May until 8th June.
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