Matthews Acting
Studio at Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University. General Admission ($45.)
Production and Cast
Michael Dean
Morgan, director; Louis F. Goldberg – music director; Cervantes/Don Quioxte –
Jess Malgieri, Sancho Panza - Jordan Bunshaft, Aldonza – Sandra Marante,
Governor/Innkeeper – Patrick James, Duke/Carrasco – Kyle Guglielmo,
Antonia/Fermina/Gypsy Dancer – Joanna Connolly, Maria, Innkeeper’s wife –
Kristin Titus, Padre/Paco, a Muleteer – Pierre Le Grange.
Musical Numbers
Overture –
Orchestra; Man of La Mancha – Don Quixote & Sancho; It’s All the Same –
Aldonza; Dulcinea – Don Quixote; I’m Only Thinking of Him – Antonia, Padre,
Housekeeper & Dr. Carrasco; I Really Like Him – Sancho; What Does He Want
of Me? – Aldonza; Little Bird, Little Bird – Muleteers; Barber’s Song – Barber;
Golden Helmet of Mambrino – Don Quixote, Sancho & Barber; To Each His
Dulcinea – Padre; The Impossible Dream – Don Quixote; Knight of the Woeful
Countenance – Innkeeper, Aldonza & Sancho; Aldonza – Aldonza; A Little
Gossip – Sancho; Dulcinea (reprise) – Aldonza; The Impossible Dream (reprise) –
Aldonza & Don Quixote; Man of La Mancha (reprise) – Don Quixote, Aldonza
& Sancho; Finale Ultimo – Company.
The Baroque
Chamber Concert, subject of the last blog, concluded at around 5 pm. Our plan was to visit the sculpture garden in
Hamilton, and then come back to Princeton for the musical. Our plans were quite
loose as we considered the musical an option that we wouldn’t fret about
missing.
When we reached
the sculpture garden at about 5:30 pm, it was pouring, making an outdoor
activity quite impossible. We headed
first to the Quakerbridge Mall, and eventually decided to go to iHOP to have a
simple dinner. When we got to the Lewis
Center it was about 7:20 pm. People were
already lining up outside the theatre entrance as it was open seating, and the
ticketing people (same we saw earlier today, per Anne) told us there were 3
tickets left. So that settled it.
The Festival
Book lists 11 performances of this musical, which is quite impressive, even
considering the small theater seats about 150 people. For tonight’s performance it was filled to
capacity.
We saw the
Broadway version of this many many years ago.
The first thing I noticed was I didn’t find the story so confusing. Anne thought the whole thing was a dream or
recollection by Cervantes while he was in prison waiting to be called by the
Inquisitors; I think it is a bit more complicated than that. Of course having some actors playing multiple
roles only added to my confusion.
Even with the
overall setting lost to me, I still found the individual scenes quite
compelling. Worth particular mention was
how Cervantes’s love Aldonza eventually saw herself as Dulcinea, the idealized
version envisioned by Cervantes.
The singing was
uniformly great. Prior Broadway shows I
have seen all had singers miked up. As
far as I can tell that wasn’t so today – the theatre is very small, after all.
The set is
simple, a simple stage with a few crates that were moved around to form
different props, such as a cross, and with the addition of a piece of plywood, a table. There
were quite a few bright lights that came on at different instances. By and large the setup worked.
The two actors in the front are Aldonza (Sandra Marante) and Cervantes (Jess Malgieri.) What is seen in the back is most of the set.
The play lasted
longer than the advertised 1:45 hours, and was performed without an
intermission. It didn’t feel long at
all.
While seeing this
musical wasn’t high on our list of things to do, we are glad to have seen it.
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