If you go
› What: “Man of La Mancha”› Where: Covenant College, Sanderson Auditorium, 14049 Scenic Highway, Lookout Mountain› When: 8 p.m. Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 17; 2:30 p.m. Nov. 18› Admission: $10 adults, $7 senior adults, students and staff› For more information: 706-419-1051
Covenant College Theatre brings a musical back to the stage of Sanderson Auditorium after an absence of several years when "Man of La Mancha" opens tonight, Nov. 9, continuing through Nov. 18.
"It was time to start doing musicals again, if for no other reason than to give some incredibly talented students a chance to do a musical before they graduate," says director Claire Slavovsky.
"Man of La Mancha" is the musical retelling of Cervantes' masterpiece "Don Quixote." The Tony Award-winning score is filled with showstopping hits such as the title number sung by Don Quixote, "Dulcinea," and its well-known highlight, "The Impossible Dream."
The musical employs a play-within-a-play format in which a prisoner, Cervantes, must defend himself from his fellow inmates while awaiting the Spanish Inquisition. His defense takes the form of a theatrical presentation of the story of Alonso Quijana who has gone mad, "laying down the melancholy burden of sanity."
Cervantes transforms himself into Don Quixote, and goes on misadventures with his trusty servant, Sancho Panza. However misbegotten his plans, Don Quixote in his well-meant delusions seems to engage the hearts and fancies of those around him, including the beaten-down Aldonza, whom he mistakenly adores as the lady, Dulcinea.
Through Cervantes' obstinate desire to see beauty and wonder in the mundane and rotten, Don Quixote raises the question of whether it is madness to "seek treasure where there is only trash" and if "too much sanity may be madness."
Note: This show contains brief depictions of violence against women and may not be suitable for all audiences.
For tickets or more information, call the box office at 706-419-1051 or email boxoffice@covenant.edu.