PAD of La Mancha

Originally published May 12, 2000, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1382

I keep seeing these ads for “The Gap,” with all these jeans-clad actors performing numbers from West Side Story such as “America” and “Cool.” The downside is that I’m still not remotely interested in shopping at the Gap. The upside is that I’m now really eager to see a Broadway revival of West Side Story, perhaps choreographed by whoever is doing the commercials. If they ever decide to mount such a production, I’m there with money in hand. Of course, if they want to make it timely, they could change the gang from Puerto Ricans to Cubans. You’d have to do some lyric tweaks (“I like the city Havana!” “That’s the place from which we ran-ah!”) but it could be done. (Me, I still think time is on the government’s side on that whole Elian matter. Bottom line, the kid can’t stay cooped up forever. If the INS really wants him, they just have to wait it out. If nothing else, they can nab him when he heads out to his senior prom.)

In any event, speaking of Broadway musicals (he said by way of clumsy segue), for those who by bizarre happenstance might be interested into the only hobby I’ve got—community theater—you’ll be interested to know that I’m in a production of Man of La Mancha on Long Island in May.

Yes, that’s right—I’m doing an unabashed plug here. Most anyone I talk to who has seen the show, either in its original incarnation (with Richard Kiley), the revival (with Raul Julia) or practically any decent regional production (not to mention the shortened Quantum Leap version with Scott Bakula acquitting himself well performing “The Impossible Dream”), immediately places it among their top ten favorite musicals of all time. Not bad for a show that originally had trouble getting any backers because it was felt it was too cerebral, too philosophical, and just plain inaccessible to audiences.

For those of you who don’t know, Man of La Mancha is a musical adaptation (a very loose one) of the adventures of Don Quixote, the demented “knight errant” who—along with Sherlock Holmes and Winnie-the-Pooh, is one of the few literary figures instantly recognizable in silhouette. For those of you who do know and appreciate type casting, you’ll correctly guess that I was cast as Quixote’s intrepid sidekick, Sancho Panza. I’ve included some recent publicity photos taken, including Joe Morris (a versatile Long Island actor who, in “real life,” is a dentist) as Quixote and the supremely talented Phyllis March in what is probably Broadway’s most grueling female leading role, Aldonza the kitchen trollop.

Come on out and watch me get slammed to the floor within sixty seconds of making my first entrance, and thrown about repeatedly throughout the rest of the show. From rehearsal alone, I’ve got bruises from here, to…

(Peter David, writer of stuff, can be written to at Second Age, Inc., PO Box 239, Bayport, NY 11705.)

 Quixote (Joe Morris) and Sancho (some fat guy) surrounded by Gypsies and Moors.

 Don Quixote (Joe Morris) and Sancho (some fat guy) riding their trusty steeds (one of whom bears a sneaking resemblance to Eeyore) on the road to adventure.