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| 7/7/2010 10:34:00 AM Email this article • Print this article |
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Richard Ruiz, Richard Todd Adams, and Natascia Diaz star in “Man of La Mancha,” at the Hangar Theatre through July 17. (Photo by Thomas Hoebbel Photography) |
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'Man' Out of Time: Hangar Theatre stages a rousing 'La Mancha'
Bryan VanCampen
Film Editor
"Man of La Mancha": Book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. Directed by Peter Flynn. With Richard Todd Adams, Natascia Diaz, Richard Ruiz and ensemble. At Ithaca's Hangar Theatre through July 17.
When I was the entertainment editor for NewsCenter 7, I saw a certain handful of musicals performed many, many times, so it was a pleasure to not only get a look at the Hangar's new and expanded facilities, but also a first look at an authentic classic Broadway musical, "Man of La Mancha." The show onstage is as spiffy and memorable as the building around it.
It only takes about 10 minutes for the tale as directed by Hangar Artistic Director Peter Flynn to take hold of the imagination and spirit: the action of the play-within-a-play takes place in a dank stone prison cell dominated by an intimidating staircase on chains hovering overhead. The atmosphere is so well achieved by the show's designers that the audience can practically smell the mildew and mold. The story follows Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (Richard Todd Adams) and his footman (Richard Ruiz) as they await punishment from those behind the Spanish Inquisition. And so Cervantes, a man of theater, transforms himself into the redoubtable Don Quixote and tells a story of embracing insanity and tilting at windmills both as a means of defending his creation and killing time before the inevitable occurs.
Produced for the first time since it opened the Hangar 35 years ago, Flynn's production well preserves the musical's sense of imaginative play and crazed courage that carry us through the evening. As I said, it takes about 10 minutes to adjust to the piece's blend of harsh realism and flights of fancy, and at first the surrounding ensemble seemed a bit jittery and nervy to play proper support. But as soon as the tale takes hold, all inhibitions and nerves dropped away, and the entire cast relaxed into a riveting group performance.
Adams does fantastic double duty here: his comparatively staid Cervantes gives way to a magnificent comic portrayal of Quixote. His powerful stage voice was able to quaver and warble in a most amusing way, and at times Adams found the core absurdity and self-delusion that fires many of Will Ferrell's comic creations. Ably abetted by Ruiz - a compact, wide-eyed and lovable wag who gets most of his laughs by offering support in the Second City tradition - the two make a great team, "riding" from town to town with two of the ensemble clad in rough, terrycloth horse heads.
But the centerpiece of the show, dramatically speaking, must be the character of Aldonza (Natascia Diaz), a scullery maid and sometime prostitute who finds herself renamed Dulcinea by Quixote; Diaz was simply on fire the entire evening, at first cracking wise and keeping up a tough front very much in the Rita Moreno mold, and then allowing Quixote's adoration to crack her façade and show a heartbreaking vulnerability behind her toughness.
Diaz was in the moment every step of the way, even saving her dignity during the musical's still controversial rape sequence. In that moment, the attackers dance with her one by one in choreography as invasive and disturbing as it is somehow graceful. More than once, Diaz broke down into well-earned tears. Devanand Janki's choreography is central throughout, specific and sharp, particularly in the second act's wild gypsy sequence, and Aldonza's abduction and rape.
Special mention is deserving of the excellence of the technical staging of "Man of La Mancha." The transitions between Cervantes in prison and Don Quixote's tales of touching madness were dramatized not just by vivid changes in light from cold gray and green to warm sunshine, but also by a beautiful fresco of a Spanish village that appeared from time to time, projected on the back flat of prison stones. Even the centerpiece scene of "windmill tilting" was imaginatively conceived, with Adams offstage tossing bits of mangled props onstage as the entire cast stood riveted by a slowly rotating windmill light.
In a very strong ensemble, William Ryall stood out, both as a malevolent prison guard and an innkeeper who is so befuddled by Quixote's grace that he dubs him "The Knight of the Woeful Countenance." Chris Reber also scored dramatically and vocally as a sympathetic padre, and Nik Walker's triple-role of Duke, Dr. Carrasco and the Knight of the Mirrors - the latter most chilling as the play winds to its sad, inevitable conclusion.
Don Quixote suffered for his belief in magical realism, and in the course of "Man of La Mancha" we find out the fate that befell poor Cervantes. But as the Hangar's production gradually casts its spell and Adams begins belting "The Impossible Dream," there is no suffering for the audience, just rapt attention, squeals of laughter, delight and tears, and the kind of cathartic closing that brought the entire audience to its feet at show's end, roaring and cheering.
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"Man of La Mancha" plays at the Hangar Theatre through July 17. Tickets are available at Ithaca's Ticket Center and at the theater's box office one hour prior to curtain. For more information, visit www.hangartheatre.org.
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Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
