PERFORMANCES | By Kathleen Kaiser

The Impossible Dream Comes to Ojai this September

(Ojai, CA – August 15, 2018) The beloved musical Man of La Mancha is coming to the Ojai Art Center Theater for 5 weekends beginning September 7. When many are striving for what seems an impossible dream, this musical delivers a timeless theme and inspires any audience.

How did “Man of La Mancha” come to the theater? Richard Camp, Artistic Director of the Ojai Art Center Theater: “A year ago, I had a dream and after inspiring director Marty Babayco with that dream, I approached Scott White who has the most mellifluous voice. Without telling him my intention, I asked what role he has always wanted to play and hasn’t. He immediately said “Don Quixote”. After my goosebumps subsided I shared with Marty who put together a spectacular cast and crew. And here we are!” The impossible dream has come true.”

Babayco was touched by the play’s central philosophy: “Cervantes makes it clear that dreaming the impossible dream is the only logical choice we have, so we tilt at windmills. The story still resonates today, contrasting captivity versus freedom; love versus violence; and hope versus death, reminding us to ‘try, when our arms are to weary to reach the unreachable star.'”

An 8-piece orchestra will accompany an outstanding cast led by Scott White as Cervantes/Quixote and Laura Dekkers as Aldonza/Dulcinea, with Marty Babayco directing.

The playwright of “Man of La Mancha,” Dale Wasserman, was intrigued with the Quixote character but he knew the 915-page book was too enormous to be made into a play so he brilliantly made it Cervantes’ story. Wasserman said “I should like it noted that I am not, nor ever have been, an Hispanic scholar. I am a playwright, one of whose works, Man of La Mancha, is enjoying performances in some forty languages, and which seems to have gone into theatrical history as the first truly successful adaptation of the novel Don Quixote. I consider this an unfortunate impression. Man of La Mancha, strictly speaking, is not an adaptation of Don Quixote at all. It is a play about Miguel de Cervantes.”

Producer Stuart Crowner admires Wasserman’s re-focusing of the story: “I saw the original Broadway production of “La Mancha” in New York with Richard Kiley and Joan Diener and it was visually and emotionally stunning. I can see why it won 5 Tonys—including Best Musical—and ran for 2,350 performances. Richard, Marty, Executive Producer Joan Kemper and I are pleased to bring this magnificent show to Ojai.”

Tickets for “Man of La Mancha” are available at www.ojaiact.org and 805-640-8797.

Brief Story Synopsis

In this story, Miguel de Cervantes, aging and an utter failure in his varied careers as playwright, poet and tax collector, sits in a Seville dungeon with his manservant, awaiting trial by the Spanish Inquisition for an offense against the Church. The other prisoners set up a mock trial: if Cervantes is found guilty, he will hand over all his possessions. Cervantes agrees to do so, and offers his defense in the form of a play. Producing a makeup kit, he transforms himself into an old man who calls himself Don Quixote de La Mancha.

Quixote and his “squire,” Sancho Panza, set out to find adventures in a campaign to restore the age of chivalry, to battle evil, and to right all wrongs.