Theatre Design & Technology - May 1966 - 25

MAN OF LA MANCHA. (left) thumbnail plan and section (courtesy of Howard Bay); (right) rehearsal shot, Photo: AI De Sio.

OPEN-STAGE MUSICAL
Man of La Mancha, produced at the ANT A Washing- The production has three brilliant visual images.
ington Square Theatre, is the fi rs t Broadway mus i- One, the first view of Don Quixote and Sancho,
cal played on on open stage. It is also athletically the foolish old knight, lance proudly in hand, on
energetic, catchily musical, fast moving and with- muleback with Sancho on mule at his side-just as
out an intermission. Oddly, like Marat/Sade, it also we have always seen it in engravings.
concerns lunacy and uses a play-within-a-play Another is a scene in which Cervantes' son-in-law
technique.
comes to him dressed as a black knight to make
The play by Dale Wasserman interweaves the story him see his Don Quixote guise for the mad posturing
of Don Quixote with the life of its author, Cervantes. it is. The breastplate of the black knight is enIn the interweaving, Don Quixote becomes an epi- crusted with a mosaic of mirrors that catch the
sode of temporary insanity in the life of Cervantes, light. When mirrored shields are held up to Cerwho relates it all while he is in prison, as histori- vantes so that he (and the audience) can see "realcally he was, awaiting trial by the Inquisition. In ity", the light dances off the black knight's mira mock trial by his inmates, Cervantes' book be- rored mosaic breastplate and off ball mirrors in the
comes his best justification for his deeds and mis- ceiling, reflecting onto the audience and the walls
deeds. Since as "a dreamer of impossible dreams, of the darkened auditorium like a planetarium's
reaching for unreachable stars," he has been an stars flashing in the night. DOil Quixote crumbles.
inspiring and ennobling force among the people he (But how much more gentle is this shock therapy
has come in contact with, Quixote/Cervantes is, than that of Marat I Sade.)
we are led to hope, to be spared severe punish- Except for this brilliance (and some riotously
ment by the Inqui sition.
colored gypsy disguises), all of Howard Bay and
The two stories are beautifully knitted together by
the physical production, designed by Howard Bay,
and by Albert Marre's imaginatively varied and
fluid use of the open stage.
When the audience enters, the stage is seen as a
relatively high, craggy terrace of rough stone masonry. Its plan is an elaborated quatrefoil, like a huge
moori sh ti Ie. Furthermore, it is detached both from
the audience and the rear wall, like an island.
During the tuning of the inviSible, backstage orchestra, a clang in the overhead light bridge heralds
the arrival of the magicianly light crew. Then for
the overture, the close-in panels of the "proscenium
wall" are retracted to reveal the orchestra, which
is split into boxes on each side of the stage. After
the overture, the panels close, concealing the
orchestra from the audience and also from the
actors, who pi ay farther forward and who on Iy
through practice and the aid of amplification sing
together with the orchestra.

May 1966

Patton Campbell's costumes are subdued and properly rustic.
The lastof the three memorable images is
first entryua piece of theatre art that
the central motif of the two interwoven
and, as is gradually revealed, gives
presentation a third, broader metaphysical

Cervantes'
transcends
narratives
the entire
dimension.

What happen s at the very open ing is that the stage
is first dimly lighted by a projected grid like jail
bars; suddenly, as if from nowhere, it is peopled
with prisoners. With a fanfare of flurry, an entrance
is announcedubut from where? There is no vi sib Ie
ceremonial portal. Then a long stairway, unnoticed
before, lowers from the ceiling ominously, on chains
like a drawbridge. It reveals an entrance high on
the rear wall behind the stage, a quatrefoi I aperture like the stage plan. Down this stairwayuacross
a gulf, from a place on high--comes Cervantes to
the island-stage jail. The audience feels suddenly
emprisoned also. It is a gaspingly effective image.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - May 1966