Okay, so this is a little late to be really useful, but the play's 
still going on for a few more days anyway.......

There are a lot of things to like about this play, and very few 
things to dislike.  If you're like me, you don't know a lot about 
this play....only that it's the story of "a young loner, on a crusade 
to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the 
powerless......in a world of criminals who operate above the law."
Hence, you ought to know that you, like me, were actually thinking of 
Knight Rider, not Man of La Mancha.

MoLM is the story of Miguel Cervantes, an alleged poet who gets 
tossed into jail, along with his servant/talking car KITT, for 
annoying the Catholic church.  In order to avoid becoming Henry 
Wihnyk's bitch, Cervantes draws his fellow prisoners into a play, in 
which they all participate.  Fortunately, all the prisoners are 
extremely theatre-savvy, because they somehow manage to learn all 
their lines and songs without ever once looking at the script.
The play-within-a-play basically fills up most of the running time of 
the show, with only a few stops back into 'reality' along the way.
It sounds confusing, but it isn't, once you're into it.

The play-within-a-play is the story of Don Quixote, a Spanish 
noble-type who apparently got his hands on some bad gazpacho, because 
he thinks he's a daring knight, rushing off to do battle with 4-armed 
giants (played by windmills), evil men (played by the prisoners), and 
the Death Star (played by Oprah).  His only guide on this journey is 
Sancho Panza, an observer from his own time who appears in the form 
of a hologram that only Don can see or hear......or maybe that was 
the episode of 'Quantum Leap' where they did this play.  Anyway, 
Sancho is Don Quixote's faithful friend / co-dependent who follows 
him around on his many misadventures, trying to keep him out of 
trouble.  Sancho is essentially the Penny to Quixote's Inspector 
Gadget, except that Gadget was Penny's uncle, so she had a legitimate 
reason to constantly risk her life, whereas the only thing Sancho 
apparently has is way too much free time.

And now we get to the acting.......

First, let me start out by asking if anyone else has noticed a 
disturbing trend at GCP?  Originally, it used to be that directors 
would suck up by throwing a bone to GCP bigwigs, in the form of a 
minor role.  With Miracle on 34th Street, they started throwing bones 
to editors of Scene magazine, which I suppose was the next inevitable 
step.  But here's the thing: Bill DeYoung is pretty gosh darn decent. 
He doesn't jump out at you, but with his roles as Captain of the 
Guard and Anselmo, you wouldn't expect him to.  And he can play some 
nice guitar.  All in all, a very solid performance.

But this isn't Bill DeYoung's show.  This show belongs to 3 
characters: Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and Aldonza, and they all 
rock.

Steve Grudzien is stellar as Don Quixote.  He nails all the 
subtleties of the part: Quixote's idealism, sincere earnestness, and 
later his tortured agony.  Oh, and did I mention he can sing?  As he 
sang his way through the show's most famous song "Impossible Dream", 
you could feel the audience getting anxious near the end, waiting for 
the exact moment when they could start to applaud.  He also does a 
beautiful job with "Dulcinea" (where the wind comes sweepin' down the 
plain).  Most importantly, Steve Grudzien gives GCP something it 
desperately needs: some competition for the 40ish-type leading man 
role.  On the other hand, he raises the bar so high with his 
performance in this show that the competition may not be able to 
compete.  Go see the show just to see this guy, and I promise you 
will not be disappointed.

You will also not be disappointed with Ted Kowal's turn as Sancho 
Panza.  Not only is he wonderful by himself, but the interaction 
between him and Quixote is marvelous as well.  He effortlessly 
switches from comical to poignant whenever the situation calls for it.
Oh, and he can sing, too.

When I went to see the show, understudy Erin Langley was playing the 
part of Aldonza (she normally plays the part of Antonia) and all 
during the show I kept thinking, "THIS is the *understudy*???  Damn!"
I thought Erin did a fantabulous job as the lead, although a couple 
of stragglers who saw it with me (I won't mention any names, but 
their initials are G.A.Y.L.E. and P.E.T.E) seemed to think she sang 
too softly at times.  All I know is *I* was able to hear her fine.  
And she did an extremely nice acting job as Quixote's "Dulcinea" 
("Dulcinea is Latin for "Aldonza"), displaying true puzzlement over 
Quixote's affection for a common whore, and genuine anger and disgust 
for her station in life.  Now, I heard from an inside source, whose 
opinion on all things theatrical I trust implicitly, that the normal 
lead, Keri Anderson, is even more amazing.  Needless to say, I'm 
seeing the show again.

As for the ensemble, they're definitely not what I would call 
'lethargic'.  Notably good were Jeremiah Braiman, who adeptly plays 
both a "muleteer" (whatever the hell THAT means), a prisoner, AND Don 
Quixote's horse.  Julie Sanchez shows off her navel as a gypsy in a 
scene that some JCS people might want to investigate if they find any 
of their costumes missing.  Bob Garrigues displays his alto range as 
he plays the Padre.  And Henry Wihnyk does a nice job as the 
innkeeper.

I didn't time the show exactly, but it felt like it was a little 
under 2 1/2 hours with the intermission.  The first act is about 
1:20, and in the second act all they basically do is take the good 
songs from the first act and sing them again.

Bottom Line:  This is a story with the potential to be boring.  Steve 
Grudzien, Ted Kowal, and Erin Langley / Keri Anderson make sure it's 
not, and the ensemble does a fine job of not slowing them down.  Go 
see this for them.......well, not FOR them, since you probably don't 
even know them, but go see it for yourself, because they are awesome.
When I was at Omni last night, there were still a few tickets left, 
so hurry. Get your talking car to drive you.


8)
-john