CHS Stages Fine “La Mancha”

“Man of La Mancha” is one of the most popular and beloved Broadway musicals for amateur and educational theatre groups (and their audiences). Its play-within-a-play structure lends itself well to live performance, as well as a showcase for actors. Dale Wasserman’s darkly cynical yet ultimately uplifting script set during the Spanish Inquisition is a timeless commentary on human nature that retains its power and relevance to today’s troubled world.

Last weekend Grand Forks Central High School put on a generally impressive production of the show, both musically and dramatically. On opening night the pit orchestra took a while to warm up to maintaining both pitch and emotional expressiveness with the score’s very fast tempo, but was sounding much better by the end of the first act.

Ken McGurran had the title role of author Miguel de Cervantes, who dramatizes his manuscript as an aging landowner named Alonso Quijana who is so disgusted and depressed with modern life that his mind starts to shut it out and take on the persona of an idealistic knight he calls Don Quixote. McGurran had a commanding physical presence and revealed a singing voice with magnificent tonal quality, but needs to work on reaching correct pitches on the higher end of his range.

Likewise, Hanna Diers gave an impressive performance as the female lead, Aldonza, especially in the show’s tear-jerking conclusion, but the power of her voice varied from song to song, and from one end of her range to the other.

Aldonza’s song “Why Do You Do These Things You Do?” was not included in Central’s production of the show. However, a song often cut from high school productions, the haunting middle-Eastern chromatic vocal that accompanies the Moorish Dance, was beautifully sung by Jacy Thibert.

Joel Braxton gave an entertaining performance as Sancho Panza, the long-suffering servant of Don Quixote, bringing out the comedy and singing the songs in a style very reminiscent of the Broadway cast album.

Arguably the best musical number in Central’s show was the number “I’m Only Thinking of Him,” with brilliant solos by Chloe Omlid, Daniella Lima, and Cody Oss that quickly blend into a wonderful polyphonic trio. Of all the cast, Oss seemed to demonstrate the greatest vocal expressiveness in his songs, which also included the somber Psalm “De Profundis” at the end.

“Man of La Mancha” is done so often that it may seem redundant to stage it one more time. Yet when done well, the power of its message and its music never fails to touch both performers and viewers. While Central’s cast and musicians sometimes seemed more concerned with hitting the notes and keeping the tempo than with emotional interpretation, overall they still achieved the dramatic effect intended, which is really what matters for the audience.