The Man of La Mancha -- Don Quixote, the best Spanish novel ever. Episode 1 (part 1 of 3).

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Thank you to the fan from Los Angeles who writes: "Hi. I've been enjoying your Cervantes podcast but unless the show on Broadway that was made from the book by Cervantes turned it into a spy story, the proper title of the musical is "Man of La Mancha." Not the man and not from."  All true, I can only identify this as errata.

This is the story of how one of the greatest books ever written, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, became one of the most successful musicals in broadway history, which of course was The Man from La Mancha by Dale Wasserman.

The year is 1579, and a solider being held in an Algerian prison is about to make his 4th escape attempt.  It will fail, and there’s a very real chance that although he’s escaped severe punishment the first 3 times, this failure could be fatal.  (McKendrick 82)  His foiled attempt will not result in being put to death, but will leave him utterly without hope of escape. 

What utterly impossible set of circumstances had to happen for this prisoner to even get out of prison, much less become one of the greatest writers of all time?

The year is 1615, and a very conventional playwright is writing the second part of a very unconventional book.  Really wanted to be a playwright, seemed almost ambivalent about being an author of books.  In it he pens the phrase “My guess is that there is not a nation or language into which the book will not be translated.”  This prediction will prove to be entirely true.

What about this book is so compelling that it makes its own equivocal author an accurate prophet, beyond his own wildest dreams?

The time frame is now the mid-1960s a playwright is looking to convert a stage play into a musical, and he’s having a meal at small restaurant where the cook is also the sole proprietor and the menu has one item.  The cook is also a psychic, so the writer asks whether the musical will be a successful endeavor.  The psychic predicts not only that it will, and will soon overwhelm the writer’s life.

Both predictions are entirely accurate.

Not only are these 3 events connected, but they are connected by a straight line and by the exact same narrative.

In this 3-episode series I pursue the history Don Quixote, and episode 1.1 starts with the book -- how did it get written, what's it about, and why has it become such a class?  Episode 2 will explore the life of the author, MIguel de Cervantes, and episode 3 will get to how the author and the story got woven into a musical.

REFERENCES

Albrecht, J. W. (2005). Theater and politics in four film versions of the Quijote. Hispania, 88(1), 4-10. https://doi.org/10.2307/20063070

Bayliss, R. (2006). What Don Quixote means (today). Comparative Literature Studies, 43(4), 382-397. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25659541

Gregor, K. (2016). Collaborative encounters? Two recent Spanish takes on the Shakespeare–Cervantes relationship. Palgrave Communications, 2(1), 16033. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2016.33

Johnson, M. (2007, April 23). Why Don Quixote needs show tunes. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2007/apr/23/whydonquixoteneedsshowtun

McKendrick, M. (1980).  Cervantes.  Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Miller, S. (2024). Inside man of La Mancha. In New Line Theatre. https://www.newlinetheatre.com/lamanchachapter.html

Mineo, L. (2016, April 25). A true giant. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/04/a-true

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