Man of La Mancha Music by Mitch Leigh Book by Dale Wasserman Lyrics by Joe Darion First Broadway Performance November 22, 1965

The Articles

Synopsis Dale Wasserman Leigh and Darion The Making of Man of La Mancha Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote		Notes on Don Quixote Man of La Mancha versus Don Quixote Chivalry and Chivalric Literature Sixteenth Century Spain The Spanish Inquisition The Corsairs of Algiers
Teachers' Resources

The Cast
The story is in the form of a play within a play. Characters in the inner play are in italics.
Cervantes - Alonso Quijana or Don Quixote
Captain of the Inquisition
Cervantes's Manservant - Sancho Panza
The "Governor", the leader of the prisoners - The Innkeeper
The "Duke" - Dr. Carrasco
Prisoners who play:
Aldonza
The Muleteers: Quito, Pedro, Anselmo, José, Juan, Paco, Tenorio
Maria, the Innkeeper's Wife
Antonia, Quixote's Niece
The Padre
Don Quixote's Housekeeper
The Barber
Servants
Guards, Prisoners, Dancers, Guitarist and Employees of The Inquisition

Note:The picture is a sketch of Don Quixote by Salvador Dali

The musical Man of La Mancha is one the greatest of the twentieth century, but it is fiction. Little is actually known about the life of Cervantes. Much is supposition, and many of the events depicted here are Dale Wasserman's invention. For example, while Cervantes was jailed several times, as far as is known, he was never in trouble with the Inquisition. In addition, the scenes taken from the novel Don Quixote comprise only a few dozen pages of the nearly pages of the original and can only hint at its flavor. The facts of the life of Cervantes and of the novel Don Quixote are quite different from what is portrayed in Man of La Mancha but, as Don Quixote says to Carrasco, "Facts are the enemy of the truth". There is much that is true in Man of La Mancha that doesn't match the historic facts as given in the accompanying articles. So enjoy the musical; just don't think you know Don Quixote after seeing it. Rather, let it inspire you to experience the sheer joy of reading the original book, one of the most popular every written.

Revised September 2007
Please credit Lyric Opera San Diego when using these articles