Southbank Theatre Company concludes its third season with its performance of the classic musical, Man of La Mancha, book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion, at the newly renovated Shelton Auditorium March 7-17. Tickets are now on sale.
WHAT: Man of La Mancha
WHEN: March 7-17, Thursday through Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
WHERE: Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd Street, Indianapolis, Butler Arts and Events Center
TICKETS: General Admission: $37 (with fees $49.55); Seniors and Military: $27 (with fees $39.30); Students: $22 (with fees $34.15). Buy at the door or in advance online or at the Clowes Memorial Hall box office, Wednesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Ticketmaster fees only apply to online purchases; however, a venue fee of $4 per ticket applies to both online and in-person purchases.)
Directed by Marcia Eppich-Harris, Man of La Mancha is one of the world’s most popular musicals. Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th-century masterwork Don Quixote and set during the Spanish Inquisition, the original 1965 production won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
“I saw Man of La Mancha when I was a freshman in high school,” Eppich-Harris said, “and it changed my life. I am so thrilled to be directing this show in the very same theatre where I saw it the first time – the newly renovated Shelton Auditorium.”
Renovations of the Shelton Auditorium started last summer, including new carpeting and technical features. Of most interest to audiences will be the new seat cushions in the auditorium, being installed in January.
“We’ve heard from audiences that Shelton has needed new seating for a while,” said Eppich-Harris. “Butler is really taking care of the space and listening to audience needs. We’re excited to welcome audiences back to Shelton with these renovations in place.”
Finishing Southbank’s third season with this ambitious musical Eppich-Harris said was a long time coming. “We started talking about producing Man of La Mancha during our run of Shaina Taub’s Twelfth Night, in the spring of 2022,” she said. “It’s been a long-time goal of mine to produce this play. It not only fits into our interests in history and philosophy—it’s also such an inspiring piece.”
About Man of La Mancha
Cervantes is in prison awaiting trial during the Spanish Inquisition. He and his fellow prisoners perform a play-within-a-play, telling the story of the elderly Alonso Quijana, who renames himself “Don Quixote” and goes on a quest to right all wrongs in the world. The rousing, Spanish-inflected score includes the classic numbers “The Impossible Dream,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Dulcinea,” “I Really Like Him,” and “Little Bird.”
CAST
Paul Hansen: Cervantes, Don Quixote
Jessica Hawkins: Aldonza, Prisoner, Dulcinea
Anthony Nathan: Manservant, Sancho Panza
Kendall Maxwell: Captain, Juan, Moorish Man
Scott Hall: Innkeeper, Governor
Rachel Snyder: Dr. Carrasco, Duke, Knight of Mirrors
Scott Stockton: Barber, guard 1, Attendant of Knight 4
Jericho Franke: Padre, Paco, Attendant of Knight 1, guard 2
Will Harris: Anselmo, Guitar player, prisoner
Kevin Caraher: Pedro, Inquisitor 1, Attendant of knight 2
Amalia Lynn Howard: Maria, dancer 2, prisoner 2
Yolanda Valdivia: Housekeeper, dancer 3, Cantaor, horse 2, prisoner 4
Ashton Driscoll: Antonia, Prisoner 1, Attendant of Knight 3
Susannah Briscoe: Moorish Dancer Girl, horse 1
Aaron Henze: Jose, Prisoner
Andrea Haskett: Tenorio, Prisoner
Music director: Seth Young
If you wish to review a performance opening weekend March 7-10, please request up to two complimentary tickets at [email protected].
About Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion
Dale Wasserman (1914-2008) wrote for theater, television and film for more than 50 years and is best known for the musical Man of La Mancha, a multiple Tony Award winner. He also wrote the stage play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, based on Ken Kesey’s novel, which has won several Tony Awards. Both shows continue to be produced nationally and internationally with an estimated 300 productions a year. More at dalewasserman.com.
Mitch Leigh (1928-2014) was a composer, producer, director, and businessman from Brooklyn. Pianist Arthur Rubenstein said of Leigh, “He’s the most brilliant composer writing for the musical theater today.” He is best known as the Tony Award-winning composer of Man of La Mancha, for which he also won the Drama Critics Circle Award and the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame for “The Impossible Dream.” In 1957 he formed Music Makers, Inc., a radio and television commercial production house; with Leigh as its creative director, the agency won every major award within the advertising industry. He was also nominated for a Tony Award for directing Yul Brynner’s farewell tour of The King and I, which he also produced. In the last decade of his life, Leigh began developing Jackson 21, a community for nice people in Ocean County, NJ. He studied with Paul Hindemith at Yale School of Music, from which he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and he was the first recipient of the Yale Arts Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition.
Joe Darion (1917-2001) worked in every field in which words are put to music, from popular songs to works for the concert stage. His opera based on Don Marquis’ immortal characters Archy and Mehitabel was turned into the Broadway musical Shinbone Alley, for which Mr. Darion supplied the book and lyrics. Popular songs for which he has supplied the lyrics, including “Ricochet,” “Changing Partners,” and “Midnight Rain,” have sold in the tens of millions. One of the most popular has been “The Impossible Dream,” the hit song from Man of La Mancha, which won Darion the 1965-66 Tony Award for the best lyrics of the Broadway season. He also supplied the lyrics for the Broadway musical Illya Darling, adapted from the film Never on Sunday. Among Mr. Darion’s more serious works, written with Ezra Laderman, are the oratorio operas Galileo and And David Wept, the cantatas A Handful of Souls and The Questions of Abraham, and the mass A Mass for Cain. In addition to the Tony, he received the Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Gabriel Award, The Ohio State Award and the International Broadcasting Award.
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