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  • 1.  Man of La Mancha

    Posted 06-04-2018 14:50
    Hello everyone,

       Just interested in other high schools that have produced Man of La Mancha.  It has LONG been on my list of shows I want to direct.  Going into my 20th musical production, I feel the time has arrived to do this show.  How has it been received by both students and your audiences?  My instrumental director and I are both on.  I just need to convince my vocal director.  Thanks for ANY insights on this classic show.

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    James McCulloch
    Drama Director of Mariner Drama
    Marine City, Michigan
    jmcculloch@ecsd.us
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  • 2.  RE: Man of La Mancha

    Posted 06-04-2018 15:48
    We produced the show last year, and it was a big hit! Perhaps not well known to the students beforehand, but many of their parents knew it and passed on their excitement to them. We partnered with the Spanish language department, and they brought their classes to see it. We even had a Spanish language club from a school 30 minutes away come as a group to see it! In the end, the students had a great time, our audiences loved it, and it was our most successful show in my 5 years of teaching/directing at high schools. A few things to keep in mind:

    The "ravaging" scene of Aldonza is, of course, problematic. I took a lot of time working with my Aldonza and Muleteers to make sure they were in a place where they all felt comfortable and safe. It is a violent scene, and must be handled delicately with the actors. If you search "Man of La Mancha" on this forum, you will find a thread where I asked how to handle this situation, and got a lot of helpful ideas! We had the Muleteers beat up Aldonza on stage, then get knocked out and carried off with the implication being that a rape was going to take place off stage.

    You may need to work with Tams-Witmark on a tasteful way to do the scene with the Gypsy Moors.

    You do need to have a lot of guys...but we ended up casting girls as Sancho, the Barber, and the Priest. It worked out fine. Not many other roles for girls otherwise though, which is a big negative.  Make sure you have a strong Quixote. We did.

    Break a leg!

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    Christopher Hamilton
    Drama Teacher
    Kennewick, WA
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Man of La Mancha

    Posted 06-05-2018 07:19
    I had the privilege of choosing and directing this show in 2014.  I chose it partly because one of our Spanish Teachers was retiring after a 36 year career and it was one of her favorite shows, she constantly told me about seeing the original. 

    I found the piece super accessible to the students and their abilities - with careful choreography and blocking for the Aldonza assault/rape scene you can still get the story across.  That was the only change we had to make.  It was the perfect year for it and I had the right cast - it's more male heavy as you know, but I had the Barber as a wonderful comedic actress and she killed it each show.  Lots to play with in terms of casting.  

    The audience loved the show - we packed the house for three performances.  Remember it's a classic, people leave singing some of the songs.  And who doesn't want to be reminded to keep dreaming the Impossible Dream, it's inspiring.  


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    Tallen Olsen
    Drama & Musical Director
    East Windsor Regional School District, Hightstown High School
    Mount Holly NJ
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    Original Message


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