Man of La Mancha

                                                                                Man of La Mancha

When Man Of La Mancha opened on Broadway in 1965, I was in another Broadway show called The Royal Hunt Of The Sun starring Christopher Plummer, David Carradine and George Rose.
In 1968 I read in the Backstage newspaper that a Bus & Truck national tour was being planned for
Man Of La Mancha. It said they were looking for Muleteers, rough men who ride mules. I didn’t think I could fake riding a mule. So, I ignored the audition. I happened to run into Eric Harrison a former dresser to George Rose affectionately known as Blossom we called him Bloss. I knew him during my time with Royal Hunt. He said “why don’t you go to the casting office of La Mancha and tell them Louis Hayden suggested I drop off my photo and resume. Louis had been our wardrobe supervisor in Royal Hunt. I dropped off my photo and the casting director Wendy mackenzie said they were holding auditions the next day. “You’ve seen the show, she asked?”I said yes, which was not true. I went and bought a $5.00 ticket for a balcony seat that same evening. The next day I showed up to the audition and they asked me to sing. I sang “What A Difference A Day Made” a song written by Mexican composer Maria Grever and recorded by Dinah Washington in English. Jimmy Gelb the stage manager who was going to be directing this production says to me from the house: “Thank you but that’s not the type of voice we’re looking for”! I was devastated! Wendy Mackenzie yelled out “has Jack Cole seen you dance’? I said no. Wait a few minutes. Jack Cole came out and taught the guys who were auditioning the basic steps to the Horse Dance. He then took us individually and I had to do the basic step, and he and I would alternate the steps that he had taught us. They gave us the usual “thank you”. I went home feeling as if I hadn’t done well. I had forgotten all about La Mancha when I got a call from the management office to Call Wally Fried the business manager offering me the role of Jose in the first Bus & Truck of Man Of La Mancha..I would go on to do every major production of Man of La Mancha. I worked with Richard Kiley, Raul Julia, Robert Goulet, Herschel Bernardi, Jose Ferrer, David Canary, David Holliday, Jon Cypher, John Cullum, Larry Guitard and David Atkinson. The Impossible Dream Man Of La Manchabecame my favorite song. I recently hosted and narrated a concert version of La Mancha at MerkinConcert Hall. I’m often asked how I can keep my performance fresh after having done the show for over 20 years and my answer is this: I treat every show as an opening night. That audience came to see a show and it’s my duty to give them the best show they’ve ever seen. I try to discover something new every night. That keeps it fresh and exciting to me. Every new Don Quixote, Aldonza and Sancho Panza brings something new in their performance and they deserve nothing but the best from me.