Tilting At Windmills

Recent statistics on the 2017 Broadway season revealed booming ticket sales setting new records as long-run hit shows kept the number of available theatres to a minimum. It's interesting to compare today's theatre industry to what existed 50 years ago.

• Back then, there were no television ads for shows, no Internet, no online ticketing, and no smartphones with mobile apps offering discount tickets.
• Nor were there many theatre camps, events like BroadwayCon, or musical theatre programs in middle and high schools.
• Plays and musicals frequently tried out in several cities before opening on Broadway.
• Many musicals would be grateful to run for 800 performances (the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera is currently approaching the 12,500-performance mark) while straight plays were lucky to run for a single season.
• Forced to vacate one theatre for an incoming play, some productions might perform in three theatres during one season.
• It was almost inconceivable for a show to premiere off-Broadway and be successful enough to merit an uptown transfer to a Broadway theatre.
• Nor was there a network of regional nonprofit theatres where producers could invest seed money in a pre-Broadway tryout with the luxury of a guaranteed subscription audience.
• Ticket prices for a hit Broadway show barely reached $10 for prime orchestra seats.

A two-fer for Sweet Charity (starring Gwen Verdon)
shows top ticket prices for orchestra seats at $9.50

Meanwhile, a building boom was taking place. Both New York and Los Angeles were erecting major performing arts centers which would have a profound impact on the arts in America.

• Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall) opened on September 23, 1962.
• The New York State Theatre (now the David H. Koch Theatre) opened on April 23, 1964.
• The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion opened on September 27, 1964.
• The Vivian Beaumont Theatre opened on October 14, 1965.
• The Library and Museum of the Performing Arts made its debut on November 30, 1965.
• The new Metropolitan Opera House opened on September 16, 1966.
• The Ahmanson Theater opened on April 12, 1967.
• The Mark Taper Forum opened on April 14, 1967.
• Alice Tully Hall opened on September 11, 1969.
• The Juilliard School moved into its new quarters on October 26, 1969.

Lost to history is the ANTA Washington Square Theatre, which was originally designed as a prototype for Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. With a seating capacity of 1,158 (larger than today's Ambassador, Belasco, Bernard B. Jacobs, Booth, Brooks Atkinson, Cort, Ethel Barrymore, Eugene O'Neill, Gerald Schoenfeld, Longacre, Lyceum, Music Box, and Stephen Sondheim theatres), it had been designed as a temporary steel tent and erected on land loaned by New York University. With a thrust stage (quite an innovation for New York theatregoers at the time) and a footprint approximately one third the size of Cirque du Soleil's traveling Grand Chapiteau, the theatre opened in January 1964 and was demolished in 1968.

A scene from the world premiere production of Arthur Miller's
After The Fall at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre

While the ANTA Washington Square Theatre hosted acclaimed productions of Moliere's Tartuffe and Eugene O'Neill's Marco Millions along with the world premieres of two plays by Arthur Miller (After the Fall and Incident at Vichy), its most famous tenant was a new musical by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh that provided audiences with a stunning coup de theatre. With the audience seated on three sides of the stage, the musicians performing on opposite sides of the theatre, and powerful scenic and lighting design by Howard Bay, each performance began with an overture that sent an electric thrill coursing through the audience.


The original production of Man of La Mancha ran for 2,328 performances, won five Tony awards (including the Tony Award for Best Musical), and introduced audiences to "The Impossible Dream" (a song which became an international megahit). Originally performed without intermission, when Man of La Mancha transferred to older theatres with traditional proscenium stages (such as the 1,424-seat Al Hirshfeld Theatre, the 1,082-seat Eden Theatre, and the 1,505-seat Mark Hellinger Theatre), the show was broken into two acts. Long before performers started wearing body mics, the original cast featured actors with legitimate voices capable of handling the score's operatic ambitions.

• As Cervantes/Don Quixote, Richard Kiley had appeared as the Caliph in 1953's Kismet, starred opposite Gwen Verdon in 1959's Redhead, partnered with Diahann Carroll in 1962's No Strings, and brought some gravitas to Buddy Hackett's 1964 Broadway vehicle, I Had A Ball.
• As Sancho Panza, Irving Jacobson brought a wealth of stage experience from a long career in vaudeville and the Yiddish theatre.
• Cast as the Governor, Ray Middleton had gained popularity as the original Frank Butler opposite Ethel Merman in 1946's Annie Get Your Gun and as a replacement Emile de Becque in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1949 hit, South Pacific.
• As the Padre, Robert Rounseville was known for his appearances as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, and Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat. In addition to starring in the 1951 film version of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, he created the title roles in 1951's The Rake's Progress and 1956's Candide.
• The role of Aldonza/Dulcinea was taken by Joan Diener, who appeared as Lalume opposite Richard Kiley in 1953's Kismet and was known for her three-and-a-half octave range. Married to Albert Marre (who directed Man of La Mancha), she returned to the role of Aldonza 24 years later (at the age of 62) when she took over the role after Sheena Easton collapsed in the middle of a performance during the show's 1992 Broadway revival.

In the five decades since its premiere, Man of La Mancha has been been revived on Broadway in 1972, 1977, 1992, and 2002; toured extensively, been staged by numerous regional theatre companies, and been performed by the Madison Opera and Townsend Opera (1992), Portland Opera (1994), Opera Cleveland (1996), Amarillo Opera (1998), Opera Omaha (2001), Spokane Opera and Opera Columbus (2002), Milwaukee's Skylight Opera Theatre (2006), Lyric Opera of San Diego (2007), and Shreveport Opera (2009). A popular vehicle for high schools around the country, it can be performed with a reduced orchestration and has been staged in theatres of every size and shape.

Anthony Aranda (Governor) and Edward Hightower
(Cervantes/Don Quixote) in a scene from Man of La Mancha
(Photo by: Jay Yamada)

San Francisco's modest Custom Made Theatre is currently presenting Man of La Mancha in its intimate auditorium under the direction of Brian Katz, who focuses in on the musical's narrative strengths as a play-within-a-play. As with Stephen Sondheim's mammoth Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, downsizing Man of La Mancha for such a tiny venue is accompanied by significant risks and benefits.

Rachel Richman (Aldonza) and Edward Hightower (Cervantes)
in a scene from Man of La Mancha (Photo by: Jay Yamada)

• Scenery: Because there is not enough room onstage to lower a foreboding staircase into a Spanish Inquisition's dungeon, set designer Daniel Bilodeau has substituted an upstage ramp which descends across the entire width of the stage. A series of movable boxes are employed as tables and platforms.
• Props: Other than the props needed for Don Quixote, items such as the horse head masks for the muleteers and the mirrors used to reflect Quixote's image as a crazed old man have been eliminated or drastically simplified (a guitarist prancing across the stage does not achieve quite the same impact).
• Amplification: In a 99-seat theatre, there is no need for body mics. The audience can hear the natural sound of the actors' voices without electronic enhancement.

Edward Hightower as Cervantes/Don Quixote in a scene
from Man of La Mancha (Photo by: Jay Yamada)

• Audience Proximity: Rather than straining the willful suspension of disbelief, the closeness of Custom Made's audience to the stage puts people within spitting distance of actors who employ the tools of their trade (fake eyebrows, moustache and beard as well as frequent character changes effected with Lindsey Eifert's costumes and critical shifts in Maxx Kurzunski's lighting) to tell an intricate and deeply moving story.
• Orchestrations: Taking a cue from Scottish stage director John Doyle, Katz has several actors performing on musical instruments during the show. Anthony Aranda's Governor handles percussion, James Grady plays Spanish guitar, and Kimberley Cohan plays flute while doubling as a prisoner. In addition to performing on a melodica, Paul Hogarth appears as a prisoner and muleteer while Emily Jeanes is a violist and prisoner (Dave Leon's robust Sancho Panza plays the euphonium). I was not impressed with the musical arrangements by Brian Allan Hobbs (in a wildly misguided moment, a member of the cast brought a child's baby blue toy piano onstage as part of the accompaniment for Sancho Panza's comedy number, "I Like Him").

Jack O'Reilly (Padre) and Jenny Matteucci (Housekeeper)
in a scene from Man of La Mancha Photo by: Jay Yamada)

Two of the more impressive voices in the ensemble belong to Jenny Matteucci (Maria/Housekeeper) and Jack O'Reilly as the Padre. Although David Leon's Sancho Panza has strong appeal, I found Rachael Richman's Aldonza surprisingly underwhelming. The production's biggest asset is its star, Edward Hightower (recently seen in 42nd Street Moon's production of The Secret Garden), who handles the double role of Cervantes and Don Quixote with impressive vocal strength and dramatic conviction.

Jack O'Reilly (Padre) and Edward Hightower (Cervantes/Don Quixote)
in a scene from Man of La Mancha (Photo by: Jay Yamada)

Performances of Man of La Mancha continue through February 17 at the Custom Made Theatre (click here for tickets).