Man of La Mancha / Fantasticks

The greatest madness of all is to see the world as it is
While I understand the spanish gentleman who wrote the first reviews comment about the film not being accurate I must say I find this musical one of the best I have ever watched. The essence of the film is best expressed in the words "The greatest madness of all is to see the world as it is and not as it should be". Thus the film illustrates that Don Quixote is the only sane man in a mad world. He alone sees the beautiful, noble, and serene qualities in everything. He is the last chivalrous and truly good man in a world that no longer has any place for nobility and chivalrous ideals. In this sense it is not important if the film is entirely accurate as Peter O'Toole is brilliant in portraying the haunted blue eyes of a man who will always be a knight in his soul. One has to be a romantic to appreciate this perhaps, but it is a great film. The reason for the story about Don Cervantes being arrested by the inqusition is in my opinion that the Author of the...

A Beautiful Musical
"Man of la Mancha" contains as much of the Don Quixote legend as could be expected in a reasonable-length movie. And it is wonderfully acted. Having taught Theatre Arts for twenty years, I do not understand why people complain that every non-operatic voice isn't looped by Carreras or Brightman. "Man of la Mancha"s actors are just that -- actors. Actors who happen to sing with the appropriate emotion. I'd much rather listen to Peter O'Toole sing "Impossible Dream" with all his passion, than to hear an unemotional operatic version. "Man of la Mancha" is the best possible musical that could have been made from Cervantes' classic.

A Favorite Musical
Generally many people regard musicals as silly, combining the worst elements of drama and song. OKLAHOMA's singing and dancing cowboys, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and other ridiculous productions; even so, there are notable exceptions. JOSEPH AND HIS AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and MAN OF LA MANCHA are just two of my favorites. The latter was a success because it never lost track of the story and the music was nothing short of inspirational.

The production, rendered only so-so in conversion to DVD, is worth the price of admission, however, because of its excellent acting, subtle humor, wonderful characters and, most importantly, its lofty moral values. The music doen't require great voices to be effective (in fact, it helps if they're a bit earthy). I've read a number of unfavorable professional reviews by writers who were disappointed that the singing wasn't up to par when compared to singing gang members in New York; but it only shows they missed the point.

The...

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