Review: The Dream is Impossible with 5th Ave's MAN OF LA MANCHA

Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh, and Joe Darion's "Man of La Mancha" is a bona fide classic. It's a sweeping epic filled with power, pathos, romance, and tragedy ... when it's done right. The show is by no means bulletproof. I've seen incredible productions and I've seen mediocre productions. And after the current production at the 5th Avenue Theatre now I can say I've seen an atrocious production. Not only does it do no honor to the beauty of the original but it also does no honor to basic tenets of good musical theater. And for a musical theater nerd such as myself, that makes for an offensive evening.

This stunning piece should be a thrilling tale of poet and tax collector Miguel de Cervantes (Rufus Bonds Jr.) and his manservant Sancho (Don Darryl Rivera) who have been thrown into prison awaiting their turn with the inquisitors during the Spanish Inquisition. While waiting, the other prisoners hold a trial of their own to determine the fate of Cervantes and so for his defense he puts on a play telling the tale of Don Quixote, a delusional aging hero who fights battles that aren't really there. But even if the battles aren't there, his idealism and conviction is as is his passion for the kitchen wench/whore Aldonza (Nova Y. Payton) whom he sees as the regal Lady Dulcinea.

This show should have your heart soaring and eyes watering by the end but there were so many missteps those emotions became the impossible dream. Let's start with the idea of transplanting the show to modern day and a detention camp. Transplanting a show can work but only if it lends something to the piece and here all it did was remind us they were in the wrong era every time they mentioned the inquisition. Then there was the staging from director Allison Narver and choreographer Maria Torres which seemed to have no rhyme, reason, intent or basic stage vision as the actors would repeatedly be blocking the action, wandering to another part of the stage for no reason other than the director wanted them on the other side and sloppily stomping and gyrating in an effort to be edgy and fresh but ended up feeling tacked on and out of nowhere. And I have to mention the absolutely lackluster fight choreography from Geoffrey Alm that felt tepid, under rehearsed and obvious. Honestly I've seen better fight sequences in high school shows. Basically all the movement on stage was overly busy with no reason to be happening and chaotic and I expect much more from professionals.

And then there were the leads. Some months ago we were promised the amazing Norm Lewis in the lead role and then that was taken away from us due to scheduling conflicts. Well I'm not sure even he could have saved this but at least he would have had presence. Bonds wanders about the stage and blandly spews his dialog making me wonder why anyone is listening to him. He should be commanding our attention in this role and we should not be able to take our eyes off him. Instead there were several times I forgot he was even on stage and one of those times was during one of his monologues. And to make matters worse he seems to have no intent for his actions. Aldonza sings about him, "Why does he do these things" and I honestly don't think even he knew let alone her. And Payton isn't any better as I never understood or saw any power or intent from her either making their entire relationship confusing. Without it you're left with, "why do they follow him?", "why do they fall for each other?", and "why should we care?" And both of them have the egregious habit of the "park and bark" as everyone on stage, including them, would freeze and stare during the big solos. And Rivera, whom I've seen do some amazing stuff, looks to have been in "Aladdin" on Broadway too long as his performance was mugging and forced and made the show feel like "Man of La Mancha" as presented by Disney.

Ultimately they treated Quixote as a joke to be laughed at and pitied when he should be an idealist, delusional yes, but someone you'd still follow into battle. I honestly wouldn't follow this Quixote across the street and so with my three letter rating system I give the 5th Avenue Theatre's production of "Man of La Mancha" a bored and offended NAH. And at two hours with no intermission, this show wasn't just bad, but torturous.

"Man of La Mancha" performs at the 5th Avenue Theatre through October 30th. For tickets or information contact the 5th Avenue Theatre box office at 206-625-1900 or visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

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