Man of La Mancha

Last night we saw the marvelous musical, Man of La Mancha. It is clearly one of the best ever, most well written, with phenomenal singing---an award winner, for many good reasons.

 I remember seeing it forty years ago.  I was pregnant with my oldest daughter at the time. I have no memories of the play itself.  I do remember my reaction to it.  I had no idea what was going on, could not follow the plot and action and was completely lost.

At that time, I was in my early twenties, and it would be hard to find a young adult who had led a more un-worldly life!   Back then, I had no frame of reference for the historical context,  nor did I have any life experience that would have prepared me for the complex layers of themes, and the 'play within a play'.

This time, I was certainly better able to follow the action and the humor.  I understood the historical references,  and could relate to the struggle between seeing the world as it is, or seeing it as you would like it to be.  And, oh how I have always loved the song To Dream the Impossible Dream.

But perhaps most of all, seeing the play Man of La Mancha helped me to understand the song Dulcinea,  which my daughter's husband recently sang to her at their wedding. I listened carefully to the words, and the meaning of the song for Don Quixote.  His Dulcinea was the one he had always imagined in his heart,  the very embodiment of female beauty,  who possessed the beauty of the angels.   He held fast to that vision of her, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.   He believed she was his muse, his inspiration.  And in the end,  it changed how she felt about herself, and it transformed her completely.

Maybe the most important lesson I got from the play was---if you hold fast to a vision,  it can have the power to change you, and others.    And the world will be better for this, that one man scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable star.