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8.20.2010
Tonight after a lovely dinner with my favorite Jew, Amy Fenster Brown, we headed to Heagney Theatre to check out Insight Theatre Company's production of MAN OF LA MANCHA (book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh). Heagney Theatre at Nerinx Hall in Webster Groves is a nice little space with around 350 seats. Not really a bad seat in there. I'd never been in there before, nor had I seen this show, that debuted in 1965.
So, it's Spanish Inquisition time and our protagonist Miguel de Cervantes -- poet, playwright, actor and tax collector -- has been thrown into the slammer for foreclosing on a church that failed to pay its taxes. A Catholic church. Not the best move during the Inquisition. Upon arrival, the other prisoners inform Cervantes and his attendant that before he faces the Inquisition, he must face a mock trial by his fellow inmates. If they find him guilty, they get all of his belongings. In an effort to save his stuff, most importantly his cherished manuscript, he agrees and offers as his defense, a play. The prisoners agree -- I mean, who cold turn down a little entertainment when you're awaiting the Inquisition -- and with them joining in, the play within the play begins.
