The Ottawa Citizen - Theatre Review

Orpheus presents moving La Mancha

by Bruce Deachman [Sunday, March 4, 2001]

Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen / Kelly Whelan, above, and fellow principal actors Bob Lackey and Dennis Van Staalduinen provide 'exceptional' performances.

If it's a successful theatrical production that can sweep up its audience and whisk it to another place, then the Orpheus Society's presentation of Dale Wasserman's Man of La Mancha, which opened Friday night at Centrepointe Theatre, left very few in the sold-out crowd disappointed.

The musical was headed by the exceptionally strong performances of its three principals, actors Bob Lackey, Dennis Van Staalduinen and Kelly Whelan, and well-supported by cast, orchestra and lighting and set designers.

Beginning with the drums and an initially-nervous brass section, led by conductor Marylen Milenkovic, opening-night jitters were quickly tossed aside as the curtain rose and the story, directed by Michael Gareau, started to unfold.

That story tells of the late-16th-, early-17th-century Spanish poet, playwright and soldier, Miguel de Cervantes (Lackey). It begins with his imprisonment in Seville, by the Spanish Inquisition, for an offence against "His Majesty's Most Catholic Church," namely that of attempting to foreclose on a church that hadn't paid its taxes.

With his manservant (Van Staalduinen), Cervantes is tossed into a jail full of thieves and murderers who, in a satirical mockery of the Inquisition, hold their own trial of the writer, charging him of being, among other things, an idealist and a bad poet.

If found guilty, Cervantes will lose all his possessions, the sum total of which are a chest of costumes and props, and, more importantly, the unfinished manuscript of his novel, Don Quixote.

Cervantes' defence comes in the form of a drama, one in which he plays Quixote, a knight errant who casts aside his sanity in an attempt to right the wrongs of a society bereft of chivalry and honour.

Of course, there's not much more entertaining than a madman, and Lackey plays the role with obvious enthusiasm and whimsy. With a barber's shaving dish on his head (the "Golden Helmet of Mambrino," he contends), a raspy voice, uneven gait and grey, tufted eyebrows as big as squirrels, Quixote turns inns into castles, windmills into four-armed beasts and bar wench-cum-prostitutes into fair virgin maidens. It's a romantic madness, for sure, and an appealing one.

Van Staalduinen's portrayal of Quixote's manservant, Sancho Panza, is a lively blend of clumsiness, humour and idolatry, while Whelan's wench, Aldonza, is suitably coarse, in a gum- chewing, knee-to-the-groin sort of way.

Wasserman's script is rife with humorous moments, and the cast delivers those adroitly, aided by wireless microphones which, while occasionally too noticeable, served to remove the need for the oft-required and sometimes stilting constraints of projecting through to a large theatre.

Much of the play's success, too, depends not just on the actor's performances, but on the sensory touches provided by the costumes, the set, and the lighting of those, and mention should go to Ann Ricard, Christie Bindhardt and David Magladry for their respective roles.

As for the musical numbers, what can I say? They're all well-performed and accompanied without flaw by the 15-person orchestra. I don't think I need to hear The Impossible Dream again for a while, but ...

Man of La Mancha runs until March 10 at Centrepointe Theatre, 101 Centrepointe Dr. Performances are at 8 p.m., except Sundays, when there is a 2 p.m. matinee. Tickets, from $18 to $22 and with discounts for seniors and students, are available through the Centrepointe box office, or by calling 727-6650.