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Chico Enterprise-Record (Chico, CA)

May 7, 2004
Section: Local

Review: Theater professor leaves on high note with "Man of La Mancha"
ROGER H. AYLWORTH - Staff Writer

"Man of La Mancha," Randy Wonzong's farewell production at Chico State University, is the absolutely perfect exclamation point to end his long and distinguished career in the campus theater. I suppose I should admit at the get-go that "Man of La Mancha" is one of my all-time favorite musicals.

The show is one of those lyrical glories that, despite all of the fantasy and in this case madness, drags the audience into an inspiring world where right can triumph, love can be chaste and a shaving basin can become a golden helmet.

In 1965, when I was young and "Man of La Mancha" had just opened off-Broadway at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in New York, Richard Kiley played the cheerfully crazed Don Quixote de La Mancha; Joan Diener was both his beloved Dulcinea and the thoroughly soiled dove, Aldonza; and Irving Jacobson was the ever-faithful Sancho.

Wonzong cast Beau Hirshfield as Don Quixote, Ashley Monroe as Dulcinea and Marcus Sams as Sancho. These three compare favorably with the best Broadway actors to hold the roles.

Monroe is a particular standout, with a soaring, powerful voice that fills the Laxson Auditorium with Aldonza's laments.

Nothing can kill a musical faster than a bad orchestra, but the student musicians, under the direction of Kyle Wiley Pickett, are superb.

The set is magnificent and technically innovative. The production takes place in a dark dungeon, where the collection of hapless inmates await the fearful call to stand before the grand inquisitor. A drawbridge, a full story above the stage, frighteningly rumbles open to admit new prisoners and officials.

With imaginative lighting and minimalist props, the dungeon is transformed into everything from a rough roadside inn, to the plains of La Mancha, to the home of the beaten-down Don Quixote, who crumbles under the merciless assault of reality.

The songs, by Mitch Leigh, who wrote the music, and Joe Darion, who penned the fanciful and poignant lyrics, are among the most memorable and lingering in musical theater.

Even the lesser characters in the performance add richness to the production.

For example, Shelli Rowing and Kate E. Babb, who play respectively Don Quixote's horse and Sancho's mule, add a delightful bit to the show with dance and remarkable expressiveness, even though they utter not one single line between them.

Sara St. Pierre, who plays Antonia, Don Quixote's niece, displays a breathtaking voice singing "I'm Only Thinking of Him."

The show worked so well that when, on opening night, a technical glitch briefly left the stage in darkness, the actors never missed a beat, and when the final curtain came down, the crowd responded with a standing ovation.

This may not be the apex of Wonzong's theatrical achievements at Chico State, after all I haven't seen everything he's directed over the last 30 years, but it will mean his exit from the campus stage will be on a very high note.

"Man of La Mancha" is well worth the price of admission, and will leave even the most jaded theatergoer whistling "The Impossible Dream."

Chico State University presents "Man of La Mancha" at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in Laxson Auditorium. Advance tickets, $20 premium, $16 for adults, $14 for senior citizens and $10 for students and children, are available in Chico at the University Box Office (898-6333), Terrace Pharmacy and Cal Java on the Skyway and in Paradise at the House of Color. Add $2 for tickets purchased at the door. For disability-related accommodations, please call 898-4325.