Asolo Rep on a quest for an ‘Impossible Dream’ in modern take on ‘Man of La Mancha’

Mauricio Martinez has performed the anthem “The Impossible Dream” countless times over the years, but as he prepares to sing it again while playing the title role in Asolo Repertory Theatre’s “Man of La Mancha,” he realizes he will never sing in quite the same way.

“Now I really know what it means. Once you’ve actually lived it, you realize why each word is there,” he said during a recent Zoom chat with director Peter Rothstein (the theater’s incoming producing artistic director) and fellow actors Aaron De Jesus as Sancho Panza and Janely Rodriguez as Aldonza.

In the musical, which closes the Asolo Rep season, Martinez plays the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, who is being held at a modern-day prison or detention center with a friend and colleague. (The original production set the story during the Spanish Inquisition.)

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Fellow detainees want Cervantes’ possessions and stage a mock trial in which he faces made-up charges of being an idealist and a bad poet. In his defense, Cervantes recruits the other detainees to become characters in his story about a man who has spent so much time reading about knights and chivalrous deeds that he now imagines that he is one – Don Quixote de la Mancha, who is aided by his trusty servant Sancho.

Martinez, who grew up and began his career in Mexico before moving to the United States about six years ago, said the story is “part of our culture. Cervantes is like the Spaniard’s Shakespeare. Don Quixote is a textbook for us. I first read it in fourth or fifth grade.”

De Jesus said one of the struggles addressed in the show is “the difference of seeing life as it is versus what it could be or should be. We learned we have to find the balance in each individual life. Some people err on the side of reality and some on fantasy or hope. Everyone has issues and if you spend too much time wallowing in the difficulties of life, then life seems to be less worth living. If we find too much of the negative, it makes it more difficult, so we always try to be the glass half full.”

Rediscovering ‘The Impossible Dream’

As to “The Impossible Dream,” Rothstein said “the point of the song is the impossible, not the dream. We have to work toward things we know we won’t attain in our lifetimes, like world peace or global warming. We hope they are things our kids will achieve. We have to reach toward the big dreams.”

Don Quixote works to right wrongs. He sees the world for what it could be more than how it is. He sings of his quest “to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far; to fight for the right, without question or pause. To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.”

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Even without the more contemporary setting, Rodriguez said the show clearly speaks to issues that are dominating the headlines today, such as racism, anti-semitism and laws aimed at limiting the rights of transgender people and performance opportunities for drag queens.

“People can identify as whatever they want, and other people are going to be against that,” Rodriguez said. “People thought Don Quixote was crazy, and it’s the same thing over and over. Change the title and it could be trans people, Black people, immigrants, Jewish. We’d have the same war and violence instead of acceptance and empathy, something that uplifts your spirit."

New producing artistic director

“Man of La Mancha” marks Rothstein’s third production for Asolo Rep after “Ragtime” and “Sweeney Todd.” But this one comes as he’s about to start his new position as producing artistic director at the Sarasota theater, succeeding Michael Donald Edwards, who is stepping down next month after 18 years. Rothstein was the founding artistic director of Theatre Latte Da in Minneapolis, which he ran since 1998.

He’s been getting a taste of what life will be like when he’s running the theater and directing shows, holding meetings in between rehearsals “and somehow getting work done. But I haven’t been to the beach the way I had been able to in the past.” He and Edwards announced Asolo Rep’s next season in March.

“Man of La Mancha,” inspired by the Cervantes novel, was written by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. It opened in 1965 on Broadway where it won five Tony Awards (beating “Mame” and “Sweet Charity”) and ran for nearly six years and more than 2,300 performances, before going on to countless other productions around the world.

‘Man of La Mancha’

Book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion. Directed by Peter Rothstein, choreographed by Cat Brindisi. May 10-June 11, Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $35-$98. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: ‘Man of La Mancha’ closes Asolo Rep season with ‘Impossible Dream’