Man of La Mancha

[bigguyinpasadena]

Just watched a pretty horrible version of this on TV.Italian movie with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren.You could tell they were just "marking time"and waiting for it to be over.

What a lovely story this is.To be happier in a fantasy world in which you could fight the evils in the world rather to live in a reality which is pretty horible(this of course takes place during the spanish inquisition)

The music,although very poorly presented in this film,is so wonderful.Dulcinea-I love this song.

Why this is relevent to this board is that one of the driving themes involves a harlot,who in the eyes of Don Quioxte is a noble lady.And through his strength of vision,she is persuaded that she is a better person than she originally thought herself to be.

I wish we could all have such strength to let the least of us see that they can be worthy of such a vision.

[BARR1965]

I was watching the same movie the other night and fell asleep in the middle of it.

[+ deej]

>Why this is relevent to this board is that one of the driving

>themes involves a harlot,who in the eyes of Don Quioxte is a

>noble lady.And through his strength of vision,she is persuaded

>that she is a better person than she originally thought

>herself to be.

 

That's a driving force through most grand opera and musical theater. Can you imagine AIDA or CARMEN without the town ho? Or SOUTH PACIFIC without Nellie Forbush? The same metaphors are there.

 

>I wish we could all have such strength to let the least of us

>see that they can be worthy of such a vision.

 

Would that we could all be so cultured and accepting, true. Sadly, it isn't the case.

[Doug69]

RE: Counting our blessings

 

Thank God that the Board has been cleansed of some of its disruptive influences so that riveting conversations like this one - in which a couple of guys with lots and lots of time on their hand talk about some shitty, trivial movie made 40 years ago that they saw while sitting up by themselves at home at 1 a.m. on some throwaway TV cable channel - can breathe freely and grow and evolve into stagnant, substance-less, cliche-filled, unfunny, lifeless pablum without being diluted by, thread-hijacking, rule-breaking posters!

 

What a tragedy it would be if the readership here had their attention distracted away from discussions like THIS!

[bostonman]

>That's a driving force through most grand opera and musical

>theater. Can you imagine AIDA or CARMEN without the town ho?

>Or SOUTH PACIFIC without Nellie Forbush? The same metaphors

>are there.

 

LOL...assuming you're joking to some extent (who's the "town ho" in AIDA? And though Nellie Forbush does grow up by the end of SOUTH PACIFIC, she's certainly no ho!)...

 

...but you did leave out some legit prime examples - LA TRAVIATA, THAIS (a beautiful Massenet opera that doesn't get performed that often), Fantine in LES MIS... :-)

 

As for the film of LA MANCHA - oy veh! What an awful film, and an insult to the magical theatrical piece that LA MANCHA can be onstage.

[mansniffing]

Lucky me! I've never seen the film. I was fortunate enough to be around when Richard Kiley, Irving Jacobson, Ray Middleton, Robert Rounseville and Joan Diener starred in the original Broadway production of Man of La Mancha. It was a wonder to behold and no amplified sound. It was just one of those great performances of a lifetime with Richard Kiley winning as best Actor in a Musical.

[+ deej]

>LOL...assuming you're joking to some extent

 

It was meant tongue-in-cheek, but there wouldn't be much left of opera if you remove sex, murder, and mayhem. Most recordings, if performed in English, would need to carry NC-17 warning labels. ;-)