Picture Time: MAN OF LA MANCHA

So our show in Poway (San Diego) wrapped up and I'm happy to report that it was a REALLY great show. Everything just worked. And the audience loved the show. And when we were done, we were all staring at 5 1/2 days OFF for Thanksgiving! I think that energy had a LOT to do with the success of the show. But I may be way off base.

Anyway - we left Poway and headed to Cerritos...where we would spend the next week. It worked out as we were checking in to the Holiday Inn Select in Cerritos, the national touring company of Phoenix Entertainment's MAN OF LA MANCHA was checking out...and Eric, Roe and Rachel in our cast had friends in the LaMancha cast! They were heading over to the Cerritos Performing Arts Center where we would also be performing later in the week. Melanie, in the cast and friends of the our 3, got us some tickets to see their Sunday matinee, and so we headed over and saw the show.

I'll tell you right now that MoL is probably my MOST favorite stage show. Ever. So I'm always excited and a little bit worried to see a production of it. The Phoenix production has a VERY beautiful set and lighting and costumes...and the ensemble sounded and looked AMAZING. I was happy about it all. But the emotional core is Don Quixote...and the dude donning the armor in this production just didn't do it for me. PLUS - I'm being really honest here - his "Impossible Dream" was quite possibly one of the worst renditions of the song I've ever heard. Melanie played the Innkeepers Wife, Maria, and was a delight in the role. Eddie (another friend of the crew) was a Muleteer and VERY creepy and thuggish...in a way the role was meant to be played. And Roe's friend, Tess, was Aldonza/Dulcinea and sounded GREAT in the role - even though she had complained of not feeling well!

A HUGE thanks to Melanie for the tickets and to the REST of the cast of La Mancha for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon in Cerritos.

CIAO!

G

L: On the shuttle to the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, I caught Roe and Rachel doing their THING...and it made me laugh...so I captured it on film. R: Then I got them in a posed and fine looking picture.

Eric grins through the glare of the sun while we're on the shuttle.

Outside the Cerritos PAC, Roe, Rachel and Eric express their anger and dismay at the WONKA sign - since NONE of us are in the advertising pictures. (The original cast from the original Kennedy Center run is still in a lot of the advertising....)

Roe posses for her color accented CLOSE UP during intermission...with the flower she stole from the Sheraton Hotel. I mean BORROWED.

WONKA MEETS IN LA MANCHA! L: Eric, Melanie, Eddie, Roe and Rachel strike a pose outside TGIF. R: Tess, Roe and Melanie grab a quick picture before saying GOOD BYE!