Last Friday saw the opening night in Edinburgh of Man of La Mancha, a musical based around Cervantes's masterpiece Don Quixote. While for many the word "musical" conjures up notions of an artistic vacuum, Man of La Mancha comes with quite a pedigree. Written by Dale Wasserman and scored by Mitch Leigh, it won a string of Tony awards on its Broadway debut in the 1960s. The musical's lyrics were originally supposed to have been penned by no less than WH Auden, but he was dropped for apparently being overly satirical.
Despite its association with such luminaries, one could be forgiven for approaching the musical with trepidation. Don Quixote is by no means devoid of the fantastical and playful elements that serve as the heart and lungs of the popular musical. But there is always the risk that the end product will emerge Disneyfied beyond recognition, transfiguring the beauty of the original work into schlock, much like the experience of seeing your most treasured song used to flog mobile phones.
Seeing Man of La Mancha is, in places, a surreal experience. At one point, a camp Welsh Sancho Panza bursts into I Really Like Him, tunefully explaining his devotion to his master in a manner hinting at a homoerotic subtext. Being a Scottish production, Aldonza is played as a feisty lassie and the tavern where Quixote arrives is populated by a set of hardnuts who seem to have escaped from Trainspotting. It may all seem a bit cheesy, but by the time the big number The Impossible Dream comes around, even Phil Mitchell would be hard-pressed not to feel a tingle in his belly.
Still, it's not uncommon for a certain degree of snobbery to be shown towards musical renditions of classic literature, almost as if they serve as pre-masticated culture for those unable to digest the works in their original form. Yes, one might not appreciate their favorite literature being butchered into bleeding chunks of show tunes, but should it really be important for a musical of a classic to "do justice" to the original?
Maybe the true test of a great work of literature is in the flexibility of its characters and themes to be distilled into other media. Shakespeare's plays have worked remarkably well as children's animations; and Romeo and Juliet endures as his most popular play due to its seemingly unlimited potential for adaptation. Once someone has seen and enjoyed the so-called "low" versions of classics, they may well be compelled to read the original. There will always be snobs, but musicals - especially when they are as good as Man of La Mancha - do far more for what is deemed "high" literature than many would have you believe.
