Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre just keeps on getting better and better, proof positive of which can be found in their 2020 season opener, a top-of-the-line big-stage revival of the 1966 Broadway classic Man Of La Mancha.

As any musical theater buff can tell you, Tony winner Dale Wasserman’s book recounts the classic Miguel de Cervantes tale of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote De La Mancha precisely as Cervantes might have done so himself when imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition, enlisting the aid of his fellow dungeon-mates to bring that windmill-tilter’s quest to dramatic theatrical life while awaiting trial by some rather pesky Inquisitors.

Donning Quijote’s trademark gray mustache and goatee, Cervantes quickly transforms himself into the aged Alonso Quijana, whose unrelenting dreams of chivalry and incessant thoughts of the world’s injustices have driven him into a madness in which he see himself as a “knight-errant,” one whose mission in life is “to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go.”

These are, of course, the lyrics to “The Impossible Dream (The Quest),” which may be Man Of La Mancha’s Greatest Hit, but it’s only one of composer Mitch Leigh and lyricist Joe Darion’s many memorable songs, performed to perfection on the Candlelight stage.

Director Chuck Ketter elicits one finely-honed performance after another, most particularly from a spectacular John LaLonde, who’s aced roles as diverse as Ragtime’s Father, 42nd Street’s Julian Marsh, La Cage Aux Folles’ George, My Fair Lady’s Henry Higgins, The Sound Of Music’s Captain Von Trapp, and Sweeney Todd’s Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (to name just a few), and now invests Cervantes/Alonso Quijana with abundant warmth, wisdom, and depth … and humor to match as the dotty knight errant mistakes a windmill for a four-armed giant, a roadside inn for a castle and a serving wench as his lady fair. Add to that those gorgeous LaLonde pipes, shown off in the musical’s title song, “Dulcinea,” “Golden Helmet Of Mabrino,” and of course the above-quoted “The Impossible Dream (The Quest),” and you’ve got a performance sure to be remembered as one of the year’s best.

As Aldonza, a radiant, gutsy Monika Peña reveals crystal-clear legit pipes (in an exquisite “Dulcinea” reprise) to match the rocker vocals she showed off as Chance Theater’s Lizzie Borden, and a couldn’t-be-more-charming Ramiro Garcia makes for the best possible sidekick any nutty knight could wish for. (Garcia’s “I Like Him” and “A Little Gossip” could not be more delightful either.)

An all-around terrific featured ensemble shine in such distinctive cameos as Gary Reinschmidt’s warm-hearted innkeeper (and his lofty Governor), Aaron Pyles’s imposing Dr. Carrasco (and his Duke, Antonia’s Fiance, and a booming-voiced Knight Of The Mirrors), Max Herzfeld’s delightfully comedic barber, Mary Murphy-Nelson and Francesca Solis’s doubly distraught Housekeeper and Antonia, and Jason Webb’s wise and winning Padre. (Webb’s exquisite tenor once again soars in “To Each His Dulcinea (To Every Man His Quest)” and “Moorish Dance.”)

Fernando Arellano (Muleteer, Guitar Player), Alden Bettencourt (Muleteer, Tenorio), Betty Campbell (Fermina), Lisa Dyson (Maria), Sean Guirguis (Muleteer, Anselmo), Abel Miramontes (Muleteer, Pedro), Guy Noland (Captain Of The Inquisition, Muleteer, Juan), and Micah Tangerman (Muleteer, Paco) complete the talent-packed Candelight cast, with Campbell and Herzfeld scoring bonus dance points for a seductively undulating “Moorish Dance,” just one example of Daniel Solis’s seamlessly integrated choreography.

Musical director Douglas Austin elicits splendid vocals from all concerned, performed to tracks that sound so close to live, I’m guessing many in the audience have no clue that what they’re hearing is prerecorded. (Kudos to Candlelight’s state-of-the-art sound system and Nick Galvan’s expert sound engineering.)

Ketter’s formidable prison dungeon set is one of his all-time best, and spectacularly lit by Bo Tindell of 4Wall Entertainment though abundant atmospheric stage haze.

The Theatre Company’s costume mix (from rags to regal finery) score high marks too as do Michon Gruber-Gonzales’s wigs, and if Ketter and company cheat in featuring outfits and props whose presence in an Inquisition holding cell is unlikely at best, the production’s “Knight Of The Mirrors” sequence is as spectacularly scary as fantasy sequences get.

Caleb Shiba is stage manager.

With an upcoming season that includes such diverse fare as Little Shop Of Horrors, Billy Elliot, Seussical, Saturday Night Fever, and Mamma Mia!, Candlelight patrons are guaranteed the proverbial “something for everyone” in 2020. Man Of La Mancha starts the year off on a sky-high note indeed.

Candlelight Pavilion, 455 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont.
www.candlelightpavilion.com

–Steven Stanley
January 26, 2020
Photos: Adam Trent

Tags: Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mitch Leigh