Man of La Mancha, by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, and Mitch Leigh, took the world of musical theater by storm when it premiered in 1965. This story of Miguel de Cervantes and his comic knight, Don Quixote, won five Tony Awards as well as the Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Variety Drama Critics Award, and the Saturday Review Award. The original production ran for over 2,000 performances and remains popular today. In this musical, Cervantes is in prison in late 16th-century Spain and must save his draft manuscript of Don Quixote from burning by putting on an impromptu performance of what will become his masterpiece. The resulting performance becomes a robust, emotional defense of idealism and imagination in the face of the suffering and degradation that the world inflicts.

This guide uses the 2002 reprinting of the 1966 book for the musical published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. The separation into musical numbers and analysis related to the music utilizes the 1965 vocal score published by Cherry Lane Music Company.

Content Warning: This play romanticizes mental health conditions and uses terminology that reinforces the stigma around them. The play also contains a scene of violence against a woman.

Plot Summary

The lights come up on stage, revealing a prison common room. A ramp lowers and guards escort Cervantes and a servant down to await trial with the Inquisition. The prisoners swarm Cervantes to rob him and discover a chest full of theatrical props and the draft manuscript of his novel Don Quixote. To stop them from burning the manuscript, Cervantes asks for a chance to defend himself in the form of a play. He then proceeds to perform the story of Don Quixote with himself as the titular character and the other prisoners filling the remaining roles.

Don Quixote is a minor noble whose brain has been addled by reading romantic books about fairy-tale chivalry and by brooding over the world’s injustices. He reimagines himself as a knight-errant out of one of these books. He sets out with his friend Sancho to seek adventure and to fight evil. His mind reinterprets the world around him as elements out of his fantastical stories: For example, he sees windmills as giants with four flailing arms and attacks them despite Sancho’s warning. Predictably, Don Quixote ends up flat on his back but nonetheless continues. At an inn, which Don Quixote mistakes for a castle, he finds rough muleteers and a barmaid named Aldonza who sleeps with customers for money. He insists that Aldonza is in fact a fine, virtuous lady named Dulcinea and he pledges himself to her glory. After realizing that he isn’t mocking her, Aldonza dismisses him as the victim of delusions.

Meanwhile, Don Quixote’s family back home worries about how his apparent “madness” will affect them. His niece’s fiancé, Dr. Carrasco, wants to cancel their engagement but the local priest (called “the Padre”) convinces him instead to try to cure the would-be knight.

At the inn, Sancho presses Don Quixote’s suit with Aldonza. She struggles to understand how Sancho and Don Quixote can be so selfless and idealistic. Sancho admits he has gotten nothing out of serving Don Quixote, but he has no regrets. He sings that he simply likes the knight and that is reason enough to be with him. Dr. Carrasco and the Padre arrive as well but fail to sway Don Quixote from his dedication to knight-errantry. Aldonza approaches Don Quixote to confront him and he explains his “quest” as a dedication to fighting for what is right even in the face of insurmountable odds. This is the musical’s central anthem: “The Impossible Dream.” When he sees the muleteers disrespect Aldonza, he puts his words into action and fights them. With the help of Aldonza and Sancho, he wins.

At this point, things fall apart in the face of reality. The muleteers assault Aldonza again. The brief arrival of the Inquisition guards in prison interrupts Cervantes’s story and shows his fear, even as he rededicates himself to his ideals. Don Quixote’s delusions lead him into being robbed of everything. Finally, Dr. Carrasco returns dressed as the Knight of the Mirrors and defeats Don Quixote by forcing the knight to see how ridiculous he really looks to others. Don Quixote loses his memory and is carried to his deathbed.

First Sancho and then Aldonza visit the fallen knight to try to revive his memories. As Aldonza begs with him and finally embraces the identity of Dulcinea, Don Quixote briefly revives and regains his memory. He still dies, but Aldonza and Sancho commit themselves anew to his vision. As the play-within-a-play concludes, Cervantes is summoned to trial. The prisoners return his manuscript and wish him luck. As he leaves, the prisoners, inspired by his ideals, begin to sing “The Impossible Dream” in a rousing finale.