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Shaker Heights High School Presents Man of La Mancha As their biennial musical production, the award-winning Theatre and Music Departments of Shaker Heights High School present Man of La Mancha, December 4-7, 2002, at 8 p.m., in Shaker High’s Large Auditorium. Based on a play by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, Man of La Mancha opened in New York in 1965 with Joanie Diener, a 1947 Shaker High graduate, creating the role of Aldonza. The musical ran for more than 2,000 performances before being made into a film, featuring Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren. Among its many tuneful and memorable songs are “The Impossible Dream,” “I, Don Quixote,” and “To Each his Dulcinea.” The Shaker Heights High School production is directed by James Thornton, head of the Theatre Arts Department, with music under the direction of Robert Schneider, head of the Music Department. The cast includes singers/dancers/actors, an orchestra, along with stage crew and theatre support. Approximately 100 students are involved in the production. “The musical offers a major challenge to young performers,” according to Thornton, “While providing a vehicle for hope. Coming out of a very dark and cruel episode in history, Man of La Mancha is a story that needs retelling today.” Shaker Heights High School is located at 15911 Aldersyde Drive, near Lee Road and South Woodland, in Shaker Heights. Shaker Heights High School Large Auditorium is wheelchair accessible. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior adults. You may obtain tickets by calling the Shaker Theatre Box Office at 216/295-4287 or by downloading an order form. Click here for a ticket order form The ticket order form is in the PDF format and requires the Adobe Acrobat plug-in to be viewed. If you do not have the Acrobat plug-in, click button below to download.
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A story within a story, Man of La Mancha tells of the novelist Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, thrown into prison during the Spanish Inquisition, as he defends himself from the other prisoners by means of an “entertainment.” He spins the tale of a country squire named Alonso Quijana who, overwhelmed by the evil that men do toward men, abandons his sanity and sets out into the world as a knight errant, dubbing himself “Don Quixote of La Mancha, champion of the oppressed and righter of wrongs.” 
