The originally American musical 'Man of la Mancha' dates from 1965 and is based on Cervantes' novel 'The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'. This first great novel of world literature is simultaneously a retrospective and parody of the knight-errant romance as well as a preview of the coming rage of picaresque novels.
The production has since been performed more than 2000 times on virtually every continent. A first Dutch-language production premiered in 1968. The première took place on December 23, 1968 at theater Carré with Guus Hermes, Carry Tefsen and Lex Goudsmid in the lead roles. The Royal Ballet of Flanders also ventured into this musical in 1993, in a translation by Stef Bos, and kept it on its repertoire for two seasons. Cervantes was played by Ramses Shaffy, Dulcinea by Frouke Dekker and Sancho Panza by Werther Van der Sarren. Brel too was captivated by this sharp-witted fool and created a French adaptation of it. This year Brussels commemorates with numerous events the fortieth anniversary of the death of this unique singer/songwriter and performer. Brel never sang work by others, except in the musical L'Homme de la Mancha with which he performed 170 times on stages in Brussels and Paris. Who better than Filip Jordens, the best Brel interpreter, can step into the shoes of Don Quixote. KVS and De Munt open their season with the Broadway musical that Brel translated and performed exactly fifty years ago in the Brussels opera house.
Direction
Michael De Cock and Junior Mthombeni joined forces to give the production a new and contemporary élan. Despite Brel's renown, the musical was at the time harshly criticized by various critics. An exceptional and committed singer/songwriter is therefore not necessarily a credible actor. A couple of films in which he appeared were not great successes either. So it was quite a challenge to turn the tide and make the elusive character with his powerful metaphors more palatable. This character is not entirely farfetched. It is not solely about flights of fancy and castles in the air but about a refined resistance to hypocrisy and petty bourgeoisness and the inability of many people to let their imagination run free. The duo of directors distilled a theatrical mixture of music, theater, live video and film fragments.
Mindful of KVS's mission to be an open house for a multicultural capital, an internationally composed cast was chosen: white, brown, black are represented. Upon entering, a projection runs. Everyone who works on the production gets the chance to introduce themselves and express their ultimate dream. The set is rudimentary. Just as every reader colors a book with their own thoughts and imagination, this is also expected of the spectator. On the right side of the stage, the musicians, the fine chamber music ensemble of De Munt under the direction of Bassem Akiki, were positioned under a billboard. On the left, a motley group of actors/singers dressed in the most diverse outfits. This blending of styles, the fragmentation throughout the production is disturbing. Also building sandcastles and walking around with a toy windmill. The audience is not senile! Old films of Don Quixote are shown, alongside images of Filip Jordens in the authentic landscape during a working visit. The attempt to transpose a metaphorical tale from 400 years ago to present-day is sought in images of a decaying city, the dilapidated skeletons of buildings being demolished. Futuristic images of Superman. How do you tie all that together?
Cast
The most difficult role is and remains that of Don Quixote, the man who fights against windmills, who makes a castle of an inn in his boundless imagination, a golden helmet of a tin bowl and of the street cat and prostitute Aldonza his chosen one Dulcinea.
Where is the borderline between madness and wit? Filip Jordens pours his heart and soul into the role but it is truly fighting against windmills. The title song 'Rêver un impossible rêve' in which he sings out his existential despair and hope provides goosebump moments. In his wake, as the robust Sancho Panza, the lively and down to earth Junior Akwety. The ideal counterweight to his often ecstatic master. Aldonza/Dulcinea is tailor-made for Ana Naqe, the classically trained and expressive soprano with Albanian roots. A young woman with stage presence. She sings with beautiful accents, raw, fierce or soft, depending on the tone of the story. Where there is first suspicion, rejection and contempt for Don Quixote's advances, she who has always been the plaything of men, slowly thaws for the charismatic knight who places her on a pedestal. Who also makes an impression is the young tenor who takes on various roles: including the clergyman. Performing him as a barber with a Follies de Bergère headdress, as a sort of drag queen is another misstep.
Also the beautiful trained voices of soprano Gwendoline Blondeel, mezzo-soprano Raphaëlle Green (a pity she did not get more to do) who are part of the MM Academy.
François Beukelaers as captain and the old Cervantes is well cast. With his eighty years and more, his long frail figure, he is the fragile old man personified. L'Homme de la Mancha is about love as a driving force but also elevated love and the fate of the seeking human who dares to color outside the lines.
During the finale, the title song 'Rêver un impossible rêve' was sung with the complete cast on the front stage. What a mass of sound, produced by beautiful and powerful voices.
All in all a hybrid spectacle where you leave hungry and that's not due to the actors and musicians but mainly to the directors who let the whole thing go off the rails.
- WHAT: Musical L'Homme de la Mancha, recording Jacques Brel
- ORGANIZATION: KVS Brussel i.s.m. DeMunt
- WHERE & WHEN: KVS Brussel, 14 September 2018
- PHOTOS: @ Eugenio Szwarcer / KVS, © Studio Daoudi / KVS, © Danny Willems / KVS, © Lien De Trogh / KVSEugenio Szwarcer
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