Chapter 98

From off stage, I heard the Overture begin ... Damn, how do people do this for a living? I guess I prefer to have my back to the audience. Hmmmm?

My musical cue was coming up, so I climbed the stairs of the set piece to enter the dungeon set...

As the applause started, I took a final big breath with Charles right behind me and the underscoring began.

I opened the door, as we were walked down the stairs. I pulled my bag of props away from the guardsmen locking us up.

An applause I wasn’t expecting started up. As I stepped off the last step, I fell over. It wasn’t in the script, but I made it big enough they thought it was. I went over to the boulder set piece and set down.

As the Overture started, I reached into my bag and prepared my first monologue ... while I performed putting on a beard without a mirror onstage at the same time...

CERVANTES
May I set the stage? I shall impersonate a man. Come, enter into my imagination and see him! His name ... Alonso Quijana -- a country squire, no longer young ... bony, hollow-faced ... eyes that burn with the fire of inner vision. Being retired, he has much time for books. He studies them from morn to night and often through the night as well. And all he reads oppresses him ... fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man. And he conceives the strangest project ever imagined ... to become a knight-errant and sally forth into the world to right all wrongs. No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quijana ... but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha!{br}

DON QUIXOTE (Michael)
Hear me now
Oh thou bleak and
unbearable world,
Thou art base and
debauched as can be;
And a knight with his banners
all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down
his gauntlet to thee!
I am I, Don Quixote,
The Lord of La Mancha,
My destiny calls and I go,

And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward,
Oh whithersoever they blow.

SANCHO
I am Sancho! Yes, I am Sancho!
I will follow my master till the end.
I will tell all the world proudly
I am his squire! I am his friend!
DON QUIXOTE, SANCHO
Whithersoever they blow,
Onward to glory I (we)go!

(Somehow, I hit the note, as the Muleteers and Aldonza walk on stage taking the focus off me)

(Nevertheless, there was a remarkable applause and cheer)

MULETEERS
Food! Wine! Aldonza! Aldonza!
I come for love, I come for love,
I come to Aldonza for love!
ALDONZA (Jennifer)
One pair of arms
is like another
I don’t know why
or who’s to blame,
I will go with you or
with your brother
It’s all the same,
it’s all the same.

One pair of arms
is like another
It’s all the same,
it’s all the same!
MULETEERS
Aldonza!

(She got a fantastically well-deserved applause as we moved the story along. We are not doing the dialogue per se, only as needed... )

DON QUIXOTE
(enters the inn)
Sweet lady ... fair virgin...
I dare not gaze full upon thy countenance
Lest I be blinded by beauty. But I implore Thee - speak once thy name.
(Moving forward)

DON QUIXOTE
Only that I follow the quest.
ALDONZA
(spits)
That for your Quest!
What does that mean ... quest?{br}

DON QUIXOTE
It is the mission of each true knight...
His duty ... nay, his privilege!

(This is my favorite song from the show)

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong.
To love, pure and chaste, from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!
This is my Quest to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless,
no matter how far,

To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause!
And I know, if I will only be true
To this glorious Quest,
That my heart will
lie peaceful and calm
When I am laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this,
That one man, scorned
and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage, TO REACH ... THE UNREACHABLE STARS... !{br}

(I took a breath, and the place went wild. I really wasn’t expecting such a thing. We moved on with James Allen playing the part of the Innkeeper, who starts the next musical moment... )

INNKEEPER
Don Quixote de La Mancha,
Having proven yourself this day
In glorious and terrible combat,
And by my authority as
lord of this castle...

I hereby dub thee knight!
DON QUIXOTE
But, your Lordship...
INNKEEPER
Didn’t I do it right?
DON QUIXOTE
If Your Lordship could make
some mention of the deeds
I performed to earn this honor?
INNKEEPER
Of course.
DON QUIXOTE
And it is customary to grant
the new knight an added name.
If Your Lordship could devise
such a name for me?...
INNKEEPER
Hmmm.

Oh valorous Knight,
Go and fight for the right,
And battle all villains that be,
But oh, when you do,
What will happen to you
Thank God I won’t be there to see!
ALDONZA, SANCHO, INNKEEPER
Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance,
Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Wherever you go
People will know
Of the glorious deeds
Of the Knight of the Woeful Countenance!

That number deserved the grand applause it received, if for no other reason than for James singing like I had never heard him sing before!

(MOVING ALONG... )

DON QUIXOTE
My lady...
ALDONZA
I am not your lady!...
I am not any kind of a lady!

I was spawned in a ditch
By a mother who left me there,
Naked and cold and
too hungry to cry;
I never blamed her.
I am sure she left hoping
That I’d have the good sense to die!

It’s hard to remember these
maidenly airs In a stable
laid flat on your back!

Won’t you look at me, look at me,
God, won’t you look at me!
Look at the kitchen slut reeking with sweat!

Born on a dung heap
to die on a dung heap,
A strumpet men use and forget!
If you feel that you see me
Not quite at my virginal best,
Cross my palm with a coin,
And I will willingly show you the rest!
DON QUIXOTE
Never deny thou art Dulcinea.{br}

ALDONZA
Take the clouds from your eyes
and see me as I really am!
You have shown me the sky,
But what good is the sky
To a creature who will never
Do better than crawl?
Of all the cruel bastards
Who have badgered and battered me,
You are the cruelest of all!
Can’t you see what your gentle
Insanities do to me?
Rob me of anger and give
me despair! Blows and abuse
I can take and give back again,
Tenderness I cannot bear!

So please torture me now
With your “Sweet Dulcinea” no more!
I’m no one! I’m nothing!
I’m only Aldonza the whore!
DON QUIXOTE
Now and forever thou art my lady Dulcinea!

(Aldonza screams in despair and collapses. As I lay in bed dying, my mind
“retreating to some secret place.” ){br}

(Again, as she falls to the floor, the audience cheers her on. As their applause lessens, the music to the next song begins... )

SANCHO (Charles)
Your Reverence, could I talk to him?
PADRE
I’m afraid he won’t hear you.
SANCHO
Then, I won’t say much.
PADRE
And no mention of knight-errantry!
SANCHO
Of course not.
Does one speak of the rope
in the house of the hanged?
just a few words ... to lighten his heart.
A little gossip ... a little chat...
A little idle talk of this and that...
I will tell him all the troubles I have had,
And since he doesn’t hear,
At least he won’t feel bad.
(to the dying Don Quixote)

When I first got home
my wife Teresa beat me,
But the blows fell very
lightly on my back.
She kept missing ev’ry other stroke
And crying from the heart
That while I was gone
She’d gone and lost the knack!

(Spoken to the Padre)
Of course, I hit her back, Your Grace,
but she’s a lot harder than I’m,
and you know what they say...
“Whether the stone hits the pitcher
or the pitcher hits the stone
it’s going to be bad for the pitcher”
So I have got bruises from here to... {br}

(To the Padre)

A little gossip ... a little chat...
A little idle talk of this and that...
If no one listens,
Then it’s just as well,
At least I won’t get caught in any lies I tell!{br}

(Back to Don Quixote)

Oh, I haven’t fought a
windmill in a fortnight
And the humble joys
get duller ev’ry day,
Why, when I’m asleep a dragon
With his fiery tongue a-wagging’
Whispers, “Sancho.
Won’t you please
come out and play?”{br}

(Everybody loves Charles, as did this audience, while my character lays there on his death bed)

Dulcinea ... Dulcinea...
Once you found a girl
And called her Dulcinea,
When you spoke the name
An angel seemed to whisper...
Dulcinea ... Dulcinea...
Dulcinea ... Dulcinea...
Won’t you please bring back
The dream of Dulcinea...
Won’t you bring me back
The bright and shining glory
Of Dulcinea ... Dulcinea... {br}

DON QUIXOTE
Then perhaps ... perhaps,
it was not a dream...
ALDONZA
(kneeling by Quixote again, holding his head up with her own strength.)
You spoke of a dream. And about the Quest!
DON QUIXOTE
Quest?
ALDONZA
Yes, how you must fight and it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, if only you follow the Quest!
DON QUIXOTE
The words. Tell me pleas... , the words!

ALDONZA
“To dream the impossible dream...”
but they’re your own words!
“To fight the unbearable foe...”
Don’t you remember?
“To bear with unbearable sorrow...”
You must remember!
“To run where the brave dare not go.”
DON QUIXOTE (Weakly)
To right the unrightable wrong.
ALDONZA
Yes?
DON QUIXOTE
To love... , pure and chaste, from afar
ALDONZA
Yes!
DON QUIXOTE (Getting stronger)
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!
ALDONZA
Thank you. My Lord!
DON QUIXOTE
But this is not seemly, My Lady.
On thy knees? To me?{br}

(Here I am trying to act, and her bosom practically falls out of her blouse)

.ALDONZA
Oh, my Lord, you are not well!
DON QUIXOTE
Not well? What is sickness to the body of a knight-errant? What matter wounds? For each time he falls he shall rise again ... and woe to the wicked! Sancho!
SANCHO
Here, Your Grace!
More misadventures!
DON QUIXOTE
Adventures, old friend!
DON QUIXOTE
(All better now, for a moment)
O the trumpets of glory
Now call me to ride,
Yes, the trumpets
are calling to me,

And wherever I ride,
Ever staunch at my side
My squire and
my lady shall be!
I am I, Don Quixote...
DON QUIXOTE, ALDONZA, SANCHO
The Lord of la Mancha
My (Our}destiny calls and I (we}go!
And the wild winds of fortune
shall carry me (us}onward,
Oh, whithersoever...
(I fall back down, hard){br}