MarysLibrary

The Knight of the Woeful Countenance

We have just returned from an afternoon at the Civic Theater where we saw a spectacular performance of "Man of La Mancha." It was outstanding in every way, sets, costumes, casting, acting, singing, choreography, everything.

I saw "Man of La Mancha" on Broadway shortly after it opened and my reaction was decidedly ho-hum. (Of course I had just seen "Cabaret" shortly after IT opened and anything at all would have been a letdown after Joel Grey and Jill Hayworth.)

Today's performance, in Spokane, was better than Broadway. I was stunned.

There's nothing like live theater.

Dramatic Changes to Greek Theater

I find myself tonight reading Sophocles. (You will have begun to realize that the Reading List idea isn't working out.)

I just discovered that Aeschylus added a second actor to the traditional Greek theater. Hitherto, apparently, there had been only one actor and a chorus. I'm sure he found he could write much better dialog that way.

And Sophocles then added a third and a fourth actor. And costumes! Amazing.

Well, back to "Oedipus." (This isn't going to turn out well. I just know it.)