Shakespeare Theatre of NJ's Man of La Mancha, With William Michals, Extended

By Michael Gioia
06 Nov 2012

William Michals
William Michals
Photo by Gerry Goodstein, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's production of the Tony Award-winning musical Man of La Mancha, which officially opened Oct. 20, has been given an additional week of performances through Nov. 25 at the company's mainstage F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre.

"Given the extraordinary response to this show, the unfortunate loss of performances due to the power outage, and the many difficulties our patrons have faced in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, we are thrilled to be able to to extend the run of this show through Thanksgiving week," said Shakespeare Theatre artistic director Bonnie. J. Monte in a statement. 

Monte directs the production, which began previews Oct. 17 and was originally scheduled through Nov. 18; music direction is by Doug Oberhamer.

Inspired by Miguel de Cervante's seventeenth century work "Don Quixote," the musical features a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh.

William Michals (South Pacific, Beauty and the Beast) stars as Miguel de Cervantes with Jane Pfitsch (Company, Les Liaisons Dangereuses) as Aldonza. They are joined by Blake Pfeil (Shakespeare Theatre's A Christmas Carol) as Sancho Panza, Patrick Boll (Shakespeare Theatre's Richard II) as The Duke/Dr. Carrasco, Drew Dix as the Governor/Inkeeper, Derin Altay (Evita) as the Housekeeper, Darren Matthias (Seussical national tour) as the Caption of the Inquisition and Jeremy Lee Parrish (Jesus Christ Superstar national tour) as Padre.

Rounding out the cast are Kim Sava, John Seidman and Lee Harrington as well as Sean Buhr, George Abud, Jordan Laroya, John Gardner and Katy Hinson.

Other members of the creative team include set designer Michael Schweikardt, costume designer Michelle Eden Humphrey, lighting designer Michael Giannitti and sound designer Steven L. Beckel. Fight direction is by Rick Sordelet, and Denise Carderelli serves as production stage manager.

The F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre is located at 36 Madison Avenue at Lancaster Road in Madison, NJ. For more information and tickets, call (973) 408-5600 or visit ShakespeareNJ.org.