Lakeside Little Theatre’s production of “Man of La Mancha” invites us to join the legendary Don Quixote as he strives against the impossible.

The work is a play within a play—we find Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, (Tim Johnson) as he is thrown in prison to face the Spanish Inquisition. There, he must also face a jury of his fellow inmates, led by The Governor (Bryan Kaplan). To prove his innocence, he presents them with the story of Don Quixote, a man deluded that he is a knight.

We see Quixote and his sidekick Sancho (Jim Houle) as they face a series of misadventures in an inn. Sancho is portrayed with panache and a gift for physical comedy not often seen at Lakeside.  The knight and his squire encounter an inn filled with rough men and strumpets. Quixote fixates on trollop Aldonza (Janeene Williams) and despite everyone’s derision, declares her to be his Lady Dulcinea.

Back home, our deluded fellow’s family worries about him. His niece Antonia (Laura Medina), her fiancé (Gene Ma), his housekeeper (Kieta Fox) and priest (Michael Atkinson) are allegedly thinking only of his sanity and health as they make a plan to confront him with his madness.

Meanwhile at the inn, Quixote thinks his attempt to defend Aldonza’s honor is successful but she faces the consequences at the hands of the muleteers in the tavern. Aldonza is portrayed with courage and empathy. Quixote ends the first act with a stellar performance of the show’s most famous song, “The Impossible Dream.”

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