"Man of La Mancha" first rehearsal

A peek at the Milwaukee Rep's fall 2016 musical

Last year I was a proud member of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's social media club, and this year I'm going for a repeat. To kick off theater season (my favorite time of year!), the club members were invited to a meet and greet for the Rep's upcoming musical Man of La Mancha. Much like last year's reception for Dreamgirls, there were short speeches and video presentations, like a Man of La Mancha review by my new favorite person on youtube Iain Loves Theater. 

The Rep chose Man of La Mancha in keeping with their mission: "Ignite positive change in the cultural, social, and economic vitality of the community by creating world-class theater experiences that entertain, provoke, and inspire meaningful dialogue among an audience representative of Milwaukee’s rich diversity."

Artistic Director Mark Clements said that the great thing about having a mission is that it keeps you on track, and their fall musical certainly fits the bill. Man of La Mancha is a story about putting rights back into a world full of wrongs — a sort of call to social activism. I've never seen the show or heard much of the music, but you can learn all about it on the Rep's website. 

But even with the little I know about Man of La Mancha — that it's a musical telling of Don Quixote, written in 1964, and won five Tony awards — the talent alone is enough to draw me into this Milwaukee Rep production. The cast had only its first rehearsal on the day of the meet and greet, but Nathaniel Stampley and company are tremendously talented. I can't wait to see what weeks of rehearsals reveals. 

Man of La Mancha runs September 20th – October 30th, 2016. Some dates are already sold out, so get your tickets now at milwaukeerep.com!