The musical MAN OF LA MANCHA returns to the West End after fifty years in a semi-staged concert production at the London Coliseum with Kelsey Grammer as Miguel de Cervantes/Don Quixote and Danielle de Niese as Aldonza/Dulcinea and English National Opera’s 30-piece orchestra. Based on Dan Wasserman’s non-musical teleplay with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, it opened on Broadway in 1965, winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The original London production opened in April 1968 at the Piccadilly Theatre. Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes and his 17th century novel ‘Don Quixote’, MAN OF LA MANCHA is a ‘play within a play’ as Miguel de Cervantes languishes in a dungeon awaiting his hearing with the Spanish Inquisition, he and his fellow prisoners perform the story of the ‘mad’ knight Don Quixote.

Kelsey returns to the London boards after his successful 2017 debut in BIG FISH at The Other Palace. Even though many will know him for his multi-award winning role as Dr. Frasier Crane in the TV shows CHEERS and FRASIER, he is no stranger to the stage. His turn as Georges in LA CAGE AUX FOLLIES at New York’s Longacre Theatre in 2010 was recognised with a Tony nomination, an award he won eight years later as one of the producers for THE COLOUR PURPLE. In LA MANCHA he gets to sing the big number, ‘The Impossible Dream’ (The Quest).

Australian-born lyric soprano Danielle moved to Los Angeles with her family, making her operatic debut with the Los Angeles Opera at the age of fifteen. A year later she won an Emmy for hosting the TV programme LA KIDS. Danni, as she is known to family, friends and colleagues has been described by the New York Times as ‘Opera’s coolest soprano,’ and an opera pop star. She has performed around the globe at many of the major opera houses, including Convent Garden where she debuted in the Royal Opera’s production of Handel’s ACIS AND GALATEA in 2009.

Both Kelsey and Danielle kindly signed this sketch for me at Wogan House a couple of weeks ago when they appeared on Graham Norton’s BBC Radio2 show.