The Man of La Mancha
Show rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Values rating: ♖♜♖♜ This production proved an unexpected pleasure. Having rushed into the London Coliseum at a last minute invitation from a friend - finding time to remark how appropriately quixotic the mission seemed - and being unapprenticed in the ways of the Knight of Woeful Countenance, I was emotionally numbed by its beginning. It appeared to be yet another modern retelling of a classic, as Kelsey Grammer's statuesque Miguel de Cervantes is brought low amongst a large cast of trenchcoat-wearing thugs and dustbin fires, to await trial before the 'Inquisition'. The apparent wealth of the writer alerts the attention of his more run-of-the-mill cellmates and they immediately set upon his handsome costume and props collection. Out of bored cruelty and mistrust, they are set to cast his precious unfinished manuscript 'The Ingenious Nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha' into the flaming trashcan before Cervantes convinces them of a right to trial fo