THEATRE PREVIEW:

“MAN OF LA MANCHA” at the Civic Theatre

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune November, 1996

Robert Goulet has the rest of his life pretty well mapped out. "I'll win the Academy Award at 79," chuckles the 63 year-old singer-actor.

"Probably a sympathy vote" he adds. In a phone conversation from his home in Las Vegas, his resonant voice and hearty laugh are tinged with playfulness. "I'll work for a few more years, then stop in my eighties and travel the world. See places like... Des Moines and its outskirts. I'll die at 88. That's the plan. You can't just walk through life haphazardly... But I could change my mind."

Right now, he's still going strong, on the road again, playing Don Quixote in the national tour of "Man of La Mancha."

"I'd say I'm in pretty good shape," boasts Goulet, though he's had his share of medical concerns: prostate surgery in 1994, ongoing back problems, left hip replacement four months ago, and two cracked ribs while on tour this fall. Golf is temporarily on hold, and he recently asked for the steeply raked stage set for "La Mancha" to be downgraded from a 6 1/2 degree angle to a four degree angle. He's still taking pain pills, but he's been on this tour about nine weeks, doing eight shows a week, a pace he'll keep up till June, then start all over again in September.

He's only missed four or five performances in his life, and that was because his vocal cords were inflamed. "Bring me out in a wheelchair or a stretcher and I'll still perform," he avers. "Touring keeps me alive."

What's breathing life into him at the moment is the 1965 surprise hit that ran on Broadway for 5 1/2 years. "Man of La Mancha" was based on librettist Dale Wasserman's television play, "I, Don Quixote," which was a scaled-down version of "Don Quixote," the 17th century masterpiece by the Spanish novelist and poet Miguel de Cervantes de Saavedra.

The plot of the musical play (composed by Mitch Leigh, with lyrics by Joe Darion) focuses on Cervantes, arrested for "heresy" during the Spanish Inquisition. While he awaits sentencing, he tells his fellow prisoners the story of a dignified country gentleman who, driven mad by reading too many chivalric romances, fancies himself a knight, Don Quixote de La Mancha, and sallies forth to right the wrongs of the world. Transforming himself into the windmill-battling knight, Cervantes encourages his fellow inmates to help him re-enact the adventurous tale, and, in the end, he gets them all to believe in "Impossible Dreams."

"It's the best thing I've done in a long time," Goulet says. "My Quixote is a little off the edge of the table. I never had a chance to let loose, as Billy Bigelow (in "Carousel") or King Arthur (in "Camelot," in which he appeared here two years ago). I had fun with "Moon Over Buffalo" (earlier this year, on Broadway). But here, I let my hair fly. And I think I'm getting more laughs than others who play it more dourly."

As he talks about the role, he quotes lines and sings snippets of songs. "My voice is the best it's ever been," he says. "Baritones are lucky. If they know how to sing properly, they get better as they get older."

He apparently sounded pretty good when he was younger, too. Born into a French-Canadian household in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he first sang at a family gathering at age five. At 13, after his father's death, he moved with his mother and sister to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and made his first professional appearance three years later, with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. He won a singing scholarship to the University of Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, and then spent several years on stage, and in radio and television.

His high-profile career was launched when, at age 27, he won the Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in the original 1960 production of "Camelot," playing Sir Lancelot to Richard Burton and Julie Andrews' king and queen. Eight years later, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in "The Happy Time."

He's continued his work onstage, has recorded 60 best-selling albums, and has appeared in films ("Atlantic City," "Beetlejuice," "Scrooged," "Naked Gun 2 1/2," "Mr. Wrong") and on television (in his own series, "Blue Light," as well as several "Robert Goulet" specials, and, currently, in ESPN Kooky Collegiate basketball commercials).

"Work is fun," he admits, "but it's also very serious stuff." Goulet lives an almost ascetic life on the road, eating one light, noontime meal a day, and never leaving the theater on weekends, between performances. On days off, he reads voraciously ("every magazine known to man, from Discovery to Cigar Aficionado"). He always tours with his wife of 14 years, Macedonian-Yugoslav Vera Chochorovska Novak, who runs their merged-name companies, Rogo & Rove, and serves as his business manager. He gets to see his son Michael more than usual now, too, since he also appears in "Man of La Mancha."

"It's a really good show," Goulet promises. "Bring the kids, and let them see live theater. They won't believe it. It's reality... it's not just something to see and hear. It makes people think."

DATEBOOK

"MAN OF LA MANCHA"

Robert Goulet stars as the legendary Don Quixote in the legendary musical play. Performances Tuesday-Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. December 10-15. Civic Theatre (3rd & B Streets, downtown). $24-48; 236-6510 or 220-TIXS.

PAT LAUNER is a San Diego-based freelance writer.

©1996 Patté Productions Inc.