Editing Man of La Mancha (section)

==History==
''Man of La Mancha'' started as a non-musical teleplay written by [[Dale Wasserman]] for CBS's ''[[DuPont Show of the Month]]'' program. This original telecast starred [[Lee J. Cobb]], [[Colleen Dewhurst]] (who replaced [[Viveca Lindfors]]), and [[Eli Wallach]] and was performed on a television sound stage. The [[DuPont|DuPont Corporation]] disliked the title ''Man of La Mancha'', thinking that its viewing audience would not know what [[La Mancha]] actually meant, so a new title, ''[[I, Don Quixote]]'', was chosen. The play was broadcast live on November 9, 1959, with an estimated audience of 20 million.<ref>Wasserman, Dale. ''The impossible musical'' (2003). Hal Leonard Corporation. {{ISBN|1-55783-515-2}}, pp. 48–53</ref> The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Billy Rose Collection, has a rare tape of this broadcast.

Years after this television broadcast and after the original teleplay had been unsuccessfully optioned as a non-musical Broadway play, director [[Albert Marre]] called Wasserman and suggested that he turn his play into a musical. Mitch Leigh was selected as composer, with orchestrations by Carlyle W. Hall. Unusually for the time, t<!--on an original Wiki entry derived from other sources,-->his show was scored for an orchestra with no violins or other traditional orchestral stringed instruments apart from a double bass, instead making heavier use of brass, woodwinds, percussion and utilizing flamenco guitars as the only stringed instruments of any sort.<ref>[http://www.allmusicals.com/m/manoflamancha.htm Synopsis and song lyrics] AllMusicals.com. Retrieved January 27, 2010</ref>

The original lyricist of the musical was poet [[W. H. Auden]], but his lyrics were discarded, some of them considered too overtly satiric and biting, attacking the bourgeois audience at times. Auden's lyrics were replaced by those of Joe Darion.<ref>[http://www.broadway.tv/broadway-features-reviews/Hidden-Broadway-Treasures-Revealed www.Broadway.tv article "Broadway Hidden Treasures Revealed"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923164730/http://www.broadway.tv/broadway-features-reviews/Hidden-Broadway-Treasures-Revealed |date=September 23, 2011 }}</ref>