La Mancha

[Rick Averill]

I have been contemplating the score to Man of La Mancha lately. (Oh no! Rick's carrying on about show tunes again! Marthy, get a sock and some duct tape--Rick's goin' on about show tunes!)

Among its other strengths, this show is a wonderful reminder of what can be done without strings. Now I love strings, mind you. They are the work-horse of the orchestra. And it's not as though there haven't been other shows that didn't use strings. A Chorus Line, Stop the World I Want to Get Off, and of course, No Strings. And then there all all the rock shows which don't count. No, seriously, they don't count.

But La Mancha really makes wonderful use of its wind ensemble. You get the feeling that they weren't just economizing by not using the strings. They added strings for the movie and IMHO ruined it. They ruined it in a lot of other ways too, but we won't go into that.

I just love the use of the various woodwinds and the brass, and of course the two (not one but two--count 'em--two) classic guitars. I could go into a complicated analysis of the orchestrations, but really, I'm not that intelligent.

Interestingly, there was no specific person credited witht the orchestrations. They were by Music Makers, Inc., which was Mitch Leigh's Madison Avenue ad agency.

Just thought I'd throw that out.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I have been contemplating the score to Man of La Mancha lately.

I've conducted LaMancha and my first reaction was - no strings? What about the guitars?

Some great use of winds and brass in that score as well. Very "tightly" orchestrated. Where the bowed strings would usually be employed (Dulcinea, for example) the guitar(s) kick in to provide the more gentle sustain.

I'd have to check, but it seems to me there was a part for bass - but that was back in 1974, so my memory might be a little shady on that.

But one of the great scores of all time in musical theater.

[PrimeMover]

Great show, just finished up a production of it about 6 months ago. Another great number that would have been RUINED by strings is "Little Bird". Beautiful song, great use of guitar, and most writers would have probably gutted it with arco violin lines.

Hey, you can do a lot without strings, Duke Elington and Charles Mingus created some powerfully rich textures without a single bowed instrument for decades. Strings may be the bread and butter of the orchestra... but noone ever said a good slice of lasagna was never any good.