Man of La Mancha/Heartwarming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The late reprise of "Dulcinea", followed by the reprise of "Man of La Mancha."
  • "The Impossible Dream", in which Don Quixote expresses his inherent desire to make the world a better place, even if it's impossible. It's customary to applaud and cry during this song.
  • There's also Cervantes' speech in the prison. He's being mocked for being a poet and refusing to see "life as it really is." He responds:

I have lived for over forty years, and I've seen life as it is. Pain. Misery. Cruelty beyond belief. I've heard all the voices of God's noblest creature. Moans from bundles of filth in the street. I've been a soldier and a slave. I've seen my comrades fall in battle, or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I've held them at the last moment. These were men who saw life as it is. Yet they died despairing. No glory, no brave last words. Only their eyes, filled with confusion... questioning why. I do not think they were asking why they were dying... but why they had never lived. When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams, this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash... too much sanity may be madness! Perhaps to be practical is madness. And maddest of all... to see life as it is and not as it should be! I am I, Don Quixote/The lord of La Mancha/Destroyer of evil am I/I will march to the sound/Of the trumpets of glory/Forever to conquer or die!

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