Man of La Mancha is presented as a play within a play in the context of the Spanish Inquisition.
We meet the author Miguel de Cervantes in prison, who is awaiting trial by the Inquisition.
When his fellow inmates try to steal his things, including his manuscript, Cervantes offers a trial. In this trial, he proves the merit of the manuscript by means of a reenactment, by enlisting his fellow inmates as characters in his play.
Together, they tell the story of old Alonso Quijana who believes himself to be a knight errant. His name is Don Quixote and pursues an obsessive quest to realize an impossible dream. Against all odds, Quichote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza, in search of chivalry, hit the road. They seek the good and the innocent in a world filled with darkness. Throughout history, all prisoners - at least for a moment - are transformed. The mad Don Quixote may think that a windmill is a giant and that a tavern is a castle. But along the way, he also transforms a miserable woman into a beautiful lady - and proves that an old man's belief can really make him a knight.
Find the "hit" of the musical, "The Impossible Dream", performed by Brian Stokes Mitchell at the Tony Awards in 2003: