Somewhat mediocre revival of a rather hateful 'classic'.

When a musical hasn't been revived on a large scale in some 50 years, there has got to be a reason - either it was sorely overlooked, left behind by louder contemporaries perhaps or maybe it wasn't as good as it once was, time has moved on, audience's tastes have overtaken the nostalgic lure. In the case of this grand staging of Dale Wasserman, Joe Darrion and Mitch Leigh's Man of La Mancha, the latter applies, exponentially.

Director Lonny Price and his creative team have certainly tried to make up for the many failings of this one song wonder, but aside from Kelsey Grammer's charismatic performance, clever choreography and the bracing talent of the ENO orchestra, this tale of a delusional older man on a mission to become a knight falls flat and leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The salient fact here is that La Mancha, besides the banger The Impossible Dream', and Don Quixote's early optimism, is a misogynistic work that hangs its denouement - Quixote's revived belief in his cause following an invention by worried relatives - on the rape of Danielle de Niese's serving girl Aldonza (Dulcinea to Quixote). It.Is.2019. Quite how anyone involved in this adaptation could have let this remain is rather astounding. If it had been changed, who would have gone to see it and cried, 'yes, it was good, but I preferred it when the woman got raped'? They might argue that you can't mess with a classic and that theatre is a reflection of its time, but in the more enlightened times we enjoy now (hey, did you know women are people too?) this is one of the most offensive troupes. It takes Aldonza's ordeal to break Quixote's unreality and she even gets to be robbed of her own hurt when she comes to cheer him up on his deathbed.

It is tiresome to watch yet another women's suffering used as the motivations for the man's own revelations. Had they re-written this and made Aldonza, though strong, even stronger, this could have been interesting. As it is, this hateful inclusion sadly doomed what was already somewhat mediocre. Women (who typically outnumber male attendees despite often having to share two paltry toilets between 400) deserve better. Theatre audiences, regardless of gender, deserve better. Fraiser deserves better.

Man of La Mancha is at the London Coliseum until June the 8th

View our show pages for more information about Man Of La Mancha, London Coliseum.