By Julie Stern

EAST HADDAM — Musical theater is a uniquely American art form which traditionally packs Broadway theaters with tourists from the heartland who would never dream of spending money to see a serious play. They are out to have a good time, and are willing to pay for it so long as they aren’t going to be asked to think.

However, along with memorable scores, colorful settings and exuberant dancing, certain American musicals have a depth of theme and moral insight that make them truly great. Man of LaMancha is one of these select few.

Set in a Sevillian dungeon during the notorious Spanish Inquisition, the story has author Miguel deCervantes allay the hostility of his fellow prisoners — common thugs and cut-throats — by dramatizing for them his most famous fictional creation: the deluded idealist, Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Ostensibly religious in its purposes, the Inquisition was legendary for its cruelty and indifference to human rights, making it the paradigm for death squads and political torture chambers which operate in dictatorships throughout the world even today.

To keep the other prisoners from destroying his precious manuscript, Cervantes, who has been arrested for defying the Church by issuing a tax lien against  it, entertains them by acting out the adventures of the mad country gentleman whose mind is so steeped in tales of chivalry that he imagines himself a knight from Days of Old.

Searching for the trappings of chivalric romance, Quixote mistakes a windmill for a monster and attacks it with his lance; appropriates a brass shaving basin from the local barber as his “Golden Helmet of Mambrino”; and most importantly, dedicates himself to the service of his virtuous lady love, “Dulcinea,” who is in fact Aldonza, the village prostitute.

Accompanied by his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, and protected by a tolerant innkeeper, Quixote is finally undone through the efforts of his scandalized niece and her haughty fiancée, who are anxious to protect their good name from being defiled by the antics of a madman.

Yet, while Quixote is clearly missing cards from his deck, the values to which he stubbornly clings are admirable. His avowed desire to devote his life to the service of others, to face danger bravely, to treat all people with courtesy and kindness, to be patient, honorable and truthful, may seem mad to the greedy, self-absorbed society around him, but it rings true as the clear message of the play: However grim the world may be at any given time, ideals exist to give people hope. The dream may be impossible, but it makes life more bearable.

Author Dale Wasserman expressed this theme as well in his portrait of tyranny in a mental institution in his monumental work, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This idea is brought home by Mitch Leigh’s powerful, haunting musical score, and the Goya-esque wretches who populate both the cavernous prison common room and the courtyard and barroom of the inn where Quixote has his mis-adventures.

It was at Goodspeed that Man of La Mancha had its world premiere 35 years ago, before moving to New York. That production, which played over 2,300 performances, featured Richard Kiley and Joan Diener in the lead roles.

Now it is being “rediscovered” under the guiding hand of Gerald Gutierrez, who has made several significant changes. The first is to emphasize the underlying Spanish heritage of the story, most clearly through the choreography of Ramon Oller, a Barcelona native who has imbued the show with Flamenco fire.

There is also a “dance arrangement” by Christopher Jahnke in which the abduction and gang rape of Aldonza by a gang of muleteers is shown through a stylized slow-motion seduction that is both riveting and terrifying.

Secondly, Gutierrez has achieved dramatic realism by having Shawn Elliot underplay the role of Cervantes/Quixote. Many in the audience, including this reviewer, were startled at first by the tentative quality of his singing voice. (“I was expecting him to belt the songs out like Robert Goulet,” said one man). Yet this works very well, reinforcing the point that Quixote is a frail old man, who appears ridiculous to those around him. Gradually his persistence and his innate decency begin to work on at least some of the people who start to listen to him.

Cervantes’/Quixote’s affect on Aldonza is only understood at the end, when she comes to visit him on his deathbed and begs him to remember “the impossible dream.” Nancy Ticotin doesn’t have the operatic power of Joan Diener, but she does bring a magnificent Gypsy fire to the part, and is a wonderful dancer as well as a fine actress.

This is a great production of a great show and well worth a trip up to East Haddam.

(Goodspeed Opera House will continue to present Man of La Mancha through July 1. Contact Goodspeed’s box office at 860/873-8664 for performance and ticket details.)