The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1049   Message #1950144
Posted By: Joe Offer
28-Jan-07 - 01:35 AM
Thread Name: DT Correction: 'Aldonza' (Man of la Mancha)
Subject: DT Correction: 'Aldonza' (Man of la Mancha)
I can't say I really like the movie (1972), but here's what Sophia Loren sings (did she do her own singing?):

ALDONZA
(music by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion, 1965)

[Quixote-spoken] "Milady!"
[Aldonza-spoken] "I'm not your lady! I'm not any kind of a lady."


For a lady has modest and maidenly airs
And a virtue a blind man could see that I lack
It's hard to develop these maidenly airs
In a stable, laid flat on your back.

Won't you look at me, look at me
God, won't you look at me?
Look at the kitchen slut, reeking of sweat
Born on a dung heap, to die on a dung heap
A strumpet men use and forget.

If you feel that you see me not quite at my virginal best,
Cross my palm with a coin and I'll willingly show you the rest!

[Quixote-spoken] "Never deny that you are Dulcinea!"
[Aldonza-spoken] "Take the clouds from your eyes and see me as I really am."

You have shown me the sky, but what good is the sky
To a creature who'll never do better than crawl?
Of all the cruel bastards who've badgered and battered me,
You are the cruelest of all.

Can't you see what your gentle insanities do to me?
Rob me of anger and give me despair
Blows and abuse I can take and give back again;
Tenderness I cannot bear.

So, please torture me now with your sweet Dulcineas no more
I am no one, I'm nothing, I am only Aldonza, the whore!

[Quixote-spoken] "Now and forever! you are milady Dulcinea!" (unclear)
[Aldonza-screams]


transcribed from the film soundtrack of Man of La Mancha


So, did she do her own singing? Wikipedia says she did, but Peter O'Toole was re-recorded by Simon Gilbert. I suppose that a maturing Sophia Loren (age 38, not THAT old) was a more realistic "Aldonza" than the operatic voice of Joan Diener on the Broadway Cast album - but the Broadway album is the one I listened to over and over again (remembering that date....)
Joan Diener (February 24, 1930 - May 13, 2006) was said to have a 3-1/2 octave vocal range. I suppose her claim to faim is her performance in the 1965 Broadway cast of Man of la Mancha, at the age of 35. At age 62, she succeeded pop singer Sheena Easton in the 1992 Broadway revival. Diener also starred in the original performance of Kismet.

-Joe-