La Mancha (Spanish pronunciation: [kasˈtiʎa la ˈmantʃa]) is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau (610 m or 2000 ft.) of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north by the La Alcarria region. La Mancha includes portions of the modern provinces of Cuenca, Toledo, and Albacete, and most of the Ciudad Real province. La Mancha historical comarca constitutes the southern portion of Castile–La Mancha autonomous community and makes up most of the present-day administrative region.

The name "La Mancha" is probably derived from the Arab word المنشا al-mansha, meaning "the dry land" or "wilderness". The name of the city of Almansa in Albacete also has the same origin. Broadly, it spans the elevated plateau of central Spain, stretching from the mountains of Toledo to the western spurs of the hills of Cuenca, and borderd to the South by the Sierra Morena and to the North by the Alcarria region.

Don Quixote ( /ˌdɒn kiːˈhoʊtiː/; Spanish: [ˈdoŋ kiˈxote] ( listen)), fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha), is a novel written by Miguel de Cervantes. The novel follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, who reads too many chivalric novels, and sets out to revive chivalry under the name of Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who frequently deals with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood with a unique Earthy wit. He is met by the world as it is, initiating themes like Intertextuality, Realism, Metatheatre and Literary Representation.

Published in two volumes a decade apart, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. In one such list, Don Quixote was cited as the "best literary work ever written".

Linda Eder (born February 3, 1961) is an American singer and actress. She made her Broadway debut in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which she received 1997 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Nominations, as well as the Theatre World Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Eder is also featured on the concept albums of several other Broadway shows, such as The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Civil War. Her name is pronounced "EDD-er".

Eder was born in Tucson, Arizona on February 3, 1961 and raised in Brainerd, Minnesota. Her parents, Georg (from Austria) and Leila (from Norway), exposed her to music at an early age. She cites Judy Garland,Barbra Streisand, and Eileen Farrell as her childhood inspiration. Eder cites Garland, specifically, as her greatest influence.^{[citation needed]}

Before her work on Broadway, Eder gained experience in the entertainment industry. She teamed up with classmate Paul Todd, who had won international awards for his piano and organ playing, and began the "Paul and Linda Show". After the duo went separate ways, Eder was a lounge singer at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Eder next tried her hand at the talent show, Star Search, where her performance caught the notice of Angel Records and, subsequently, Frank Wildhorn. She starred in two 1991 stagings of his musical Svengali, the 1990 World Premiere, 1995-6 National Tour, and 1997 Broadway production of his Jekyll & Hyde, and the 2003 World Premiere of Camille Claudel. The two married in 1998 and divorced in 2004; they have one son, Jake. Eder is a recipient of the Theater World Award (1996–97) for her work in Jekyll & Hyde.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɣel de θerˈβantes saaˈβeðɾa]; (29 September 1547 – 23 April 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern European novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). He was dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios ("The Prince of Wits").

In 1569, Cervantes moved to Rome, where he served as a valet to Giulio Acquaviva, a wealthy priest who was elevated to cardinal the next year. By then, Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by Algerian corsairs. After five years he was released on ransom from his captors by his parents and the Trinitarians, a Catholic religious order. He subsequently returned to his family in Madrid.

Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for his voice work, as narrator of various documentary series, and for having played Don Quixote in the original 1965 production of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. Kiley was the first to sing and record "The Impossible Dream", the hit song from the show. In the 1953 hit musical Kismet, he played the Caliph, and introduced the song "Stranger in Paradise". He won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and two Tony Awards during his career.

Kiley was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised Roman Catholic. He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 1940, and after a year at Loyola University Chicago he left to study acting at Chicago's Barnum Dramatic School. In the late 40s, he performed in Chicago-area summer stock theaters with actors such as Alan Furlan. Following a stint in the Navy, he returned to Chicago working as an actor and announcer on radio before moving to New York City. In New York he studied singing with Ray Smolover.