''The Comical History of Don Quixote'' is a three-part dramatization of

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

's celebrated novel''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

''. It was written in 1694, only seventy-eight years after the death of Cervantes, by

Thomas D'Urfey Thomas d'Urfey (a.k.a. Tom Durfey; 165326 February 1723) was an English writer and wit. He wrote plays, songs, jokes, and poems. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the ballad opera. Life D'Urfey was born in Devonshi ...

. It is one of the first stage dramatizations of "Don Quixote" ever written. The piece featured many songs, most of them by

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

, but there were some by other noted Restoration composers. A highly-abridged early revival of it (with full orchestral accompaniment) took place at the 1938 Bath Music Festival. The complete work itself, according to writer-director Don Taylor, is actually three separate plays, and in total takes more than seven hours to perform.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000000UL1, "Don Quixote: The Musical" It is seldom, if ever, revived today, and was not a success at its premiere, although some of Purcell's compositions for it (''From rosy bow'rs'', for instance) have become fairly well known. In 1994, an attempt was made at "reconstructing" it, in a version entitled ''Don Quixote: The Musical''. This edition featured much of the play's original music, but used an entirely new libretto (in fairly modern English) written by Taylor, and setting the story as a play within a play, with D'Urfey and others appearing as characters in it. The production starred

Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Awards, Academy Award, Emmy Award, Emmy, and Tony Award, Tony for his ...

as Don Quixote, and

Roy Hudd Roy Hudd, OBE (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. Early life Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née ...

as Sancho Panza.http://www.radiodramareviews.com/id370.html, Don Quixote: The Musical

References

External links

''The Comical History of Don Quixote'', full text of the first edition at ''Early English Books Online''.
1694 plays Plays based on Don Quixote {{17thC-play-stub