UAB Opera’s production of Man of La Mancha will boast a cast featuring some of Alabama’s finest college singers. There will be two performances  at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 15 and Saturday, March 17, in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $10, $15 and $20. Students with a valid ID from any area college and those under the age of 18 can purchase $5 tickets. Call 205-975-2787 for tickets.

Man of La Mancha is based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish contemporary of William Shakespeare. Originally a 1959 play by Dale Wasserman, it was transformed into a musical and premiered in 1964, winning five Tony awards, including Best Musical. The musical has been revived four times on Broadway, becoming one of the most enduring works of musical theater. The story is a play within a play: Cervantes and his servant are imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition, and the story of Don Quixote is enacted by Cervantes and the prisoners. Don Quixote’s song “The Impossible Dream” has become a standard, and the musical has been translated into eight languages.

UAB Opera has risen to national prominence under director Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk's guidance. Last year UAB Opera was awarded first place in National Opera Association's opera production competition in a blind audition. The cast of Man of La Mancha includes several students who have won top awards at the National Association of Teachers of Singing state competition and have studied abroad. Featured in the title role, Don Quixote, is senior Charles Daniel of Corner; junior Shane Bloemetjie of Huntsville will play his sidekick, Sancho. Aldonza, Don Quixote’s leading lady, will be played by sophomore Mary Katherine Whatley of Hoover. Other students featured in leading roles include sophomores Valencia Callens and Jake Hemminger, both of Montgomery, and Micah Brooker of Clay.The ensemble cast is rounded out by singers and actors from the departments of Music and Theatre, with a set designed by Theatre student Alora King of Boonsboro, Md. Brian Kittredge will conduct an orchestra of student and faculty musicians.