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The beauty behind Solis’ language is the lyrical quality of the text. The words roll off the lips of the actors with an almost singing quality, and though the play isn’t a musical there are musical moments included as well, that give the play a certain Mexican romanticism.

There are moments though when the language loses its poetic nature, usually when the language has to take a back seat to the immediate political issue being dealt with in the scene. It’s not that the issue shouldn’t be addressed, but the meter and flow of the dialogue becomes a bit more rigid at times, losing the color that elevates the rest.

The same issue occurs with some of the ancillary friends and family characters that surround Quijano and Manny. This may be intentional since those characters lack the vision and fantasy that have consumed the two heroes. Whether it is a directing choice or a writing choice or an acting choice, it makes, the characters come off a bit stiff and uninteresting compared to Quijano and Manny.

Delgado gives a bittersweet, sensitive, yet, at times, hysterical performance as Quijano/Quixote. His back and forth between being cogent and riding through his delusions is beautifully detailed at times, and his confrontation with a border patrol balloon drone is absolutely absurd.

The depth of his abilities as an actor though are reflected in his subconscious moments that are represented on stage through interactions with Papa Calaca (Hugo E. Carbajal) – Calaca being a colloquial Mexican Spanish name for skeleton. Papa Calaca is a sort of emissary of the dead coming to collect Quixote, whom Quixote vehemently defies.

As enjoyable as Delgado is in his performance, Amador gives the most impressive performance of the night. His beleaguered Manny is riotously funny and doesn’t have a weak moment on stage.

Takeshi Kata’s scenic design is gorgeous. Particularly the backdrop which has such meticulously detailed clouds they seem to be three dimensional.

Quixote Nuevo
Alley Theatre
Hubbard Stage
615 Texas Ave. Houston, TX
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