Googling around the net and searching on Z sites, I’m surprised that I found no references to the musical Man of La Mancha. It is a musical using the characters in Don Quixote (pictured on the Dragon card). The musical debuted in 1965, Tony Award winner in 1966, started on Broadway proper in 1968, movie version: 1972.
I’m curious if productions of Man of La Mancha played in SF area in the Zodiac years. If so, where? In more general terms, was musical fan Zodiac aware of Man of La Mancha? Is this why Don Quixote was on his mind?
On Amazon, Program from a 1967 San Francisco production?
At the Curran Theater, 445 Geary Street, August to Sept. 1967.
That’s between Taylor and Mason Streets. Basically at the corner.
https://www.amazon.com/Richard-MANCHA-Marlowe-Francisco-Program/dp/B00WKPATFY
So basically, in 1967, a production of a play involving Don Quixote/Sancho Panza ran at a theater less than a block away from the corner of Mason and Geary.
Not listed on this list, however. Interesting.
Some apparent eyewitness/earwitness backing from a person who saw Man of La Mancha at the Curran Theatre in 1967:
“I first saw “La Mancha” when Richard Kiley — after winning his Broadway Tony Award — performed it at the Curran Theater in San Francisco in 1967. The current Los Altos production holds up well.”
[Name Redacted], Palo Alto Daily Post
This is an interesting idea. When taken along with the Mikado references it’s certainly a possibility. I wonder if we’ve missed any other possible references to musical theatre.
Seems very plausible. A second reference to musicals might nudge us in the right direction when looking at suspects.
Apparently, according to the Monster podcast, the Curran Theatre is thought to be where Paul Stine picked up Zodiac.
https://monster-podcast.com/zodiac/episode/ep-5/
One is in this case, Zodiac hailed the taxi in front of the theater, the Curran Theater, on Geary Street in San Francisco.
That’s the gist on this thread at Tom Voigt’s site as well. It has some other interesting tidbits on this topic:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/zodiackillerfr/mason-and-geary-t2068.html
1) The Curran Theatre was running a show called The Grand Kabuki that day. Apparently, that the kabuki unit of the National Theatre of Japan. Why does Zodiac like Japan so much?
2) The event listings from Good Times for that night show a Shakespeare company putting on aplay in some kind of theater in Golden Gate Park, near the California Academy of Sciences building. The Academy owned property at Washington and Maple (IIRC) at the time of the Stine killing. Also, the Academy building was right across the street from the statues of Robert Emmet, Miguel Cervantes/Quixote/Panza. It looks like the pavillion is right across the street, right next to the Emmet statue.
EDIT: The Shakespeare performance was at the Shakespeare Garden, adjacent to the CAS building, a little further away from the Emmet statue.
OK, my eyes bugged on this one.
This is a catalog of holdings for press packets for the Curran Theatre.
it indicates a production of Man of La Mancha ran at the Curran Theatre from August 25-September 20, 1969. (This page also notes the 1967 performance.)
https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8c82h13/entire_text/
Box 71, Folder 5Man of La Mancha (Curran Theatre) August 25-September 20, 1969
Box 71, Folder 6
Man of La Mancha (Curran Theatre) August 25-September 20, 1969
There appears to be an S.F. Examiner article from August 1969 that references this production, if anyone here has an active sub to Newspapers.com (or a free trial). https://www.newspapers.com/image/460220343/
Lovers (Curran Theatre)March 11-March 16, 1969
Apparently half of this play is about a teenage boyfriend and girlfriend who die together under mysterious circumstances.
Lamp at Midnight (Curran Theatre)March 17-March 29, 1969
This is about Galileo, who was both astronomer and astrologer. I want to see if the play has any astrology.
Next door at the Geary Theatre, more Japan:
Odori Festival of Japan (Geary Theatre) July 24-July 29, 1967
Curran Theatre might have been associated with the San Francisco Civic Light Opera. SFCLO appears to have been the source of the program/magazine for the 1967 performance of Man of La Mancha. It appears to be their insignia on the upper left of the cover.
