In September 1998 a special concert was held at Carnegie Hall. My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies gathered an array of leading ladies to sing some of Broadway’s greatest hits. This stunning concert was filmed for PBS as well as a CD and DVD release. In my opinion, Linda Eder gave the performance of the evening with a stirring rendition of “The Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote).”
In Man of La Mancha this song is sung at the top of the show as Cervantes transforms himself into Alonso Quijana, who renames himself Don Quixote. Here Eder makes it her own showstopper, eclipsing any other version I’ve ever heard of this song. More than a decade later, hearing her sing this still gives me goosebumps.