Theater group Enchantrix brings Don Quixote, the musical, to the Sand City Art Park.

It’s raining, so rehearsals (on a night just three days before the Nov. 9 opening) are taking place in an oversized garage space next to the Sand City Art Park. The windmill has been carried inside too, so as not to get wet.

Theater group Enchantrix is getting ready to stage Man of La Mancha, the beloved musical version of Don Quixote, written by Dale Wasserman. This 1965 Broadway hit features music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. In this local version, the producer is Sean Aten (who also plays Padre), and the director is Joe Nance, a radio, film and theater producer from Seaside.

Aten found a talented cast, with Cody Moore as a perfect Don Quixote (dead serious at times, light and humorous when needed) and his wonderful, faithful Sancho Panza (whose optimism is portrayed by Jona St. John, who has the best voice in the play). Also charismatic and delightful-to-watch is Jennah Montemayor as Aldonza, whom Don Quixote sees and treats as the lady of his heart.

Wasserman’s take on the 17th-century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes tells the story of both Don Quixote and Cervantes. In this play, Don Quixote is Cervantes – that is, he is aware of playing Don Quixote, even if his ultimate wish is to live in this other reality. Moore successfully portrays this duality by switching between the deep, serious voice of the knight and the much lighter, more humorous Cervantes. So while the original novel leaves us with a sense of despair, this is Don Quixote psychoanalyzed, a Don Quixote who has read Franz Kafka’s The Trial.

Songs are a big part of the play, and Tara Mann leads the cast as vocal coach. Many of them are recognizable to audiences, such as “Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote),” “I’m Only Thinking of Him,” or “Dulcinea.”

The story itself praises the “madman,” who refuses to “come to terms with life as it is,” annoying his contemporaries. But in this version, Don Quixote is the philosopher, the dreamer, a former soldier who doesn’t understand why his companions died, or why they lived in the first place.

“It’s practical to be mad,” Moore, playing Quixote/Cervantes, announces, “to see treasures where there’s only trash.”

MAN OF LA MANCHA runs at 7pm Thursdays-Saturdays, Nov. 9-18. Sand City Art Park, 525 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. Pay what you will. enchantrix.net/lamancha.