Mitch Leigh (born January 30, 1928) is an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical MAN OF LA MANCHA. Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irwin Michnick. He graduated from Yale in 1951 with a Bachelor of Music, and in 1952 received his Master of Music[1] under Paul Hindemith. He began his career as a jazz musician and writing commercials for radio and television. In 1965 he teamed with lyricist Joe Darion and writer Dale Wasserman to write a musical based on Wasserman's 1959 television play, I, DON QUIXOTE. The resulting show, the musical MAN OF LA MANCHA at Broadway in 1965 and in its original engagement ran for 2,328 performances.
