As a child, Jack Curenton dreamed of only two things - performing and becoming a paleontologist.

On Tuesday, his two worlds collided.

Curenton, on a national tour playing Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha,” had just gotten back on the bus in Fruita, Colo., where he visited the Museum of Western Colorado: Dinosaur Journey.

“I knew everything about dinosaurs as a kid,” Curenton said, a grin obvious in his voice. The museum was worth giving up lunch with his 28 traveling companions - and, he said happily, he got a hat with “Old Fossil” on it!

Curenton says he had chosen performing over paleontology by the time he was 11, hooked by a recording of “Oliver.” But for nearly 30 years, starting in the late 1970s, he took something of a detour, “helping grow a company from 800 clients to about 35,000.”

“Sales is nothing more that acting to a smaller audience with a regular paycheck,” he says with a chuckle.

He was drawn into the entertainment industry again in 2005, working primarily in commercials, film and television, but he admits it took an extraordinary offer to get him back on a tour bus. He was asked to reprise Don Quixote, a role he had first performed more than 35 years ago.

“This is my favorite role,” he says simply. “I’ve basically lived this character all my life.”

Curenton remembers clearly when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. An impressionable 15-year-old, he was deeply moved by Ted Kennedy’s words of eulogy, earlier used by both Robertand John F. Kennedy and originally attributed to George Bernard Shaw:

“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

“It impressed me so much, it has stuck with me all my life,” he says. “As Don Quixote sings in ‘The Impossible Dream,’ ‘one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage. … ’ If you carry that example on to its conclusion, we’ve seen that happen throughout history by people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Jesus Christ and so many more. It’s all about one person making a difference.

“I wouldn’t have gone back on stage for a role I didn’t love. It’s a lot of work!”

Actually, Curenton amends, he does have another favorite play. He recently acquired the rights to ‘That Great and Dreadful Day: Tall Tales From the American Swamp,” described as an operetta telling the story of blues musicianLaurence Douglas Miner and his band from the Depression years into the 1960s. Curenton hopes to workshop the play in Los Angeles after this tour ends - “Man of La Mancha” is scheduled to run through April 1 - and then open it for an extended engagement in New Orleans.

Meanwhile, he is looking forward to 92 shows after just 17 days of rehearsal.

“So far, we’ve done 11 cities and seen nearly 20,000 people,” he says. “It’s been standing room only and standing ovations. All of it’s fun.”

Critics have praised “his nuanced performance” that “captures the foolishness of the man without making him a fool.”

“This show has the universal appeal of the little guy trying to buck the system by not buying into the normal or conventional wisdom of how to live one’s life,” Curenton previously told Broadway World. “Everyone wants change for the better, but theydon’t necessarily want to make the effort necessary to make a difference. The saying ‘always jousting at windmills’ is now a well-known part of our vocabulary, and it comes from this story. Don Quixote views life not as it is but as it ought to be and then works to makethat vision the reality.

“I hope people bring their kids,” he says from the tour bus. “It’s the kind of show that inspires somebody to be the best them they can be - to be more than they can be. For me, it’s one of the top 10 Broadway shows of all time.”FAQ ‘Man of La Mancha’

WHEN - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE - Arkansas Best Performing Arts Center in Fort

Smith

COST - $32-$35

INFO - 788-7300

Whats Up, Pages 17 on 01/31/2014