Joseph Darion Joe Darion was an American musical theatre lyricist, most famous for writing the lyrics to the musical "Man of La Mancha." The show was adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay "I, Don Quixote", which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece "Don Quixote". The original Broadway production in 1966 garnered 5 Tony Awards. Its principle song "The Impossible Dream" became a world-renowned standard and was awarded the Contemporary Classics Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.