TAKE 5: FROM `BOLD' TO `MAN OF LA MANCHA'.

Byline: - Carol Bidwell

With the scraggly beard, whirlwind hairdo and vaguely psychotic gleam in his eyes, it's hard to recognize suave soap opera star John McCook.

But that's him, all right - the silver-haired fellow who plays powerful fashion-design house founder Eric Forrester on CBS' ``The Bold and the Beautiful'' - behind the rags and the whiskers.

Next month, after finishing his daily stint on the soap, the Sherman Oaks actor will trek to Redondo Beach to play the lead role in a revival of the 1965 Tony Award-winning musical ``Man of La Mancha'' for the South Bay Civic Light Opera.

It's a role he's played twice before - in summer stock in 1988 in Sacramento and in 1995 for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera.

And, even though it means doing double duty for a couple of weeks, McCook, 53, relishes the change of venue after 11 years on the daytime drama.

``Acting on camera is someone else's medium - the director, the producer, the writer, the cameraman,'' he said. ``Acting on stage is the actor's medium. That's why I like it.''

McCook has returned to the stage several times over the years to perform in ``42nd Street,'' ``The Pirates of Penzance,'' ``Fiddler on the Roof,'' ``Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,'' ``Peter Pan'' and ``Oklahoma!''

But ``Man of La Mancha'' holds a special place in his heart.

``I love that I'm playing the part of an actor who's in trouble,'' he said with a laugh. ``That's kind of like what I do (on `B&B').''

``Man of La Mancha'' is the fictionalized story of real-life Spanish playwright and actor Miguel de Cervantes' stint in prison in the 1600s. Working as a local tax collector during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, he was jailed after foreclosing on a church.

In the show, when fellow prisoners begin stealing from his trunk of props and other items, Cervantes acts out his tale of crazed landowner Don Quixote - and his misdirected fight for justice in a world peopled by knights, their ladies and their lackeys - in an attempt to save his manuscript from the thieves.

Playing both Cervantes and Don Quixote, McCook does broad comedy, engages in a fight with footstools and sticks, sings and romances a kitchen wench Quixote sees as a grand lady.

``I get to have some fun,'' McCook said. ``It's very different from what I do on `The Bold and the Beautiful.' ''

The show runs at 8 nightly (except Mondays) June 2-14 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Ticket prices range from $25 to $45. For more information and reservations, call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO John McCook, known to ``Bold and the Beautiful'' viewers as fashion patriarch Eric Forrester, takes the lead in ``Man of La Mancha.''