Michael McLean: Dreaming big

HEBER CITY — A large wooden statue of Don Quixote stares down at visitors from its perch on a ledge high above the family room in Michael McLean's spacious log house. As with everything else in McLean's world, there is a story behind it. Newcomers quickly learn that McLean — storyteller, songwriter, pianist, author, moviemaker, singer, producer — finds meaning and epiphany everywhere.

The story goes that at the age of 15 he saw a performance of "Man of La Mancha" in Chicago. When the show was finished and the audience was filing out of the theater, McLean remained seated, moved to tears but too stunned to move.

"I was transformed," he recalls, eyes tearing up again at the recollection. "I identified with Don Quixote. He saw the greatness in people. Dulcinea says to him, 'Why don't you see me for who I am?' And he says, 'I do.'

"I decided I wanted to be like Don Quixote, and I wanted to be like those guys who told the story about him. I thought if I could uplift somebody else the way this uplifted me, I will have used up my space here meaningfully."

Now 51, McLean has made a career of trying to do just that. He has written lyrics and music for an exhausting 25 albums. He has written books (with accompanying music CDs), theatrical productions, oratorios, music videos, films for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, radio and TV commercials, jingles and TV movies. Among his most famous creations are "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" (starring Jimmy Stewart) and "Nora's Christmas Gift" (starring Celeste Holm), both TV films, and "The Forgotten Carols."

McLean also does live shows, which consist of him telling stories and then singing songs he has written that fit the story or idea, accompanying himself on piano. "Garrison Keillor meets Billy Joel" is how he describes himself. He has played everywhere from cruise ships to Mormon firesides to Disneyland to a dental conference at Abravanel Hall to dozens of other largely LDS audiences around the country.

Not bad for a guy who says he can't sing or act and isn't "good looking like Kurt Bestor." (What would Don Quixote think?) The irony is that for many years McLean couldn't see his own worth until he discovered therapy and medicine, but more on that later.

"Michael is one of a kind, truly," says Sheri Dew , CEO of Deseret Book, which distributes much of McLean's work. "There has been no one else in the LDS culture who has been as prolific and as diversified in his talents. . . . It would simply be impossible to measure or quantify the good this man has done."

McLean believes his mission in life is to move people the way he was moved in that Chicago theater, and he lives for such moments as this: