Teatro Zinzanni

Love, Chaos and Dinner

Wed – Sat: 6:30pm, Sun 7:30pm through June 22nd

222 Mercer Street, in Seattle Center’s Theatre District at 3rd Avenue North and Mercer Street

Tue, Wed, Sun.: $104/$120; Fri-Sat: $120/$155 through www.zinzanni.org

Love, Chaos and Dinner

After being shown to our seats in the antique spigeltent, the curiosity emanating from the audience was palpable. I knew vaguely I had been invited to dinner theater, and that I wasn’t supposed to wear shorts or sneakers. This axed my plans to jog downtown from my home on Phinney Ridge, but in the end I was glad I dug a jacket out of my closet. The cocktail service quickly quelled any lingering trepidation housed in the Belgian-made tent as my date and I munched on goat cheese and flatbread.

The show’s parameters are nebulous; the plot is more of a themed adventure through the ultimate variety show than a linear conflict/resolution drama. It’s a mix of magic, dance, juggling, acrobatics, singing, contortionists and comedy. But a listing of this sort does little to do the performance justice. The juggling is more aptly categorized as performance art. Russian-born Victor Kees manipulates an increasingly formidable number of colored orbs as a throbbing beat drives his stirring movements. Aurelia Cats, clad in an oh-so-lycra cat-suit, maintains a strikingly sensual air while dangling above the ring of captivated audience members from a trapeze, her exertion and eros commingled and effortless.

Melanie Stance once again assumes her role as Madame ZinZanni, singing and dancing her way through the night as hostess and marquee performer. She disarms the audience expertly; encourages patrons to join her in dance, kiss their loved ones and participate in some of the slightly improved acts with funny-man Peter Pitofsky. Nacy Emmerich brings her operatic voice to accompany the Madame. Duo Artemiey, a Russian acrobatic pair, play bumbling servers throughout the evening only to reappear as part of a segmented finale in which they perform a daring trapeze act complete with feats of seemingly impossible strength. Dimitri Artemiev lifts the waifish Elena Mozgalevskaya with effortless grace, and the two slither and slide into holds and poses that seem as magical as the Ukranian Voronin’s illusions. Svetlana, playing Voronin’s “puppet,” pantomimes through contortions and dance that leaves mouths agape. 

Dinner

The food is as much a part of the performance as the players in the show. Indeed, each course is integrated into the act, announced with fanfare and presented uniquely by the wait staff. This approach to serving and the sheer quantity of dishes (the tent holds nearly 250 people) obviously creates a difficult set of challenges for chef Tom Douglas, designer of the meal. Forgivably, the courses lack the thoughtful plating and personalized touch present in similar meals of this stature. Minor quips aside, the creamy carrot soup was savory; the cumin expertly complemented the flavor of the carrot and the indulgent dollop of crème fraiche floated nice atop the puree.
The spring salad was next, pairing succulent butter lettuce with beets and buttermilk dressing. Even while Seattle was being dusted with a coating of late-March snow, the salad brought with it a promise of sunny skies to come, a radish slice garnish embodying the rising sun over plate of green. 

The main course offers diners a choice of pork, salmon or a vegetarian stew. The fish and tenderloin are presently identically on a bed of creamy grits with a side of sugar snap peas. This is where the Herculean charge on Douglas rears its head; the two meat entrees are paired with fairly mundane sides that facilitate their communicability between the two. While the grits are smooth and the peas similarly buttery, the pairings fail to elevate the underwhelming fillet and tenderloin. Overall the course is palatable, if slightly disappointing. 

Dessert is a fluffy mango and raspberry mousse tower on a macadamia shortbread cookie. As the sweet, fruity mousse dissolves, the macadamia adds a richness to the confection that is furthered by the dark chocolate ginger sauce drizzled on the plate. All the while, gravity-defying feats of strength and grace are happening only feet away. It’s impossible to leave without feeling completely satiated. 

The History

In 1992 Teatro ZinZanni Creative Director Norm Langill walked into one of renowned craftsman Willem Klessens’ spiegeltents (mirror tents). This opulent palace of red velvet and gold brocade situated on a quite Barcelona street beckoned Langill into its warm circular embrace. Taken by the colors, music, and enchantment he entered into, Langill’s entrepreneurial imagination took flight. Soon after his visit to his first spiegeltent, Langill began a search for his own magic tarp. He found what he was looking for in a Belgium tent known simply as the Palais Nostolgique. After convincing the Klessens family to bring the Palais Nostolgique to Seattle, Langill went to work creating a bold and adventurous dinner show unlike anything Seattle had ever seen before. Langill combined the classic style of the European Cabaret, with the fresh fashion of American comedy, topped off this visual feast with five-course meal prepared by the premiere chefs of the northwest and called it Teatro ZinZanni. 

In 1998 the first production of Teatro ZinZanni opened in Seattle to a slew of rave reviews. The show ran for fourteen months after that playing to a full house nearly every night. In 2000 Langill once again set-out to pioneer new artistic territory. This time he packed up the Palais Nostolgique and moved the show to San Francisco. As in Seattle, Teatro ZinZanni captivated San Francisco audiences from the get go, finding a new and welcome home in California.