I've written here before about Teatro ZinZanni, a wonderful way to spend an evening. If you don't know what Teatro ZinZanni is, here's an explanation that I've posted here before…
Imagine a grand tent inside of which you find a swanky restaurant that serves a gourmet meal as a bevy of wonderful food servers and performers put on a show all around you. There are singers, dancers, comedians, acrobats in the style of (the comparison is unavoidable) Cirque du Soleil and artists whose skills are awesome but utterly unidentifiable. This all transpires not on a faraway stage but up close and personal. The aerial acts are practically over your head in the intimate theater. The dancers are sometimes performing not just near your table but actually on it, skillfully not stepping in the fine soup you have just been served.
This is a fine description but I need to explain more. It is sometimes difficult to tell where the attractive wait staff leaves off and the equally attractive cast takes over. Some of each serve you. Some of each entertain you. The performers roam about in character, chatting you up and entertaining you while you dine. That's when they aren't dancing…or hustling you up out of your seat to dance with them. The show is quite interactive…and did I mention the sensational live five-piece band? The compleat ZinZanni experience runs about three hours. They serve you the first course. They perform for a while. Then they serve you the second course and perform while you eat it…and so on. You leave quite well-fed and, of course, utterly entertained.
There used to be two Teatro ZinZanni outlets in this country, then for a brief time there were none and now there is one. Soon, there will be three. Their "home base" outlet in Seattle had to relocate but now it's up and running at its new location. Click here for details. In July, a new Teatro ZinZanni will open in Chicago and later this year if all goes according to plan, their San Francisco operation will reopen in its new location.
Here's a video from a Seattle production some years ago. Teatro ZinZanni features great novelty/specialty acts and one of my favorites is Mat Plendl. What does he do? He hoops…