'MO - August 2008 - (Page 27)

click here to comment on this story. LiVe eVeNt reVieW You’ll be wowed and amazed; you’ll laugh your ass off; you’ll have an incredible gourmet dinner. They just do it all in different ways every time the show changes. Even within the run of a show like Quest for a Queendom, though, something is different about the show every night, as it involves a large amount of improvisation on the part of the performers. It’s also highly interactive: skittish people, and borderline frumpy straight men in particular, would do well to be warned. You might just become a target for the entertainment of everyone else. The food, made by chef Tom Douglas, p/reviews (Peter Pitofsky, clearly practiced at being a clown), courting Queen Wilma when she’s not being distracted by royal command performances by the other talent in the show. This is where things get incredible. “Die Maiers” (Sabine Maier and Yogi Mohr) seamlessly blend deadpan comedy and acrobatics. “Victorio” (German aerialist Crystalle) offers a stunning dance in the air with a hanging rope that seems to defy gravity. “The Princes of Portlandor” (Chinese acrobats Ling Rui and Fang Ming) display mystifying feats of strength and agility. Toly, Charles and Edouard (French circus performer brothers “Les Castors”) perform “foot juggling” tricks—sometimes with large inanimate objects, sometimes with each other—that are simply beyond belief. In spite of all these amazing feats of skill and grace by the rest of the cast, the star of the show is easily Kevin Kent, an original Teatro ZinZanni cast member who keeps returning—for good reason. Here he plays Queen Wilma’s manservant, until he decides he should be Queen himself. And whether he’s fawning over Queen Wilma or picking on that unlucky guy in the audience who should be the new Queen’s king, Kent has the entire audience in stitches. In the midst of all this, the staff is very accommodating. On this particular evening, they happily made several last-minute alterations to the seating arrangements for a wheelchair user they did not know previously would be coming. Later during the evening, Kent came over to the man and said, “You know what I have to say? Let the good times roll.” Ticket prices might seem like a lot at ﬁrst glance, but given all that’s offered for the amount of time it goes on, it would be difﬁcult to ﬁnd any other entertainment in Seattle that provides the same value per dollar. For a solid three hours, you’re either eating delicious food, laughing your ass off, or sitting in awe of what you’re seeing—and sometimes all at once. To say it’s a dazzling spectacle of ﬁrstrate entertainment would be an understatement that simply doesn’t do it justice. It must be seen to be believed, and more importantly—it simply must be seen. Tickets range from $104 to $155 depending on the seating (although there is no bad seat in the Spiegeltent), and shows are from Wednesday through Sunday. Call the box ofﬁce at (206) 802-0015 or visit www.teatrozinzanni.com for more information. For more of matthew’s reviews, please visit http://cinema-holic.livejournal.com. Teatro ZinZanni’s is a wildly entertaining culinary odyssey reviewed by matthew mcQuilkin You’ll be wowed and amazed; you’ll laugh your ass off; you’ll have an incredible gourmet dinner. begins with the ﬁrst of ﬁve courses (part of the ticket price) waiting for you at your table before you even sit down—a small assortment of crackers, cheese and fruit. While you’re eating, the performers start to come out into the Spiegeltent that is the venue, all of them in character, milling about the diners. One might ask you an off-the-wall question; another might inexplicably start straightening your silverware. The lights go down, and “Madame Francine” (blues singer Francine Reed) starts to sing. From then on, the evening’s three-hour experience swings back and forth between entertainment and eating. At the end of a particular act, and right before the next course is served, you’ll hear something like, “Let the feast begin!” And then all the waiters and waitresses, each of them dressed in cabaret costumes, come out in a minor dance number as they deliver platters to every table, in a menagerie of organized chaos. In between all these consistently delicious courses (as a vegetarian, for the main course I had the Corn Cakes with Salsa Verde—a bit dry and yet curiously ﬁlling and tasty), there is offered an eclectic array of singers, acrobats, circus performers, and comics. All of it is used in service of the evening’s story (a thin plot used expertly to full effect): Krissie Illing is Queen Wilma, the hilariously fumbling monarch who is in search of this year’s boyfriend—at ﬁrst setting her sights on audience members, with often hysterical results. Also in the running is Peter the Chef British Comedienne Krissie Illing as “Queen Wilma.” 27 I don’t care what you have to do: take out a loan, close out your apparently pathetic savings account, take a bribe—scrounge up the hundred bucks or so you need for a ticket and go see Quest for a Queendom, the show currently running at Teatro ZinZanni though October 19. Barring that, just wait and see what show comes after that, as the shows change every several months, just as they have ever since Teatro ZinZanni ﬁrst opened in Seattle 10 years ago. It was a singular experience then, and it still is now: there is literally nothing else like it. It blends dinner theatre with a circus cabaret and a large dose of drag comedy. Photo: WiLLiam aNthoNy moseattle.com issue #18 | august 2008 http://www.teatrozinzanni.com http://www.teatrozinzanni.com http://cinema-holic.livejournal.com http://moseattle.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - August 2008

'MO - August 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices Coors Joins the Fight to Erase Hate Pet Project ’mo-BIZ: Ajaxx63 Northern Xposure Returns Lambert House Offers Youth Support Beijing, China The 2008 Gay Softball World Series in Seattle Form & Function: Vacation Nutrition An Account of the STP Bicycle Classic Book Review: Family Outing by Troy Johnson Capitol Hill Guide Live Event Review: Teatro ZinZanni’s Quest for a Queendom SceneOut: People@Places

'MO - August 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.