And New Yorkers complain about their ticket prices!
True, Teatro ZinZanni, Seattle's "performance in five courses," serves up a gourmet dinner surrounded by all the acrobatic skills of Cirque du Soleil alongside the interactive comedy and drama of Tony and Tina's Wedding. So, when they offered to lower their $125 ticket price to $99 on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, San Francisco may just bite.
Teatro ZinZanni continues through Oct. 19 at Pier 27/29 on the Embarcadero. The dinner and theatre piece began performances March 15 and has already extended four times, in six-week intervals.
Combining comedy, food service and the circus arts in an art nouveau “spiegeltent” imported from Belgium, ZinZanni's evening of "Love, Chaos & Dinner" is presided over by a new Madame Zinzanni (now called Madame Lala), Quebecoise comedienne France La Bonte, who has staffed her restaurant with the world's most dominating Maitre d'Hotel (illusionist Eugeny Voronin), an emotional Chef de cuisine (Kevin Kent), a tap-dancing waiter (Wayne Doba) and the puckish dishwasher Juliette (Nathalie Tarlet). Singing for their supper are the Diva (San Francisco Opera's Kristine Clayton) and the Chanteuse (jazz singers Clairdee and Keta Bill).
Live music and trapeze artists, clowns, jugglers and contortionists round out the entertainment. Among these are new additions Francine Cote and James Keylon as Adrenaline and Aldredo, comedy magician Sam Angelico, Tim Tyler as Mr. P.P and "Silencio," the balancing act by Elena Borodina. Teatro ZinZanni, using many of the same players assembled for Seattle, ran 14 months in Seattle after opening October, 1998 near the Seattle Center.
Among the gourmet offerings on the menu are antipasto, roasted fennel parsnip soup, salad with a champagne vinaigrette, Cabernet Chicken Chasseur with Lyonnaise potatoes and asparagus and lemon-strawberry trifle for dessert. A vegetable entree is available on request.
Tickets are $125. For reservations, call (415) 438-2668. Teatro Zinzanni is on the web at http://www.teatrozinzanni.org.
-- By Christine Ehren
