ZORBA @ CITY CENTER/ENCORES

Encores has outdone themselves again - delivering a beautiful rich production of ZORBA for their final offering of the season!

Everyone off book & a beautiful production design helped to convey this as no 'old-school staged reading' Encores. Orchestrations are rich, consistant (lots of wonderful underscoring) & simply superb. The heavy strings w/mandolins & mandolas, the interesting drum/percussion parts, & exotic bouzoukis & dumbek further enrichen the very full wash of sounds. It is so incredible to witness this rare Kander & Ebb musical chock full of tunes you probably have never heard before.

Songs include: LIFE IS; THE FIRST TIME; THE TOP OF THE HILL; NO BOOM BOOM; MINE SONG; THE BUTTERFLY; GOODBYE, CANAVARO; GRANDPAPA; ONLY LOVE; THE BEND OF THE ROAD; WHY CAN'T I SPEAK/THAT'S A BEGINNING; Y'ASSOU; WOMAN; THE CROW; HAPPY BIRTHDAY; MINE SONG (REPRISE); I AM FREE; LIFE IS (REPRISE.)

John Turturro & Zoe Wanamaker (My Family-BBC, Harry Potter's Madame Hooch), even though not really musical theatre performers, take charge with their Greek & French roles & bring star power that only helps the proceedings. Vocal stalwarts Marin Mazzie & Santino Fontano bring lyrical chops to the scores strongest numbers. Marin is probably the best thing in the show. Rich deep sounds from her while performing with a focused economy of physical flourish. I've never enjoyed her work more (mainly because I have never found her particularly funny & this role has no comedy or even speaking lines.)

Only Elizabeth A. Davis seems wildly vocally miscast: at times she sounds like Bjork (which is still being kind.) She just doesn't vocally blend or match those singing with & around her & it is so very apparent from the first time she opens her mouth. Oops.

Dir. Walter Bobbie & Choreographer Josh Rhodes have mounted the piece beautifully even though there are some book issues. Sound, lighting & costumes just seemed perfect.

John Kander at 88 was in attendance. So was Barry Weissler whose 2011 revival plans with Antonio Banderas never happened.

A special opportunity to catch this here. Don't put it off. What did YOU think?

Updated On: 5/6/15 at 11:25 PM

I'd love to see this. Alas, I'm on the wrong coast.

I was at the dress last night and I agree with the OP 100% (including, regrettably, that Elizabeth Davis--so wonderful in ONCE--is all wrong here). Turturro, Wanamaker, Fontina, Chanler-Berat, and especially Mazzie (god, that voice--it hasn't aged a day in 30 years) are spectacular. If you don't have tickets already, buy them immediately. This is essential.

Updated On: 5/6/15 at 07:53 AM

Seeing it Saturday! Should be exciting!

what's the duration of the show?

While I enjoyed the performance I can’t muster up the same enthusiasm as the OP. “Life is” is one of those great musical theater opening numbers that should be a wow. This version is far from that and I think a lot of that has to do with the uninspired choreography by Josh Rhodes. You know the choreography is weak when the dance highlight is a sensational belly dancer. If I were seeing this at a community theater it might be okay but we have been spoiled in recent years by some outstanding choreography on that City Center stage. Tuturro makes Zorba his own and while his singing voice leaves a lot to be desired, his acting chops are remarkable. Zoe Wanamaker is fabulous and gives a Tony worthy performance. Santino Fontana gets better and better with every show he’s in. Marin,who looks like a goddess on Mount Olympus, is fine as the leader but I do wish they would have gone more ethnic not only with her but with some of the ensemble. The entr’acte played with a trio (quartet?) of Greek musicians is wonderful. All in all I would say go see it and hear a lovely and rarely performed Kander and Ebb score.

I had a feeling this might be worth seeing because it's so rarely done. I'm going in a cheaper seat Saturday evening and then my subscription seat up close on Sunday night.

I'm glad most of the cast is shining in this. Santino Fontana has been cast in a TV show so I hope we don't lose him from the stage.

I wish Fontana were playing opposite Laura Benanti in She Loves Me. I know Josh Radnor is more well known to TV audiences but Fontana was perfect in the part when he did it in Caramoor. And I'd love to see Fontana and Benanti on stage together.

*spoiler alert* Was not expecting three characters to croak! I found it weirdly dark, but maybe that's the point, and I went in expecting Hello Dolly, or something. But John Turturro appeared to be having a blast and Zoe Wanamaker is my everything. I sat a few rows behind Ben Brantley and watched everyone else watching Ben Brantley.

Updated On: 5/7/15 at 11:34 PM

It looks gorgeous, and that is one stellar cast.

I wish I could be there!

The whole purpose of Encores is to recreate the "original" show as much as possible, and not to incorporate changes made by anyone later or in subsequent productions. Yes, I know that writers like David Ives are often brought in to revise and streamline the librettos, but generally speaking the scores are meant to be intact. For example, when GOLDEN BOY was done some years ago, they did not incorporate the "new" songs that Strouse and Adams had later added to the show ("There's a Party Going On" and "Yes I Can"), regardless of their quality.

Loving the score of ZORBA as much as I do (and feeling the Anthony Quinn "revisal" was no improvement), it concerns me to read that changes have been made to the original score for this Encores production. I'll be seeing it on Sunday, and hopefully this is not the case. "Life is what you do while you're waiting to die."

Auggie, I love reading your thoughts on the original production--for a long time it seemed hard to get info on (one of the Hal Prince books devotes all of a paragraph to the show--thankfully another one seems to give the production its due.)

This combined version of various past revisions seems to be the one John Kander wants performed. So I guess that's why we have the revival song sequence (including the new songs to try to make it less dark like the Mine chorus, and Woman--a song that feels so wrong to the show for me) but things like the original Life Is.

In the past it was clear from interviews and their book that Fred Ebb always wanted Zorba to be a bigger audience hit--I don't remember Kander speaking about it in past interviews (I've been told there's a program note for Encores! where he says basically they felt that the show finally came together with the revisions for the original Prince tour--although I guess they felt they should incorporate elements (and all the new songs) from the 80s revision.

For the record, I believe the only available production Samuel French licenses is the 1983 revision (anyone know for sure? I know with Cabaret now you have theoption of the 1967 original, the 1987 revision or the Mendes/Marshall revision.)

Updated On: 5/7/15 at 02:32 PM

If anyone knows how to add the broadwayworld.com video clips or the city center show pics - please do

The BWW reel has a lovely clip of "The Butterfly" as well.