Script and score: Improvisation by the cast and song standards
At: Spiegeltent Zazou on the 14th floor of Cambria Hotel, 32 W. Randolph St.. Tickets: 312-488-0900 or zinzanni.com/chicago; $124-$19 Booking through: Sept. 29
Seattle-based Teatro ZinZanni has spent more than a decade trying to find the perfect venue to break into the Chicago theater scene. So now that its signature show Love, Chaos & Dinner has finally found a Loop home in the renovated Cambria Hotel, is Teatro ZinZanni all that?
Let's just say that you get your money's worth in terms of up-close spectacle. Teatro ZinZanni truly dazzles the senses with an international mix of circus entertainers, improvisational comedians, skilled clowns and impressive singers.
All of this is intimately packaged within the amazing atmosphere of an antique mirrored Belgian Spiegeltent that seats more than 300 guests. You're also served a tasty four-course dinner catered by Debbie Sharpe of The Goddess and the Grocer ( though drinks, starters and gratuity are extra ).
Yet if you desire a serious plot, search elsewhere. Co-directors Norman Langill, Reenie Duff and Dreya Weber all make Love, Chaos & Dinner into a bawdy vaudevillian revue in the truest sense of the word. If you're not keen on one act, don't worry because another completely different artistic discipline will immediately follow.
Love, Chaos & Dinner as a show is tied together thematically as a restaurant whose eccentric staff are more clownish than courteous. But pay close attention to those drudge workers, because they are more than they initially appear to be.
And be forewarned that the performers will often break the fourth wall to interact directly with the audience. The closer you are to the center, the more likely that you'll be turned into unsuspecting comic support.
The cast is full of amazing talents who are all supported by the tiny "Orchestra Deville" led by Russ Long. The sexily raspy-voiced singer Lady Rizo ( Amelia Zirin Brown ) and the egotistical head chef Caesar ( Frank Ferrante ) do most of the emceeing and toying with the audience, while the very tall Mr. P.P. ( Tim Tyler ) and considerably shorter Joe De Paul do lots of hilarious physical clowning.
There are also nice Chicago ties with local acts Duo Rose ( the high-flying aerialists ) and Kelly Britt ( the opera singer ) both part of the cosmopolitan cast. The Crimean gymnast Elena Gatilova, the Venezuelan juggler Gamal David Garcia and the Anastasini Brothers body jugglers all also wow, too.
Having previously seen Teatro ZinZanni more than a decade ago in San Francisco, I can say that this Chicago edition more than lives up to my fond memories of the Bay Area outpost. Based on this strong Chicago opening, Teatro ZinZanni should become a long-running entertainment mainstay for the Windy City, too.