Holiday Shopping Advice from the Good Dr. Vivian Beaumount

Listen to the ZinZanni “gifted” radio spot:

We really had a blast making this radio commercial for Teatro ZinZanni Gift Cards. The spot airs throughout November on Star 101.5, KING FM and KVI AM. As we move into the Holiday season soon, we wanted to make sure people remember what a great experience the gift of Teatro ZinZanni can be. So we thought radio would give us a little extra visibility boost – well, in this case, an audio boost.

At our brainstorming session, our good friend writer Palmer Pettersen wondered out loud if we could recreate the whole show in 60 seconds. That lead to digging out some music that Maestro Norman Durkee wrote when we first created Teatro ZinZanni in 1998. The music we selected is a piece entitled “Clown Inspection.” The character of Dr. Vivian Beaumount is inspired by a comedy sketch by Christine Deaver called “Voluptuous Panic,” where Christine plays a German spy – in this case she’s sort of an Austrian female Freudian analyst clown announcer type. Durkee’s music was already liberally punctuated with penny whistles and whoopee cushion sounds, but that didn’t stop Palmer and sound designer/audio engineer Paul Goldberg from going to town with the sound effects.

As the good doctor says, Teatro ZinZanni’s gifted gift cards are verrry available. Good anytime of year for tickets, beverages and/or shopping in our fabulous boutique, Gift Cards are available in any amount.

Special thanks to the fabulous Christine Deaver, Palmer Petersen, Maestro Norman Durkee, Paul Goldberg of Pure Audio, Jason Jones at Fisher Radio, and to the littlest diva, Rachel DeShon for suggesting the idea in the first place!

It’s a Mud, Mud World!

Ian Jamison, Teatro ZinZanni's Technical Director since 1998.

Teatro ZinZanni’s Technical Director Ian Jamison may be one of the oldest Teatro ZinZanni employees – well, not in age and certainly not in spirit, but in actual length of time working on this project. As Technical Director, Ian’s job is to solve problems for artists and to assure their safety all the while racing the clock towards curtain. Here, Ian shares some of his first memories of early mud to magic:

“My first TZ memories are of surveying this very site in the early Fall of 1998 when it was geese migration time. The geese were still hanging out in the “pond” which covered most of this block though …we had to scare them off so not to be attacked! Steve Quinn (Site Construction Manager) and I were measuring the depth of the pond with a stick, laughing pretty hard about starting our new jobs wading in a goose pond.

“I have many fond but muddy memories of loading in the site, getting tractors stuck …repeatedly! Dolo (Doloreze Leonard) was the first performer I met and she was not too pleased to walk in just after the diesel heater failed and had smoked out the entire tent. The place was cold and stunk of diesel smoke. It’s funny now, but in the moment…  well, we actually we thought it was pretty hilarious then as well!

“There was a very good atmosphere in the creation of a new project, learning about the performers, the crew, the neighborhood, the site, the equipment and the mud! I was new to the Circus world and it was real challenge to understand Voronin’s lighting needs, all the performers’ rigging needs, and the timing with the kitchen service. I remember walking into the site one day after the painters had done the interior painting – they had painted everything as it lay in its place including ladders,  building materials, tools, doors, the floor … paint was everywhere and we were all tracking it everywhere… at total nightmare for Steve Quinn….and again at 7:00 a.m. it was all pretty hilarious. And we laughed about that one for months!”

The reviews are coming in!

Reviews of Teatro ZinZanni’s current show, Beaumount & Caswell, are starting to roll in. Here’s a rave review by food critic Jacqueline Pruner who blogs for Heed the Hedonist.com. While we’re not known as a destination restaurant ( first and foremost people associate Teatro ZinZanni with the show), it’s great to have such high marks on our cuisine. Our menu is designed by celebrated Northwest chef Tom Douglas and is delivered nightly by Chef David VanGelder. Over time we’ve developed a great wine list, with wine flights curated by Christene Larsen.

Lyle Loves Francine!

Sources (Group Sales Goddess Kat Uzzelle’s mom who was at the concert) tell us that at Lyle Lovett’s concert last night at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, Alabama, Lyle took a break between numbers to chat with the audience and said that several people have asked him where is Francine? Teatro ZinZanni’s current chanteuse Francine Reed is a regular back-up singer with Lyle’s Large Band.

Well, he said, she is in Seattle in Teatro ZinZanni until the end of January and I’m sure she’ll be back with us. And if you think her costumes for our show are great, you should see what she’s wearing in Teatro ZinZanni.

Francine Reed in "Beaumount & Caswell" playing through January 17, 2010.

Kaycee Remembers … Back in ‘98

Kaycee Bernier has been our effervescent bar manager since we first popped up the spiegeltent and created Teatro ZinZanni back in 1998. Here Kaycee remembers the early days …

“The first wine room we ever had was a closet, the size of a normal coat closet with ten different wines, four different  beers and no hard alcohol. The overstock we needed, as we were selling out every few days, was stored in a shed that was built right up against the lobby wall, where the tiny little bar was located in our very narrow lobby (which was really a trailer).
“In order to get wine and beer bottles into the bar without walking outside and through the lobby, we had a dog-door sized hole put in the wall. Someone would go outside in the rain, get what we needed and then pulled it through the hatch. There were a few times where I had to climb in and out of that little hole when I was working all by myself…

“That’s when I realize how long ago all that was. To do that today, they would have to put me in the show as a contortion act!!! “

Kevin Kent at SLGFF

Enjoying a refreshing beverage before heading out to greet the masses.

Last Sunday the incomparable Kevin Kent dressed in his “Full Moon” costume from Teatro ZinZanni’s current production, Beaumount & Caswell, to be guest host at Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. He conducted the Festival’s “West Side Story” sing-a-long for the packed audience at the Cinerama.

Making Us Dolo-rious, After All These Years

Publicity photo of Doloreze Leonard from 1998 opening.

The ZinZanniversary Gala on November 1 will not only mark 11 years of InZanity, but it also welcomes back Teatro ZinZanni’s original Madame ZinZanni, Dolorèze Léonard, to the spiegeltent. With over two decades of performing experience to her credit, Dolorèze, or Dolo as she is affectionately known, is a master clown and respected teacher who conducts buffoon workshops all over the world. She began her career as a guerrilla street artist and was later one of the original members of Cirque du Soleil. Léonard toured for five years with Pomp, Duck & Circumstance, where she created her fiery tyrant character “Madame Zazou.” In recent years, Dolohas been a director for Teatro ZinZanni and has worked extensively with the ZinZanni Institute for Circus Arts as Head Coach. In her role at ZICA, she has shared her comic gift with Seattle’s youth and put a little love in their hearts.

Dolo is also conducting a master class entitled The Art of Commedia dell’Arte on Friday, October 30 from 11 to 3 p.m. in the spiegeltent. Limited to 20 participants, this master class is designed for adults 16 and older.

Please join us in celebrating 11 years of Love, Chaos and Dinner by attending our ZinZanniversary. A few seats are still available for this special show which will also include performances by Ann Wilson and El Vez along with the entire cast of “Beaumount & Caswell.”

Publicity photo of Doloreze Leonard from 1998 opening.

Publicity photo of Doloreze Leonard from 1998 opening.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

It’s hard to believe it’s been only two years since Teatro ZinZanni returned to its 1998 original location in Lower Queen Anne, this time without the mud puddles and tar-covered power poles. Take a quick look back at our 2007 homecoming construction project and then listen to a podcast where you can hear more about the making entrances over mud puddles as we get ready to celebrate our ZinZanniversary with a special gala performance on November 1.

Highlights from “Taste of Teatro”

On Tuesday evening, October 20, 2009, Teatro ZinZanni welcomed friends and sponsors into its gold spangled velvet spiegeltent for “Taste of Teatro.” This special wine, cheese and chocolate tasting event featured over 14 wines represented by Vinum, cheese from Beecher’s Cheese and Forte Chocolates as well as Absolut Vodka. The schmoozing on-and-off again lovebirds Vivian Beaumount and Clifton Caswell (comedians Christine Deaver and Kevin Kent, who are currently starring in Beaumount & Caswell at Teatro ZinZanni through January 17, 2010) also made a special appearance.

Norm Langill & Kevin Kent on 11 Years of ZinZanniness

In anticipation of Teatro ZinZanni’s upcoming first-ever ZinZanniversary Benefit Gala on Sunday, November 1, we sat down with Artistic Director Norm Langill and original cast member comedian Kevin Kent (known as “Cookie,” “Mabel Dean” and now as “Clifton Caswell”) to reminisce about the early beginnings of the show. What was expected then to be a three or four month run in 1998  is now about to celebrate its 11th year anniversary, having served over one million audience members in two tents in two cities.

The ZinZanniversary performance on Sunday, November 1 reunites original cast members Kevin Kent, French Canadienne wild woman Dolorèze Léonard (the original Madame ZinZanni) and the ruby-throated vocalist Ann Wilson, our original chanteuse, and oh yeah, one of the two sisters in that mega group Heart.

The beneficiary of the Gala is the ZinZanni Institute for Circus Arts, Teatro ZinZanni’s education program. Dedicated to the preservation, development and enhancement of ancient and contemporary circus arts, including Juggling, Clowning, Magic and Acrobatics with an emphasis on all aspects of performance and production, ZICA offers programs ranging from master classes taught by resident performers to technical or artistic apprenticeships and summer camps.

Listen now as Kevin and Norm take a walk down memory lane to those early days of a tent atop a mud puddle surrounded by three temporary trailers, to a time where a rock diva sang a duet with an opera singer (no easy feat),  when an improvisational performer transformed his character from a southern gas station attendant to a memorable cross-dressing chef, and a hit was born.