ALL HAIL THE CAESAR! TEATRO ZINZANNI RETURNS!
All Hail The Caesar! Teatro ZinZanni Returns!
The house band is back together on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel where on July 8th Teatro ZinZanni will mark its return to nightly performances in the 100 year-old Speigeltent ZaZou. The return of live theatre is courtesy of co-producers Broadway in Chicago and Randolph Entertainment, LLC, a giant leap forward for the performing arts in Chicago, offering the perfect combination of cocktails, a four-course menu conceived by Debbie Sharpe’s The Goddess and The Grocer and an international cast of featured performers and vocalists served up with a special brand of comic mayhem from impresario and host Frank Ferrante in the character of The Caesar.
It was Ferrante as The Caesar who led the charge in his chariot the first time around in August 2019. The show, created and directed by Norman Langill, is a glistening, non-stop, immersive entertainment extravaganza including the trapeze act, Duo 19, singers Cunio and Storm Marrero, aerialist Lea Hinz, hula-hoop contortionist Vita Radinova, and dancer Mickael Bajazet. And the comic mayhem includes Ferrante and the comic mastermind Joe De Paul who returns to the show and to share directing credit with Dreya Weber and Langill.
I caught up with Ferrante (and his alter-ego The Caesar) in a phone interview during a break in rehearsals to talk about the new show, how The Caesar character came to be and what the moment was like when he heard that Teatro ZinZanni was returning to Chicago this summer.
Frank Ferrante: It's been a process to accept it and to fully embrace the possibility… I think I will really believe it when I walk on the stage on July 8th… There were certainly moments of feeling despondent over how things were going. There were also great, wonderful, beautiful moments that occurred during the last year and a half. … I really was excited about working again with my colleagues, my peers, being around creative people, funny people, performers who are literally risking their lives and that kind of passion that I'd missed… It has been a heck of ride and this past week of rehearsal has been just thrilling.
ET: From the outside looking in during the pandemic, we saw you being cavalier. A lot of online stuff. Your Groucho show at a drive-in. You were pumping people with energy, enthusiasm and optimism. I can't think of anything better than to have The Caesar and Teatro ZinZanni opening the Chicago season.
FF: You default to what you know and I don't believe in quitting. When someone asks me “What's your motto?” it's really: Never say die. … I was weaned on the laughmakers. I love the great comics of the past. I love the great comics of today. I grew up watching Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Martin and Lewis and Laurel and Hardy and made a study out of it from the time I was a kid. So it's really in me. It's in my blood. I love the tradition and Teatro ZinZanni is very much of that tradition. It has a vaudeville vibe to it. An elegant variety. And it's got that same kind of rhythm and pulse of this American form of entertainment. Chicago is a great town for it because there was so much of this going on in Chicago in terms of comedy and touring shows, shows that originated in Chicago and so many great comedians come from Chicago. So it seems like the perfect place to come out of this pandemic. I always feel welcomed here—from audiences, to friends in the media, to the friends I made while I was here. My brother lives here so there is very much a feeling of home here. And I'm a theatre guy first and foremost and this is a theatre town. That's not lost on me.
ET: And you've created this over-the-top character “The Caesar.” How did The Caesar and Teatro ZinZanni get together?
FF: There's nothing quite like Teatro ZinZanni. I had never seen anything like it. It started in 1998 by Norman Langill who is here in Chicago directing the show along with two other directors. There is a team that work on it. There are so many different components. He saw a tent in Spain during one of the Olympics in the early 90s, I believe—(as ‘The Caesar’) It could have been midnight, maybe ‘96 or ‘92. Someone can correct me—but he saw this incredible Belgian Spiegeltent which is really a character in the show. It has beautiful burgundy fabric, hand-carved wood and stained glass. (The stage area) is in the round and was used for parties, Octoberfest and dances. Norman Langill brought one to Seattle and came up with his own version of the show thinking it would last a matter of weeks. It played for 20 years in Seattle (and later) in San Francisco. Chicago is (currently) the only one representing the Teatro ZinZanni name. It's immersive theatre in that you don't know who the maître d is or if the waitstaff are really performers.
There is a wonderful actor by the name of Kevin Kent, who was the first comic host. He did drag and he's a brilliant interactive improvisational performer and played three different characters. They flew me out to watch him in action and I was blown away. Kevin was here in Chicago right before the pandemic and will be back in January. I was just completely transfixed by this gentleman. I thought: “Why do they want me to do drag? What do they want me to do?” The answer was they wanted me to come up with my own stuff. I had never really done that. I've directed. And I acted. I have a one-man show about Groucho Marx, but I’d never really done sketch interactive comedy within a variety show that features acts from all over the world, contortionists, jugglers, foot jugglers, singers Joan Baez, and Liliane Montevecchi and acts from a variety of countries and different disciplines.
Stuart Gordon saw me do my one-man Groucho Marx show in California. (as ‘The Caesar’) And I was particularly hot that night. I was on fire! There were four hundred people in the audience! It was sold out. And I remember being angry before the performance, having to move the piano around and feeling like: “Come on! Someone help me out here!” Anger is sometimes good for a comic, particularly for playing Groucho Marx. I just started going wild with the improv and making fun of everything and everyone. I got huge laughs and a standing ovation. It was very satisfying. I was able to vent and, in a way, that was healthy and paid off for the audience.
Stuart called his friend Norman Langill and said: “You should see this guy. You should use him. He would be a great host for your show.” And so I was approached, they flew me out to see Kevin Kent in San Francisco, and Teatro ZinZanni with all these great performers and said: “No, we don't want you to do his material. We don't want you to play his role. We want you to come up with your own material.”
And so I met with the director, Stefan Haves, and we started brainstorming. Initially I was doing a little Groucho on the show, which really didn't work that well, in my opinion, because it was circus within a circus. Groucho needs to be in a more formal setting. He needs to break the fourth wall. He needs to tear down the walls in a circus that is already wild. So there was no contrast. I have always fantasized about making fun of show business characters, egocentric people, macho types… those kinds of characters. It's been done – the so-called ‘Latin Lover’–but I thought I might be able to put my own spin on it. I drew him. I sketched him out. I gave him the big pompadour and a beauty mark, a little mustache, a little thin pen, pencil, mustache, sideburns, rosy cheeks and lounge suit. I showed it to the great costume designer Beaver Bauer and she put together these beautiful costumes for me. And that was the beginning.
The question was then how far can I go? Do I wear a crazy outfit and underplay it? Or do I go over the top with him, as you mentioned. Once I saw the costume, there was only one way to play him – over the top and unfiltered. And the fun thing about him is that he says what he wants to say and he does what he wants to do. He has huge appetites and, in a way, he's me exploded. What is within me. It's what I try to keep from being seen.
ET: It seems to me that there are a lot of those comedians you mentioned within the framework of ‘The Caesar,’ you find them in what you're doing and how you're communicating with people. One of the highlights of your performance is how you relate to the people in the audience. You look at someone and you immediately sense how they are going to react to you and what you have to say to get them to laugh. Where does that particular skill come from?
FF: I think it has to do with at-bats. I have had a lot of opportunity from the time I was a kid to working in the theatre professionally since I was 22. I'm 58 now so a lot of it is due to the work I spent doing the Groucho role, a great deal of interaction and judging an audience, feeling the energy of an audience, knowing how far I can go figuring out when I should pull back, because ultimately, I don't want to hurt anyone. You want to uplift someone. I like brash humor and teasing humor. Not everyone does. I love it. I love that type of humor. I love Groucho. I love David Letterman. There's a lot of comedians of that ilk that I admire, but I think that has to do with just being around people.
I think I am a fairly sensitive person and that is in play. I want people to get their money's worth. I want people to have fun, but you learn and you make mistakes, too. Early on it wasn't perfect and it took months and years to get to a point where I can do this and feel comfortable with it. It's been hundreds and hundreds of performances within this role—probably over 1500—and all kinds of different people and children are in the audience, seniors, people from different backgrounds. You name it. It has to do with the privilege of having so many opportunities and not everyone gets that. I have been one of the really fortunate performers on the planet. I've worked consistently up until the pandemic, month after month in different areas and different countries. Your instincts take over. I learned to rely on my instincts. And there is a lot to be said for practice. I've had a lot of practice.
ET: It's a glorious set up. The magnificent Speigeltent ZaZou within the building, the band elevated behind the stage and the show occurs throughout the space. A lot goes on in there.
FF: You would never know that this remarkable tent sits like a jewel in this building. You're on Randolph. At the Cambria Hotel. You go up to the 14th floor and would never know once you get off that elevator the world that is awaiting you. It's beautiful art decor, chandelier's, mirrors and brick. It looks like it's been hidden there for a hundred years.
ET: Any final thoughts from ‘The Caesar?’
FF: (as ‘The Caesar’) Hello Everybody! I love you all. You cannot go wrong with Teatro ZinZanni and The Caesar. We hope to see you. You will have the best time of your life!
Teatro ZinZanni kicks off the summer season in Chicago’s Loop on July 8th. The show runs Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:00 PM. with a Sunday brunch option as well. For more information about individual, group sales and booking special events, visit the website.
Comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Teatro ZinZanni
Performances begin July 8, 2021
Open Run
Spiegeltent ZaZou
Cambria Hotel
32 W Randolph St. Chicago
WEBSITE
TICKETS
(312) 488-0900
PODCASTS available on Audacy, Apple Podcasts, Libsyn and Stitcher
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