'Zorro' Swashbuckles Through London

by Zoe Strimpel
Wed, 16 Jul 2008 at 9:35 PM

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The latest incitement to London's current furor for musicals — "Marguerite," the ill-fated "Gone With the Wind," and "Jersey Boys" are three recent examples — is testament to the fact that things are on the upswing, and Broadway had better watch out. Last night's press performance of "Zorro" at the Garrick Theatre (no air-conditioning and very small) was an irresistible cacophony of singing and impassioned flamenco dancing, set to music by the Gipsy Kings.

I can only conclude that the choreographer, Rafael Amargo, is a genius. "Zorro" is a gripping story, but modern audiences are never going to survive straight-faced before a masked, swashbuckling hero who arrives by rope and cuts a big Z in the air with fire. So director Christopher Renshaw's decision to make it plenty funny was smart: Camp touches are hilarious (Zorro moans about having to go for a black cape rather than his favorite red one, and much is made of his silly earrings) and keep it nice and easy for corn-phobic moderns to watch with all their hearts.

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