Teatro ZinZanni reopens its tent
Teatro ZinZanni
reopens its tent
Voila! The Seattle dinner cabaret attraction Teatro ZinZanni will have a grand reopening Nov. 28.
The One Reel production incorporating circus acts, comedy, music and fine dining lost its Belltown quarters this summer, and is returning to its original Seattle location at 222 Mercer St., across the road from the Seattle Center.
“Hearts on Fire,” the latest edition of the long-running entertainment, will feature disco singer Thelma Houston, El Vez (Robert Lopez, the Latino Elvis), acrobats Les Petits Frères and other acts, with music provided by Norm Durkee and band. Seattle chef Tom Douglas designed the five-course dinner for the show.
Teatro ZinZanni debuted at the Mercer Street site in 1998, and later spun off a San Francisco version that is still running. The show unfolds in an antique Belgian cabaret tent, and the talent lineup and dinner offerings change several times a year.
Tickets are $104-$160, depending on dates and seating. The open-ended run has performances Wednesdays-Sundays (information and reservations, 206-802-0015 or http://dreams.zinzanni.org)
Cirque du Soleil
dates announced
Many Teatro ZinZanni performers have worked with Cirque du Soleil, which is slated to return to Redmond next spring with a show new to here.
The dates for the run of Cirque du Soleil’s “Corteo,” at Marymoor Park in Redmond, have been finalized: April 24-May 23, 2008, with possible extensions.
Tickets are now available at a cost of $38.50 to $90 with VIP packages offered at higher cost. Details: 800-678-5440 or www.cirquedusoleil.com.
Misha Berson,
Seattle Times theater critic
Youth-arts grants
announced
The Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs has announced $201,000 in grants to 25 youth arts programs. The grants will fund programs that provide arts training outside of school hours for Seattle’s middle- and high-school youth next year.
The funding program, Youth Arts, provides up to $10,000 annually to multidisciplinary programs, from traditional to cutting-edge art forms, led by experienced teachers. It predominantly serves youth and communities with limited or no access to the arts. The average award is $8,300; the awards will engage about 168 teaching artists, reaching approximately 4,357 youngsters in neighborhoods including Beacon Hill, West Seattle, Central District, Capitol Hill, Rainier Valley, University District, Wallingford and Greenwood. The awards were recommended by a peer review panel and approved by the Seattle Arts Commission.
Among the awards: $5,820 to Seattle Scenic Studios for technical internships in scene and prop design; $7,869 to Seattle Center for Book Arts for sessions in bookmaking and bookbinding techniques culminating in library exhibitions citywide; $10,000 to Pacific Northwest Blues in the Schools for music/literary workshops incorporating the poetry of Langston Hughes and African-American history and culture; and $10,000 to fund Gage Academy of Art’s Teen Art Studio, a free, Friday-night drop-in program offering hundreds of youth mixed-media instruction in a safe, creative art-studio environment culminating in an exhibition of the teens’ work.
For a complete list of the grants, visit www.seattle.gov/arts and click on “2008 Youth Arts Award recipients announced.”
Melinda Bargreen,
Seattle Times music critic