Review Roundup: Encores! ZORBA! Opens at the City Center

ZORBA!, directed by Walter Bobbie (Chicago) and choreographed by Josh Rhodes (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella) with musical direction by Rob Berman, is the final production of New York City Center's 2015 Encores! season. The show opened last night, May 6 and runs through May 10, 2015.

The ZORBA! cast includes Adam Chanler-Berat (Peter and the Starcatcher), Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll and Hyde), Elizabeth A. Davis (Once), Santino Fontana (Act One), Marin Mazzie (Bullets Over Broadway), Robert Montano (Fabulation), John Turturro (Quiz Show), Carlos Valdes (The Flash) and Zoë Wanamaker (Electra).

ZORBA! is Joseph Stein, John Kander and Fred Ebb's galvanic re-imagining of Nikos Kazantzakis's best-selling tale of Zorba (Turturro), a larger than life Greek jack-of-all-trades who "lives every day as if it will be his last" and his friendship with Nikos (Fontana), a young American student. Life becomes complicated when the men become involved with two women: Zorba with the aging innkeeper Madame Hortense (Wanamaker) and Nikos with a beautiful widow (Davis). Commenting on the story is a Greek chorus-like group, led by The Leader (Mazzie), who begins the play by explaining exactly what "Life Is."

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Mr. Bobbie's production presents itself less as a declamatory yelp than as a wistful sigh...The bouzouki-accented score - played impeccably by the Encores! Orchestra...has little of the showstopping brassiness associated with Kander and Ebb. Though it has moments of meditative beauty (especially in a love duet for Mr. Fontana and Ms. Davis), the music tends to trickle, as if the life under such robust consideration were but a rivulet...Mr. Turturro - who plays Zorba as a wily comic manservant type, more Sancho Panza than Don Quixote - is not a natural dancer (nor singer, but then neither was Mr. Quinn). When he leaps to his feet, to show Niko how to trip the light (and dark) fantastic, it seems less like an eruption of joy than yet another of those obligations that unescapable fate demands we fulfill.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: The insurmountable issue, however, is Turturro's Zorba. Though the actor lacks the imposing physical presence required, he makes up for it to some extent with the vigor of his dramatic scenes. But he's clearly a performer going through the motions of roguish joie de vivre and virile swagger, rather than biting into the role with conviction. And whenever he pipes up in song with a voice that's feeble to put it mildly, any fire in the character's soul is instantly extinguished. If Zorba the character can't sweep us up in his ferocious embrace of life, then Zorba! the musical certainly can't either. As is often the case when Encores! tackles minor works, the orchestra under music director Rob Berman ultimately is the star. But it's probably a sign of the material being past its expiration date that the post-intermission entr'acte -- played on bouzouki, oud, bass and guitar -- is the show's most captivating interlude.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: On the plus side, this 1968 musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb has a robust and lively score. It's a highlight of a show presented through Sunday by the Encores! series...John Turturro tackles the title role of the free-range roamer and lover of women. Turturro really can't sing a lick and appears to count every dance step by choreographer Josh Rhodes. But the film star famous for "Barton Fink" brings brio and rascally gusto to the hard- and high-living character who lives every day like it's his last...Santino Fontana plays the inhibited Yank and brings his likable exuberance to Niko...Zoe Wanamaker adds humor and pathos as Zorba's latest flame, Hortense...Marin Mazzie...[is] in good voice as the wandering conscience of the people and the land, but a little stiff in a role that needs more spontaneity. The show jumps between tragedy and comedy, not always smoothly.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: ...to his credit, Turturro throws himself into the titular roguish Greek free spirit with more gusto than he's shown in years. Doing a musical seems to have rejuvenated the former Barton Fink, who looks as if he's having a blast singing and kicking his heels. Same goes for Zoë Wanamaker. She's better known for performing in the Royal Shakespeare Company than in musicals, but she sells her songs with flair, if not technique. Turturro and Wanamaker supply comic zest during much of this 1968 musical from Kander and Ebb...Director Walter Bobbie keeps things moving, even if some of the choices are puzzling...As is the case with Encores!, it's the music that matters most...Under Rob Berman's baton, the 30-piece onstage orchestra sounds fantastic -- and it's not often we hear a score featuring oud and bouzouki at City Center. For that alone, "Zorba!" is a most welcome oddity.

Matt Windman, AM New York: Although "Zorba!" contains some haunting moments, much of the score is weak and the book is dark, strange and very slow. Considering how conceptual and movement-driven the piece is, a more intensive rehearsal period was probably needed to do it justice. Turturro is miscast (he can't sing) and misused (portraying Zorba as withdrawn and dazed instead of larger-than-life). Fontana gives a decent enough performance in a boring role. Mazzie is stunning and sexy whenever she takes the stage. Davis too is alluring. Wanamaker can be funny but her scenes are the weakest in the show.

Jeremy Gerard, Deadline: The production is exuberantly staged by Walter Bobbie...The casting is excellent throughout, but Turturro, a crowd-pleaser with impeccable comic timing, is nonetheless all wrong for the role. Quinn (who played Zorba in a not-so-good 1983 Broadway revival) made up in charisma and musicality what he lacked vocal range. Turturro has many qualities as an actor, but on the evidence here musicality and charisma are not among them. Give this Encores! production credit, however for reminding us of how deeply John Kander and his late partner carved out a place atop the pantheon of musical-theater geniuses. Through the end of its run this weekend, Zorba! joins an extraordinary triad of their shows running simultaneously within a few blocks of each other: the now-and-forever revival of Chicago, and their valedictory, the Tony-nominated The Visit.

Jesse Green, Vulture: As the current Encores! production starring John Turturro amply demonstrates, the show is too hard to pull off anymore...Mazzie is also a casting mistake on top of a big pile of casting mistakes here. She's a lovely singer and actress, a bastion of taste, but hardly the elemental force called for. Turturro is a bigger problem. That he cannot sing (but rather moos in rhythm) would not have to be fatal, as Quinn proved, but that he cannot look comfortable while trying completely undermines Zorba's nature. (He's good in the book scenes, at least.) As Hortense, Zoë Wanamaker has all the requisite charm and injured vanity, but seems vastly under-rehearsed -- a built-in problem with the fast Encores! schedule. Of the principals, only Santino Fontana, as Niko, has the right combination of skills and temperament and confidence. He sings beautifully, and in doing so suggests what a better version of this material might feel like.

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Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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