Zorro (musical)

Zorro
A New Musical by the Gipsy Kings
Zorro Poster, 2008
MusicGipsy Kings and John Cameron
LyricsStephen Clark
BookStephen Clark and Helen Edmundson
Basis2005 mock biography Zorro: A Novel
Productions2008 Eastbourne
2008 West End
2009 Israel
2010 Paris
2010 Moscow
2010 Brazil
2011 U.K. National Tour
2011 The Netherlands
2012 Bulgaria
2012 Utah American Debut
2013 Atlanta, Georgia
2013 The Czech Republic
2015 Tecklenburg (Germany)
2017 Pittsburgh
2017 Winzendorf (Austria)
2017 Bremerhaven(Germany)
2020 London Concert
2022 Charing Cross Theatre
Zorro at The Garrick Theatre

Zorro is a musical with music by the Gipsy Kings and John Cameron, a book by Stephen Clark and Helen Edmundson, and lyrics by Stephen Clark. It is inspired by the 2005 fictional biography Zorro, the first original story of the pulp hero Zorro, written by Chilean author Isabel Allende (itself a prequel to the events of the original Zorro story which is the 1919 novella The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley, but excludes the mute butler Bernardo). It also contains numerous references to earlier Zorro-related works, especially the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro. The original musical did a trial run tour which proved to be successful, and led to a transfer to the West End (which included some minor changes such as the recasting of the roles of Luisa and Ramon).

The musical originally opened at the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne with a five night run between 4–8 March 2008, before moving to the West End in July.

The musical began previews at the Garrick Theatre in London on 2 July 2008, after the first few were cancelled due to technical problems. The official opening was 15 July 2008.[1] Christopher Renshaw directed and Rafael Amargo choreographed. The cast featured Matt Rawle as Zorro/Diego De La Vega, Emma Williams as Luisa, Adam Levy as Ramon, Lesli Margherita as Inez, Nick Cavaliere as Sergeant Garcia, and Jonathan Newth as Don Alejandro De La Vega.

Zorro ran at the Garrick for almost nine months, with its final performance on 14 March 2009.

A new concert version, was produced by 'Take Two Theatricals' in February 2020. It was performed for one night at Cadogan Hall, in London. The cast was led by two of the original cast members, Leslie Margherita (who won an Olivier award for her role), and Emma Williams who was nominated for hers. This production had new compositions, orchestrations and arrangements by John Cameron. There was no set, however the actors had additional props and costumes. George Reeve designed and created the video projections. Lesli and Emma both said in interviews 'they were thrilled to be returning to this musical, and working together again, after all these years.'

Aria Entertainment began a revival of the show at the Hope Mills Theatre in Manchester in March 2020, but the run was cut short after just two performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show was transferred to London in 2022, but its scheduled reopening on 12 March was again delayed.[2] The show reopened at the Charing Cross Theatre on 2 April, running until May 28.[3]

  1. ^ "Zorro Zings into Garrick Without Adam Cooper?". whatsonstage.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-16. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  2. ^ ""Hope Mill's Zorro The Musical transfers to London's Charing Cross Theatre in March"". 5 November 2021. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
  3. ^ "Charing Cross Theatre listing". Retrieved 2022-04-20.