Zorro, The Musical Reviews

Tania from London, England

THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE AND WORTH SEEING, BUT COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE

This is a review of the show at Charing Cross Theatre in April 2022. We enjoyed this show and there were some standout performances by Phoebe Panaretos, who embodied her part amazingly well as the lead gypsy and Sergeant Garcia, who brought well executed humour. What could have been better: The majority of the main characters had American accents and their inconsistent efforts to sound Spanish/Latino were distracting at best. We found Zorro particularly unconvincing. Some pronunciation mistakes clearly taught to the whole cast like Los Angeles with a hard g as in girl were pretty unforgiveable. This could have been an incredible show if the producers had cast Spanish speaking actors and included at least one real flamenco singer, guitarist and dancer to bring authenticity to the music and accents. It would also give the audience a true, rather than a pseudo, taste of the music of the Gypsy Kings. A good show overall, but if you are hoping for authenticity you'll be disappointed

Anon from London, England

GOOD BUT SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I saw this show and liked it. However, it concerns me how the play superficially mixes and matches cultural elements without delving deeper into their nuances, especially given the 2.5 hour runtime. In particular the show worryingly exoticises its own gypsy cast, which seem to exist only to drive the hero's journey: first representing the carefree life Zorro must lead behind, then the spirit of resistance against his evil brother, and finally providing a tragic emotional moment to bring the plot to a climax. It is as if the show itself can't quite bring itself to question how a band of nomadic people could exist in the society Zorro will lead, and therefore they must be discarded from the plot. It's not enough to have the gypsy lead state how she comes from a "proud bloodline", or have the main villain rant about "filthy gypsies"; these are sticking plasters over some concerning wounds. I did enjoy this play, but with some deeper changes it could have been truly great.

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