Zorro - Hope Mill Theatre / Charing Cross Theatre

I could be wrong but is he also expected to review plays ? Papers should have separate critics as its a totally different field.

Nick seems to only like old school musicals in standard staging of anything by ALW. I have heard in a past life he used to give zero star reviews so there is a tendency to give a one star when others would give a 3 star.

I went for 3 stars. There's some good stuff in there and some excellent performances but it's too long and starts dragging after the interval. I found the score underwhelming as well. But there is a flaming sword!

Yes there is a flaming sword I suppose - when it works. It didn't when I saw it. Still think it's worth more than 1 star though.  The music lets it down.

Interesting that a few think the music lets it down. I loved the music in the original. I wonder if this is because they've cut some numbers, or how it's being performed or something else? The original cast were all great singers which may have helped.

I absolutely loved the original Garrick production, although it did feel crammed in there. It really needed a bigger theatre.

This video has a lot of clips of the garrick production for those interested. Thar cast were so strong.

Agree with the comments about Phoebe Panaretos - she is an incredible talent and one of the sexiest dancers I have ever seen! Also loved Marc Pickering's comic turn; he lifts whatever production he is in.

Thought the show was OK - some of the accents were woeful though - given London has a huge Spanish/Latin American community how come there wasn't a single one in the cast?!

Four lead roles were all British/Australian; couldn't identify a Spanish background in any of the ensemble either

Having booked to see ZORRO during the original Hope Mill run back in 2020 but having the run cancelled at the start of COVID, it’s been a 2 year wait to finally see the show and after this afternoons viewing at the Charing Cross theatre it was definitely worth the wait. Having picked up a discounted ticket this morning from TKTS for £22.50 (FV £40), I was sat in row D and really got the full immersive experience sat here.

Director Christian Durham and his team have done a wonderful job at bringing this musical to the stage. It’s full of energy and colour and for the 2.5 hr run time was thoroughly entertained by the cast. The traverse staging works really well within the theatre’s auditorium and the intimate nature of the auditorium means that you feel part of the on stage proceedings and good use is made of the aisle in the block of seating I was sat in so you have cast wandering up and down it during the show.

The flamenco choreography is just a joy to watch and making it an actor-musician production works really well in my opinion in delivering the Gypsy Kings’s wonderful score. The nice encore at the end got me out of my seat dancing away.

Casting wise, I couldn’t fault anyone here and deliver the goods both in acting and singing. As has been mentioned by a few board members, Phoebe Panaretos as Inez is definitely worth the ticket price alone as she is both a great singer and her dancing is top drawer stuff. Marc Pickering provides some great comic relief as Garcia.

The sword fighting was impressive (the flaming sword worked this afternoon and was a nice touch) and I’m just glad for once I wasn’t sat front row as some of those fights came pretty close to those patrons sat there.

The only slight criticism I would make is the use of the puppets at the start of the show to represent the two brothers. I’m normally a big fan of puppets in shows, but this is one of the rare occasions where I felt they didn’t work in the context of the show and would of preferred kids in the role. As the puppets don’t get too much stage time, this wasn’t a major issue for me and didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the show.

I’ve got no hesitation in awarding this a 5⭐️ rating and strongly recommend getting a ticket.