Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only Zorba proved a perfect example of everything a concert staged reading should be, i.e., a superbly performed, imaginatively staged revival of a rarely produced Broadway gem well worth a second look.

 Zorba’s pedigree could not have been more auspicious when it made its 1968 Broadway debut. Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb had recently won the Tony for Cabaret, and their Best Musical Tony winner was still going strong.

Not only that, but just four years earlier, Michael Cacoyannis’s filmed adaptation of the Nikos Kazantzakis novel Zorba The Greek got nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and Anthony Quinn scored a Best Actor nomination in the role Herschel Bernardi would play on Broadway when Zorba The Greek became Zorba.

Never less than compelling, and with a score as recognizably Kander-and-Ebb as it is distinctively Greek, Zorba gave its Broadway choreographer Ron Field plenty of opportunities to bring Greek dance moves to the New York stage, and its leads plenty of opportunities to strut their stuff, three of its major players scoring Tony nominations.

There was just one hitch. Zorba is dark, Greek-tragedy dark. Terminal illness, suicide, murder, you name it, Zorba’s got it, so despite an optimistic message (When life deals you lemons, make lemonade by dancing the blues away) and plenty of upbeat songs and dances, the show lasted less than a year on Broadway.

 All the more reason to celebrate MTG’s here today, gone tomorrow concert staged reading.

Book writer Joseph Stein introduces us to the irrepressible, testosterone-fueled 60something title character (Michael Kostroff) through the eyes of a straight-laced young Greek-American named Nikos (Dino Nicandros), freshly arrived in Crete circa 1924 to resurrect a mine he has recently inherited.

 The unlikely twosome find lodgings together chez aging French courtesan Madame Hortense (Eydie Alyson), with whom Zorba pursues what he considers a harmless flirtation but one that Hortense takes a whole lot more seriously.

Meanwhile, as Niko works towards bringing the mine back to life with the help of a not terribly welcoming male populace, his eye is caught by a beautiful, nameless young Widow (Tal Fox), condemned to wearing black for the rest of her life as the village menfolk eye her with a mixture of suspicion and lust.

If Zorba was already a bit of a hard sell back in 1968, it’s probably an even tougher one in #metoo 2018 with a title character who sees each new woman he meets as a potential conquest.

 Still, maybe a little of what Zorba has inside him is precisely what his repressed young protégé needs, and in Madame Hortense, the Greek roué may just have met a woman who can touch his heart and not just what’s in his pants.

And if that’s not enough to grab you, Zorba serves up one delicious Kander & Ebb ditty after another, from “Life Is” to “No Boom Boom” to “Only Love” to “The Crow” to “Happy Birthday,” several of them performed by the show’s ubiquitous, all-seeing, all-knowing Leader (Eileen Barnett).

 Director Alan Bailey’s inspired staging comes pretty darned close to what you’d expect in a major regional revival, choreographer Cheryl Baxter gives us nearly as much Greek dance as we’d be seeing were Zorba running for a month and not just a night, and both director and choreographer are rewarded by performances so exquisitely shaded and impeccably danced, it’s hard to believe the entire shebang was put together with a mere twenty-five hours of rehearsal.

Kostroff is simply magnificent as Zorba, giving him as much charm as sexual appetite, and he is matched every step of the way by a never-better Nicandros, whose prim-and-proper Nikos finds passions awakened that he never knew were there.

 Barnett proves a revelation as Leader, whose songs show off Barnett’s earthy deeper register to stunning effect, while Alyson’s sweet, vulnerable, deeply touching Madame Hortense merits both hugs and cheers.

Fox makes the most of her moments as the mysterious widow, as do the entire ensemble, each of whom gets at least one stand-out cameo: Bailey Blaise as Sophia, Matt Braver as Pavli, Jill Marie Burke as Marika, Joshua Finkel as Konstandi, Anthony Gruppuso as Vassilakas, Veronica Gutierrez as Katina, Sharon Logan as Athena, Susan Edwards Martin as Despo, Kevin Matsumoto as Priest, Gabriel Navarro as Panaytotis, Tanner Rampton as Fivos, Glenn Rosenblum as Constable, Paul Wong as Mimiko, and Robert Yacko as Mavrodani.

 Though design elements are minimal per AEA rules, costume designer A. Jeffrey Schoenberg and AJS Costumes merit mention for the production’s shades-of-white Greek-wear, with special snaps to the Admirals’ hats and Madame Hortense’s frilly frock and feather boa, and the flashlight-lit Act One closer is a stunner.

Musical director Brad Ellis conducts an as-always splendid onstage orchestra spiced with the requisite bouzouki.

Art Brickman is production stage manager and Stacey Cortez is stage manager. John Massey is production coordinator. Leesa Freed is production manager.

Despite their deserved fame as Broadway song-writing greats, about the only two Kander and Ebb shows you’re likely to see any time soon are their signature Cabaret and Chicago, just one reason to celebrate Zorba’s one-night-only return. That Musical Theatre Guild gave audiences the next best thing to a fully-staged revival is even more reason to cheer.

Musical Theatre Guild, The Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale.
www.musicaltheatreguild.com

–Steven Stanley
November 11, 2018
Photos: Alan Weston

Tags: Fred Ebb, John Kander, Joseph Stein, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre Guild