Alliance Theatre Announces Zorro Cast
Feb 6, 2013

The Alliance Theatre is pleased to announce the cast and creative team behind the American premiere of Zorro, a thrilling new musical. Zorro, "the fox," was created in 1919 by the writer Johnston McCulley for his serialized novel "The Curse of Capistrano," and went on to be immortalized in print, on film, in television and even video games. Now, the legendary character will appear in a swashbuckling new musical set to the thrilling flamenco sound of The Gipsy Kings.

Zorro's creative team is led by Tony nominated Director Christopher Renshaw (Taboo; The King and I), who has been involved with the production since its inception in 2001. Renshaw was initially drawn to the possibility of developing Zorro as the first major flamenco musical. That vision for the show was fully realized when he and author Stephen Clark connected with The Gipsy Kings, the flamenco-rumba icons who wrote much of the music. "It was so important to me that Zorro was not to be just a catalogue show," said Renshaw. "The Kings created a treasure chest of new music."

Members of the Zorro creative team include Fred Lassen (South Pacific), Music Director; Alexander Rovang, Associate Music Director; Tom Piper, Set and Costume Designer; Michael Balderrama, Associate Director; Andi Davis, Lighting Programmer; Kai Harada (Follies; Wicked), Sound Designer; and Ben Ormerod, LX Designer. The musical production of Zorro incorporates flamenco dancing, sword fighting, stage magic, and elaborate stunts. Guiding these elements are Choreographer Rafael Amargo; Flamenco Consultant Saulo Garrido; Fight Choreographer Terry King (Ghost The Musical); and Illusionist Paul Kieve (Matilda; Ghost The Musical).

Leading the cast in the role of Diego de la Vega/Zorro is Broadway veteran Adam Jacobs (The Lion King; Les Miserables). Also joining the cast in principle roles - Nicholas Carriere (The Lion King National Tour) as Ramon; Natascia Diaz (Man of La Mancha; Carousel) as Inez; Andrea Goss (Once; Rent) as Luisa; Benjamin Harding as Young Ramon; Mark Kincaid as Alejandro de la Vega; Royce Mann as Young Diego; Eliseo N. Roman (Leap of Faith; In the Heights) as Sergeant Garcia; and Mary Stewart Sullivan as Young Luisa.

The ensemble actors in Zorro are among the best flamenco dancers, musicians and performers in the country and include Dance Captain Sara Erde (The Metropolitan Opera - Carmen; La Traviata); flamenco dancer Glenda Sol Koeraus (The Metropolitan Opera -La Traviata); flamenco dancer Peter Suarez; and flamenco guitarist Cristian Puig.

"It's such a delight to be able to bring this truly international team of artists to our global city," said Alliance Theatre Artistic Director Susan V. Booth. "This story is loved around the world, so it seems only fitting that brilliant artists from around the world have assembled to tell it here in Atlanta."

Zorro will include approximately thirty six songs with an ensemble of close to thirty people. It was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2009 when it played in London's West End. Since then, Zorro has continued to develop, adapting and changing for each culture where it was produced. "The Alliance Theatre production will give us a chance to finally re-examine the show in the language in which it was conceived," said Renshaw. "We also want to create a 'definitive' version this time. And to that end, we are making changes to the story line, enriching the character development, adding new music, developing the design concept and creating different action sequences and special effects."

Renshaw went on to say, "Zorro is romantic, funny, swashbuckling adventure that has at its core the truly American belief that each of us has in us the ability to become anything we want to be. Apart from anything else, Zorro has a huge heart, and in the world of musical theater, is a truly unique and very Latin experience."