Ray Tagavilla was at the center of everything as the title character, a master criminal bent on revenge on Verezzi, played by Chris Bell. These two spent September tearing our hearts out in Elephant's Graveyard at Balagan. In this one, Zastrozzi is hunting down Verezzi for killing his mother, but somehow it all seems so lighthearted! Verezzi has turned both artist and messenger of God. Aimée Bruneau is a ball of fire as Matilda, Zastrozzi's some-times lover. As you can see in the photo at right, their encounters sometimes get a bit rough. Bruneau is super handy with a sword, a whip, and a thick, Chermann akksent. How real is Bruneau's performance? Word is that on Thursday night, an audience member stormed the stage with offense at Matilda's brief flirtation with said spectator's boyfriend, also sitting in the front row. (It's possible the offended audience member was inebriated. Matilda had a sword.)The rest of the cast are grand as well. Joe Ivy sparkled as Victor, tutor to Verezzi who has been keeping his charge a step ahead of Zastrozzi for three years. Don MacEllis was marvelous as Bernardo, Zastrozzi's dim-wit henchman. Monica Wulzen was gloriously ditzy as Julia, the virgin pretty much everyone else in the cast wants a piece of.
It wasn't too deep, but it was a fun evening of enjoyable performances. Go Zee Zastrozzi!
(Disclaimer: Weisenheimer is president of the board at Balagan, but it doesn't mean I'm biased! Also, you can still get Balagan season tickets. Just $100 for the remaining eight shows, including Zastrozzi.)
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