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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Madame Zingara - After Forever Tour


Madame Zingara has been around in South Africa for a while now, touring around the country and wowing the audiences where ever they go.  Not only with the live acts and performances but also with their mouth watering menu! Now I've seen features about Madame Zingara on TV and read a bit about it in the press before but I always thought it wasn't for me. I never really enjoyed the circus and I'm not the biggest fan of theater or dressing up so you could see why I never really wanted to go for it but last week I was invited by the people down at Suncoast Casino to attend the special media VIP night and figured here's my chance to go see what all the fuss was about.

                     

The invite said to dress smart but also noted that there will be a store at the venue to buy props and face painting.  The hell kind of event was I going for?! Dressed up in my suit I made it to the venue which is the second parking area at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World, just my luck the mother of all storms decided to hit Durban that night, no sweat,  I bolted to the entrance passing the complementary bar on the way in. A stop for a cool beverage was a must as Durban's humidity was still relentless despite the pouring rain.


As I entered the tent it felt like I jumped into a fantasy world, antique furniture, dim lighting , props all around,  even some moving ones!  Everyone was dressed in their best outfits and most sporting painted faces and garments from the store. Feeling a bit left out, I went into the store to see what was on sale. Everything from hats, to various accessories and props even a face painting stand with a number of styles to choose from. Having arrived late I didn't get a chance to browse the entire store as we had to make our way into the main tent arena so the show could commence.


At my table I was joined by some familiar faces from the online world, glad that I had some company throughout the evening.  We were greeted promptly by our waitress for the night who explained the menu and the choices we had, gave us some time to decide while she got us some drinks and our mezze platters. Now I've heard that besides the breath taking acts, the food served at Madame Zingara is quite phenomenal so I was really looking forward to that aspect of the night as well.


The Food
The Mezze platter which was all veg was a wonderful array of tapas, marinated tomatoes and olives,  cream of mushroom soup, pita and tatziki, also on the plate was a beetroot tart. I personally am not a fan of beetroot but decided to give it go, much to my surprise it was delicious! For the following 2 courses we could choose from a variety of options,  for starters opted for the spinach, ricotta and butternut ravioli and for the mains,  the much talked about chili chocolate steak was on everyone's mind but I don't eat beef so I chose to have the lamb shank. All of which lived up to the hype, the ravioli was done to perfection with flavours that burst in your mouth along with the rich napoletana sauce.


The lamb shank was quite a sizable one, served with a thick gravy and roasted veg with mash, it was cooked beautifully with just a fork required to eat it as the meat just fell off the bone.  Dessert took things to another level with rich malva pudding and red velvet cheese cake both served with a lovely vanilla ice cream.  The food was certainly one of the main highlights of the night,  it's quite astonishing to see such a wide variety catered for such a big audience and every meal prepared was done so with perfection and timeously. Hats off to the chef and his helpers!


The Show
Normally when I attend a show I know very little about, I usually do some research on it so I know what to expect, this time round I didn't do that so I went in completely oblivious and basically made everything a surprise for me,  one of my followers did mention that I would enjoy the bath tub act and boy were they right! But more of that later.


The two main characters are this fairy (Klien Pomplenickle) who doesn't speak very well nor can she fly and her supposedly fairy god father (Hot Mr MC), who's swag holds no boundaries as he even sports a grill!  They are sort of the master of ceremonies for  night as they take us through their journey and introduce the various acts. The performers come from all parts of the world showcasing their unique talents, be it gymnastics, aerobatics, singing or theatrics. Each and every one of the acts had the audience on the edge of their seats with displays that pushed boundaries and kept everyone captivated. As spoken before, the bath tub scene was one to watch out for, and if you are sitting close to the stage you might want to carry a towel as things do get wet!  One of the last acts saw an Argentinian duo spell bound the crowd with their beats and drums, we also had a chance to meet and chat with one of them  after the show, it was quite cool to learn more about the lives of these performers as they travel the world entertaining thousands. I don't want to give away too much about the performances as I feel you need to experience yourself.


It's certainly nothing that I expected and I was pleasantly surprised, whether you're a fan or not, if you get the chance go, head on down and enjoy an evening of great food, impeccable service and brilliant entertainment.  It will be money well spent and if you were left anything like how I was left feeling,  you would want to go see it again! 


The show is on at the Suncoast Casino until the 30th of April, ticket prices start from R390 and are available from the website:
Website:www.madamezingara.com
Facebook: Madame Zingara
Twitter: @madame_zingara

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