Teatro ZinZanni’s ‘Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer’ Is Fantastic Fun
Teatro ZinZanni – Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer is a fun dinner-theater experience with amazing circus performers and a 4-course meal. A revamped show with a brand new limited-time headliner!
Teatro ZinZanni has launched a brand new 8-week engagement for our Chicago summer! ‘Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer’ includes some of the spectacular circus performers that have been with us for the last year with a brand new headliner and a bunch of new humorous bits.
If you haven’t been to Teatro ZinZanni before, it has been a Chicago staple since 2024. Hosted in a tent, high up in the Cambria Hotel downtown, you will be whisked away into an entirely different place for a full 2 hours 30 minutes.
This new show highlights BenDeLaCreme, a RuPaul’s Drag Race star and very funny performer. Engaging the audience with a number of cute outfits, she mingles through the audience, cracking jokes, making friends, and spreading her large and entertaining personality.
Joined by ZZ – also known as Teatro‘s resident singer, LiV Warfield – a huge vocal talent who was a golden buzzer winner on America’s Got Talent, the two navigate you through the show. During independent performances as well as accompanying some of the acrobatic acts, Ms. Warfield is amazing to listen to, particularly in her fiercest moments and in her lower register.
Speaking of the acrobatic acts, they really do abound. While the show starts with silly antics and amusing physical comedy, as all of the participants visit guest tables and pass out items or blow bubbles, each takes their turn showing off their incredible physical abilities.
In-arena flight attendant (played by Vita Radionova) is a hula hoop goddess who rocks out to the music while showing off incredible tricks with her hula hoops. All of the tricks are impressive, but I am partial to the one where she encircles her entire body with dozens of hoops and keeps them going all at once.
In-arena motorcycle-riding Raphael Nepomuceno flies across the top of the tent on straps. Using muscles you never knew existed, he holds himself in positions in the air with only a strap or two. He also balances on motorcycles. You have to see it to believe it.
Trapeze artists Duo Rose (Sam Sion and Sylvia Friedman) who play a housekeeper and handyman in the arena, are trapeze artists who use each other’s bodies as balance weights to pose and hang in incredible positions. There is a large cushion placed at the bottom of the tent for this section, which I was grateful to see. There is no way to fully describe what they do, but the idea that they could be seriously injured is very scary!
In-arena organizer, Danila Bim, is a hair suspensionist who performs acrobatic tricks and poses while being attached by her hair to a large clip that is suspended on a rope from the ceiling. It is both mystifying and eye popping, as you wonder how her hair can hold her entire body while she maneuvers.
Between marveling at each act and being entertained by BenDeLaCreme, there is a full 4-course meal served. Each of three acts is divided by a section of the meal and each of the acts pass by so quickly, it’s crazy that you’re eating again.
While there are tickets offered for just the performance, I highly encourage you to have the meal as well. You get an appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert included and you do have the option to order other items as an upgrade or a la carte. Included with our basic dinner and a show tickets were chive and gruyere scones, salad with apples, cranberries, blue cheese, and walnuts, our choice of salmon with lemon orzo and creamed spinach or chicken with mustard potatoes and asparagus, and a vanilla panna cotta for dessert.
This is a brand new version of the show that is only around for a limited time, so get your tickets now! it is an incredible experience for all of your senses, plus, you’ll have a few laughs and be charmed by the lovely BenDeLaCreme. That is what I call a great evening out!
Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer runs for approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, including a full meal and two intermissions that allow for food and beverage service as well as restroom visits.
Teatro ZinZanni: Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer Chicago Review – Swingin’ Into Chicago Summer is playing at Teatro ZinZanni through 7/19/25. Tickets can be purchased on the Teatro ZinZanni website or by calling (312) 488-0900. Teatro ZinZanni is located at 32 W. Randolph St, inside the Cambria Hotel in Chicago.