CCCA presents "The Mark of Zorro"

NORWICH – The Chenango County Council of the Arts presents the final show in its 2007/08 performing arts series on Sunday when the swashbuckling silent film classic “The Mark of Zorro” is screened with a live performance of its original, Spanish-flavored score played by Rick Benjamin’s Paragon Orchestra.

Old Spanish California is the setting in which Douglas Fairbanks creates the prototype of the modern adventure hero. Slashing his trademark “Z” on the consciousness (and sometimes the posteriors of the corrupt administration of Governor Alvarado), Zorro leads the way with action and humor to “Justice for All!” “The Mark of Zorro” is full of plot twists and secret passageways, with an appealing blend of romance, comedy and swordplay, as Zorro evades pursuit while fighting all oppressors.

Douglas Fairbanks’ amazing athletic prowess and tremendous enthusiasm made the original movie a great success, leading to a whole series of similar swashbuckler roles for Fairbanks, including “The Three Musketeers”, “Robin Hood”, and “The Thief of Bagdad.” The humor, swordplay and action sequences, and tongue-in-cheek hero as played by Fairbanks bring to mind modern day action heroes Jackie Chan and Bruce Willis.

Rick Benjamin and his orchestra have performed the original scores to silent films for about 20 years. They are the only orchestra touring with the original scores to the films which they accompany – and they play these scores with just the instrumentation intended – the “regulation” theater orchestra of 5 strings, flute, clarinet, two shepherd’s crook cornets, a vintage small bore trombone, and a 1900’s era trap drum set.

The Paragon Orchestra has brought these scores and films to audiences young and old at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Ravinia Festival, the Washington Performing Arts Society at Lisner Auditorium, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria, and around New York including the Tilles Center and Lincoln Center. Rick Benjamin and his crew are frequently heard in historic theater and movie palaces such as Cleveland’s Ohio Theater, Chattanooga’s Tivoli and the Rialto in Atlanta.