Sat 10/19 @ 8PM
Northeast Ohio rock guitarist Neil Zaza seems to have limitless energy and imagination when it comes to what he does with his music. He broke the confines of the standard rock-band-playing-around format and the local music scene almost three decades ago when the pop metal band that bore his name broke up in mid 1992. He was already rethinking his approach, releasing the first of now nearly two dozen solo instrumental albums before that happened.
When he takes the stage of the Akron Civic Theatre to headline the production he’s put together, called One Dark Night: A Rock Symphony of the Macabre, he’ll have a lot of accomplishments to look back on: those albums, multiple tours of Europe and Asia (many visits to China where he’s kind of a big deal in the burgeoning community of instrumental guitarists), and numerous big special productions such as this in his hometown.
For many years, he did a Christmas show called One Silent Night, a sort of classier and less overwrought Trans-Siberian Orchestra. But last year, he decided to try something entirely new, and he debuted the Halloween-season show One Dark Night at the Akron Civic Theatre, with an orchestra, actors, atmospheric lights and video on a large screen, much of it taken from monster movies. The idea arose from a performance he did with the Akron Symphony of Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” and simmered for a few years before becoming reality.
He spent a significant chunk of 2018 putting together and rehearsing the show, which he told CoolCleveland last year was “so beyond anything that I have ever done with One Silent Night…” Zaza said. “And not just musically, but presentation as well.”
He explained that he was intrigued by doing something dark and gothic, not necessarily just Halloween-ish.
“The story focuses on [the idea] that the classic Hollywood monsters that we know and love may not be the monsters at all,” he said. “The true monster is within each of us trying to escape. It really is a deep philosophical look at human nature and the darkness that resides in us all.”
Of course, being who he is, Zaza wasn’t content just to reprise last year’s show, no matter how well it went over (and it did). He’s really upped his game for year two.
Described as “a terrifying orchestral exploration of all things evil and dark from the world’s greatest composers reimagined,” the show will feature works by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Prokofiev and Saint-Saëns, rearranged for rock band and orchestra.
He’s also refined the light show and added bigger screens. But the real difference will be the new collaborators he’s working with.
This past summer he performed with Verb Ballets at the Heinz Poll Dance Fest in Akron, working with them on the newly commissioned The Adagio Reimagined Project, which paid tribute to the legacy of the late Ohio Ballet founder Poll by segueing his traditional piece into a contemporary rocking version with Zaza on guitar.
That collaboration was so fruitful that Verb Ballets is part of One Dark Night…, reprising Adagio Reimagined, as well as a work featuring Verb dancers Antonio Morillo and Daniel Cho interpreting a Zaza instrumental.
He’s also bringing on board another Akronite, heavy metal singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, who did a stints in Judas Priest and Iced Earth, as well as with many local bands. He’ll be singing two songs, jolting the proceedings with his powerful voice.
Tickets are $25-$35; VIP tickets, which include a meet-and-greet and signed poster, are $75.