A national tour of John Kander and Fred Ebb's bizouki-rich musical, Zorba, will launch in fall 2003, starring the international actor Topol.
Robert Young, Sammy Dallas Bayes, John Preece and Alan Lichtenstein will produce the touring revival, with the Dodgers handling booking.
Rising singer Josh Groban has been mentioned as a possibility to play young Niko, the emotionally-closed man who learns life lessons from the hedonistic Zorba. The Crete-set musical is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel, "Zorba the Greek" (also known as a 1965 film starring Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates).
The bull-like Quinn starred in a revised 1983 revival of the zesty 1968 musical. Herschel Bernardi originated the role on stage. Joseph Stein penned the libretto.
Topol may be best known for playing Tevye in the London staging of Fiddler on the Roof, and later the film version. Sammy Dallas Bayes has made a career as a choreographer with a special link to Fiddler on the Roof. He was a performer and dance captain of the original run of the show, and would later reproduce Jerome Robbins' choreography for tours, including the 1990-91 run starring Topol, which landed on Broadway. He also choreographed Broadway's Heathen! and Canterbury Tales. Bayes was a "reconstruction assistant" on Jerome Robbins' Broadway.
Harold Prince directed the original production. Ron Field choreographed.