After a short illness, Madame Zingara and her sister Mojolena are on their deathbed.
Not only is Madame Zingara in provisional liquidation , but her UK partners, who had provided financial backing and helped with staff work visa applications, have both withdrawn, citing the global credit crunch. The show had moved to Battersea Power Station in London in December, and was planning a tour to Scotland and Europe thereafter, reports the Cape Times.
Richard Griffin, a talented and creative dinner theatre showmaster, has had his share of bad luck. The first Madame Zingara restaurant, which opened in Loop Street eight years ago, was destroyed by a fire, which challenged Griffin to buy a Spiegelpaleis circus tent in Belgium and set up his Theatre of Dreams underneath the highway at the entrance to the port in Cape Town.
Perhaps more of a showman than a businessman, Griffin did not see the global credit crunch coming, and the impact it would have on opening a new restaurant in London, whilst opening a new sister restaurant, Mojolena, at the same time in Cape Town in December. WhaleTales was critical of the opening party for Mojolena.
