The opening act reminds me a bit of Kiss Me, Kate — another opening, another show. In this case, it’s a circus moving from Buffalo to Utica, the whole company scrambling to strike one town and rebuild in the next before the paying customers even notice the gap. There’s also a persistent reference to tight monetary constraints, since the show is set during the Depression. Hence the emphasis on cash — who has it, who owes it, who’s about to run out of it — which put me in mind of the opening sequence of The Music Man, another show that opens with people talking money on the move.
Water For Elephants opened at The Pantages on Hollywood Blvd yesterday and the audience was dazzled and delighted. As the story unfolds in flashback, our narrator brings to life his memories of joining the Benzini Family Circus as its veterinarian. When the show’s animal star, a horse, has to be put down, the circus takes a chance on an aging elephant instead — a gamble that becomes the emotional center of the piece. The choreography leans hard into circus arts, with aerial and acrobatic sequences that bring to mind the gymnastics of a Cirque du Soleil production.
Connor Sullivan, Helen Krushinski, and Zachary Keller
(Photo by Matthew Murphy)
Helen Krushinski, Robert Tully, Zachary Keller, and Yves Artieres
(Photo by Matthew Murphy)
Leading the cast is Jacob Jankowski (the excellent Zacharay Keller), who boards the train only intending to depart at the next stop. He becomes the initially reluctant veterinarian who signs on, ostensibly, for his love of the animals. Or is it love of the circus’s star performer Marlena (the sparkling Helen Krushinski), who happens to be married to August, the ringmaster and owner of the show (the compelling Connor Sullivan)? The love triangle gives the book its tension, and it’s played with just enough restraint that it never tips into melodrama. The costumes (designed by David I. Reynoso) are gorgeous and colorful, and the puppetry used to portray the animals — especially the elephant — brings to mind the clever stagecraft of The Lion King: you’re never fooled into thinking the animals are real, but you feel for them anyway, which is really the whole trick. Kudos to circus designer Shana Carroll.
The cast of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
(Photo by Matthew Murphy)
The admirable musical numbers move the story along and help define the characters; the score is by PigPen Theatre Co. and the book is by four-time Tony Award® nominee Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher), all of which was developed from the novel by Sara Gruen.
This is a circus leaving home for.
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