Ever really feel like working away from residence to hitch a musical? Then “Water for Elephants” could be the present of selection that provides escapism, enchantment and coronary heart — and thrills, too.
Based mostly on Sara Inexperienced’s 2006 bestseller, the present premiered final yr at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and elevates the musical to new and literal heights with its seamless integration of theatrical and cirque artistry.
It’s additionally the second new musical to open on Broadway in every week (following “The Pocket book”) informed in flashback from the angle of a nursing residence resident reconnecting along with his youthful self. However right here the story being informed will not be wistful however dynamic, its nostalgia sharpened with hard-knock realities, and its sentimentality offset with humor, snap and darkness.
It additionally transcends the literalness of the 2011 movie (which starred Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz), making it a singular and imaginative creation of the stage and dwell efficiency.
The present is propelled by a fast-moving locomotive of a script by Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys,” “Peter and the Starcatcher”) and the characters on board are on the trip of the lives. For many, it’s about survival. Set throughout the Despair, the story follows distraught younger man Jacob Jankowski (Grant Gustin, compelling) as he flees from a household trauma, all informed in flashbacks by his older self (Gregg Edelman).
After hitching a trip on what seems to be a circus prepare, Jacob’s one-day stick with the hard-scrabble touring firm is prolonged after ringmaster/proprietor Augustus (Paul Alexander Nolan) sees this almost-veterinarian — Jacob dropped out simply earlier than graduating Cornell — as a simple asset for the troupe’s unhappy menagerie. (The track “The Lion Has No Tooth” says all of it.)
By Jacob we enter a sawdust subculture and with him uncover the hierarchy, angle and lingo of circus life the place performer are “kinkers,” prospects are “rubes” and “red-lighting” is being thrown from a shifting prepare.
With economic system and wit, we study a lot in regards to the characters with whom Jacob quickly bonds: aged odd-jobber Camel (Stan Brown, genuine), no-nonsense clown Walter (Joe De Paul, snarlingly hysterical), seen-it-all showgirl Barbara (Sara Gettelfinger, terrific) and particularly equestrian Marlena (Isabelle McCalla), the recipient of her husband August’s devotion — and his abuse. Ever looming is the troupe’s threatening foreman (Wade McCollum).
Fortunes for the debt-ridden circus reverse when Rosie, a 53-year-old elephant, is introduced into the corporate. However the pachyderm resists coaching till Jacob finds simply the precise phrases and, with Marlena, makes the intuitive animal into the star attraction.
The shared compassion and attraction of the 2 trainers turns into noticeable by the troupe — together with the ruthless, sadistic and mercurial Augustus. It’s not lengthy earlier than one thing depraved this fashion comes.
The forged is big-top stage. Edelman’s low-key ease and self-aware humor makes this nursing residence escapee a beguiling but clear-eyed information to the long-ago previous and to this fascinating circus caravan.
Gustin as younger Jacob shares that likability — and vulnerability — as a person feeling misplaced and alone till he discovers his true calling, chosen household and love. McCalla performs Marlena not as a sufferer however as an ever-resilient spouse strolling the tightrope of constancy, worry and desperation. Nolan is mesmerizing as Augustus, a grasp impresario and sociopath of each attraction and menace.
Jessica Stone, who staged the modestly-scaled “Kimberly Akimbo,” and her inventive group — particularly circus designer Shana Carroll, who co-choreographs with Jesse Robb — right here sort out a big-canvas manufacturing, bringing all of it underneath one spectacular tent with out forgetting its human — and animal — hearts.
The manufacturing’s masterful illusionists embrace set designer Takeshi Kata, lighting designer Bradley King and Walter Trarbach, who created a soundscape. For the duty of making, sure, the elephant within the room — in addition to the lions, orangutans and different creatures giant and small — puppet designers Ray Wetmore, JR Goodman and Camille LaBarre work wonders, capturing every animal’s essence, generally with detailed designs but additionally with the best suggestion, particularly for Rosie who turns into, by way of puppeteer Caroline Kane, a completely realized character — and star of this present, too.
The septet of the manufacturing’s aerialists and acrobats come from the Montreal-based 7 Fingers firm, which made the 2013 revival of “Pippin” so beguiling. Their feats will not be only for the sake of a puff — shout-out right here to the astonishing Keaton Hentoff-Killian — however are metaphorically related to the story on stage. As an illustration, as Marlena gently sings “Simple” to calm her injured stallion, the poignancy is echoed in an beautiful Spanish Net efficiency on dangling ribbons of glistening white cloth by Antoine Boissereau.
The rating by the musical collective PigPen Theatre Co. captures the tuneful Americana temper of the period, and mixes it up with songs starting from swing to folks. Particularly advantageous is the infectious “The Street Don’t Make You Younger,” the romantic ballad “Wild” and “Zostan,” the rollicking celebration of Polish instructions.
For followers of the ebook and movie, the climactic second on stage stays equally thrilling — and essentially the most inventive stampede for the reason that wildebeest run in “The Lion King” (whose co-producer Peter Schneider can also be top-lined right here).
This underdog circus troupe might promote its leisure as “Benzini Brothers’ Most Spectacular Present on Earth,” however for this rube’s nickels, “Water for Elephants” may very well be the best present on Broadway.
