Do you remember crying during Walt Disney’s Dumbo, when the little elephant’s mother is taken away and declared insane? Do you remember the trapeze accident and mammoth train wreck from Cecil B. DeMille’s Oscar-winning The Greatest Show on Earth? How about Groucho, Chico, and Harpo flying through the air in the trio’s At The Circus? Or maybe, Big Top Pee-wee? Or even, horrors, Tod Browning’s Freaks?
If any of these distant memories once spurred your imagination to run away from home and join a circus, then here’s the ideal substitute – the Broadway national touring company’s production of Water for Elephants.
Adapted from the 2006 international best-seller by Sara Gruen, the 2024 musical garnered seven Tony Award nominations, received glowing to decent reviews, and ran nine months. At its heart of tinsel and sawdust, it promotes family, community, and animal rights. (Unquestionably, PETA should endorse this show.)
Although the book by Rick Elise (Peter and the Starcatcher; Jersey Boys) is tricked out with every trope of circus drama – innocent among roughnecks; femme fatale center-ring attraction; jealous sadistic ringmaster; compassionate fellow performers, or “kinkers” in circus jargon; death-defying aerial feats; amazing animal acts – this rather mundane and predictable plot works on us like cotton candy. We can’t get enough. The little story set in the Depression is magnified and made glorious by the sheer physicality under the nimble direction of Ryan Emmons; choreographers and circus designers Shana Carroll, Jesse Robb, and Antoine Boissereau; all influenced by the musical’s original director Jessica Stone.
Full of imagination and theatrical creativity, this is the most kinetic show in seasons. Everything moves. It’s a perpetual mobile, yet it’s not frenetic. The circus acts, like Cirque du Soleil at its best, are intertwined with the story. Budding love might be two performers perfectly balancing above the stage on large rings; a beloved horse is played with infinite muscular grace by acrobat Yves Artiéras on “the silks,” as he wafts through the air like a spirit. These super gymnasts aren’t confined to the background. During scenes they cartwheel, tumble, balance on each other’s hands, or throw each other up in the air with the greatest of ease as they surround the story. They are the story, the circus’ very heart.
Casting this show must have been a nightmare, for not only are these troopers excellent gymnasts but they also sing and dance and act, usually at the same time. Most of the cast are alumni of international circus troupes, but singing and hoofing too? Phenomenal. They are a joy to watch and take our breath away with each feat of derring-do.
The attractive principal leads, Zachery Keller as young Jacob and Helen Krushinski as horse whisperer Marlena, can belt for days and even perform slight acrobatic tricks of their own. There’s no question about these two falling in love, it’s required. Connor Sullivan, as controlling husband August, is smarmy enough for a three-ring circus. His passive aggression is the impetus to push Jacob and Marlena together, so say nothing of his brutal treatment to his menagerie. The supporting characters are a bit hazy, but the actors color them with fine strokes: sickly roustabout Camel (Javier Garcia), clown Walter (Tyler West), bossman Wade (Grant Huneycutt), earth mother Barbara (Ruby Gibbs), and old Jacob, our narrator (Rober Tully).
All are fine singers and do wonders with the “okay” songs by Pigpen Theatre Co., a seven member folk/blues cooperative. In the theater, the rousing chorale “The Road Don’t Make You Young,” the nostalgia of Jacob’s “Anywhere,” Marlena’s plaintive “What Do You Do” are adequate if somewhat less than sizzling. They capture the moment, just not the ear. You won’t sing them on the way home.
But the musical’s radiant star is the divine Miss Rosie. She’s a big girl and not exactly in the flush of youth. But at 54 years old, she packs a wallop of stage presence. We don’t even see all of her at first. She comes at us in sections. Her large ears wiggle at us. Her sinuous snout peeks around the curtain. A shadow appears, a tease. Then her tree-limb legs clomp on stage, one at a time. Finally, she appears in full majesty. What a beauty, if a little thin from her previous stint in another circus. She trumpets with Handelian force and has us in the palm of her trunk. Even better, she understands Polish. What a performer, manipulated at various times by five adroit puppeteers. But, remember, elephants never forget. If you are mean to her, or mean to those she loves, watch out. She can be a vengeful unforgiving diva.
Water for Elephants brings out the kid in us and makes us giddy. There’s so much to see in this special show with its special love for physical theater. It’s not perfect, but while you’re watching this extravaganza you don’t care. You don’t even think about it. Grab your bindlestiff, hop the nearest train, and run away to the circus!
Water for Elephants continues through February 1 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby. For more information, call 713-315-7625 or visit thehobbycenter.org or broadwayatthehobbycenter.com. $55-$131.