By Nathan Larkins
As the audience settled into the Hollywood Pantages and I flipped through the Playbill, I found myself getting more excited with every biography. This company is stacked to the brim with talent from across the theatrical and circus arts. Ballerinas, aerialists, and tenors, oh my!
Water for Elephants certainly gives them room to show off. There are bodies suspended above the stage, dazzling costumes, and animals brought to life through beautifully crafted puppetry. The spectacle is plentiful, and the people making it happen are a pleasure to watch.
With a book by Rick Elice and music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co., this adaptation of Sara Gruen’s novel unfolds through the memories of Mr. Jankowski, played by circus veteran Robert Tully. His encounter with a circus packing up after a performance carries us back to the Great Depression and his younger self, Jacob, played by Zachary Keller. Having lost his parents and his childhood home, Jacob jumps a train and finds himself among the performers and workers of the Benzini Brothers Circus. It’s a precarious place to start over, but he’s hardly the only person aboard trying to survive.
Keller sets the vocal bar early with “Anywhere / Another Train.” His voice is open, free, and remarkably precise, soaring with the same apparent ease as the aerialists who share the stage with him. He’s a vocal juggernaut. I could happily listen to this kid sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and I suspect I’d still leave impressed.
That sense of ease is everywhere in this company, even while people are doing things that have absolutely no business looking easy. Raising the circus tent becomes an opportunity for astonishing feats of strength, with performers extending horizontally from a mast like human flags. Aerialists climb and unwind through fabric high above the stage. Shana Carroll’s circus design and her choreography with Jesse Robb make the physical work of this traveling community an attraction in itself. Even getting the show on its feet becomes a show.
And the quiet between those feats can be just as electric.
Helen Krushinski’s Marlena shares one of the evening’s most affecting moments with her horse, Silver Star. Her rendition of “Easy” is hauntingly beautiful, offering comfort to an animal in pain while Yves Artières takes to the air as though giving flight to its spirit. His movement suggests a freedom the suffering horse can no longer find. Krushinski’s voice and Artières’ aerial work hold that tenderness together, giving the scene room to breathe.
I cried. There’s really no more elegant way to put it.
Back among the humans, Connor Sullivan’s August is smarm incarnate: the circus’s owner and ringmaster, Marlena’s husband, and a man whose polished charm barely conceals his cruelty. He carries the weight of keeping the circus alive with the air of someone who still has something to prove. “The Lion Has Got No Teeth” gives him the opportunity to take Jacob behind the curtain and sell him on the business of keeping the tent open. Sullivan makes that salesmanship a performance all its own.
The company’s vocal riches extend well beyond its leads. Javier Garcia’s Camel and Grant Huneycutt’s Wade were particular standouts for me, while Tyler West’s Walter brings a welcome dose of clowning to this collection of people trying to make their keep. There is an astounding amount of ability packed into this cast, and much of the pleasure comes from appreciating its different disciplines throughout the evening.
Ryan Emmons recreates Jessica Stone’s original direction for the tour, guiding us through Jacob’s memories with the help of Bradley King’s lighting transitions and David I. Reynoso’s dazzling costumes. The stage moves comfortably between the intimacy of a recollection and the excitement of a circus performance.
Then there’s Rosie.
The elephant arrives in pieces: a glimpse of a trunk, a foot, just enough to get you waiting for the rest. Her full reveal before intermission is worth that anticipation. Puppet designers Ray Wetmore, JR Goodman, and Camille Labarre, puppet director Joshua Holden, and the performers bringing her to life give Rosie an extraordinary amount of character. Watching Jacob connect with her is a delight, and it takes surprisingly little time to become emotionally invested in this enormous creature.
She is mesmerizing. I fell for her completely.
The musicians deserve some attention of their own, with the strings a particular pleasure throughout PigPen Theatre Co.’s score. The first act holds the evening’s strongest musical moments for me, particularly Keller’s soaring introduction and the haunting tenderness of “Easy.” After intermission, the sweetness of “Zostań” and the growing connection between Jacob and Rosie offer their own pleasures. As the elephant becomes a fuller presence in the story, the company’s ability to give her personality and life becomes an increasingly irresistible part of the evening.
I walked into Water for Elephants with an open mind and left delighted by the company, impressed by the voices, and unexpectedly moved. Somewhere between the acrobatics and the circus spectacle, a puppet horse broke my heart.
Enjoy the circus. Stay for the voices.
Water for Elephants plays the Hollywood Pantages Theatre through September 27, 2026. Tickets: https://www.broadwayinhollywood.com/events/detail/water-for-elephants
Performance reviewed: September 10, 2026.