Water for Elephants

[foxy]

Based on a book I’ve never read, a movie I’ve never seen and an actor, Grant Guston in a tv series I’ve never watched (The Flash) I bought a ticket for a preview of the Broadway show on a whim. And a good whim it was. Pretty amazing circus acts and a life size elephant puppet made for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. 

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

We've gotten to a point with Broadway of mentioning the set, the stunt casting and the props before even talking about the lyrics/book/music.

[skynyc]

I saw this last night, and there are some great things about it. It's very faithful to the book. (Didn't see the movie.) The score is stronger in the first act...but pretty deadly for a chunk of the second act. None of the ballads are very good. Jakob (Grant Gustin - TV's The Flash) has a song about stars that comes near the end of Act 1, that is too long and his singing is fine for the bigger numbers, but I don't think he was able to pull off the ballad, or the love duet in the second act. (However, he is pretty spectacular to look at.) Marlena (Isabelle MacCalla) has a ballad in the second act, which felt endless. The score is by "Pigpen Theatre Co." which according to the program consists of 7 fellows who have written and performed some off-Broadway and regional works. This collective didn't to my mind provide enough of a connective spirit for the score, but some of the bigger numbers were very strong, and there's some stunning choral arrangements for the cast. The ensemble is strong. Paul Alexander Nolan is truly a menacing villain, August. He is dangerous and mercurial, and not entirely two-dimensional, (...which he is in the book.) The show is pretty impressive viewing...there are some good circus acts, one in particular: a wounded horse imagining his younger days. The second act is muddled, and could be trimmed quite a lot...my companion didn't follow what happened in the big climax. (And there must have been some incident at the end of Act 1, because the intermission was longer than 25 minutes with a lot of folks running up and down the side aisle to the stage access door.) 
Part Lion King, part recent circus-themed revival of Pippin, part The Notebook (the reminiscent framing device seems to be very popular now), it's an engaging, if predictable story. It was worth the terrific discounted $100 seats we had, but I am glad we didn't pay more. 

Edited March 1 by skynyc

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

2 hours ago, skynyc said:

I saw this last night, and there are some great things about it. It's very faithful to the book. (Didn't see the movie.) The score is stronger in the first act...but pretty deadly for a chunk of the second act. None of the ballads are very good. Jakob (Grant Gustin - TV's The Flash) has a song about stars that comes near the end of Act 1, that is too long and his singing is fine for the bigger numbers, but I don't think he was able to pull off the ballad, or the love duet in the second act. (However, he is pretty spectacular to look at.) Marlena (Isabelle MacCalla) has a ballad in the second act, which felt endless. The score is by "Pigpen Theatre Co." which according to the program consists of 7 fellows who have written and performed some off-Broadway and regional works. This collective didn't to my mind provide enough of a connective spirit for the score, but some of the bigger numbers were very strong, and there's some stunning choral arrangements for the cast. The ensemble is strong. Paul Alexander Nolan is truly a menacing villain, August. He is dangerous and mercurial, and not entirely two-dimensional, (...which he is in the book.) The show is pretty impressive viewing...there are some good circus acts, one in particular: a wounded horse imagining his younger days. The second act is muddled, and could be trimmed quite a lot...my companion didn't follow what happened in the big climax. (And there must have been some incident at the end of Act 1, because the intermission was longer than 25 minutes with a lot of folks running up and down the side aisle to the stage access door.) 
Part Lion King, part recent circus-themed revival of Pippin, part The Notebook (the reminiscent framing device seems to be very popular now), it's an engaging, if predictable story. It was worth the terrific discounted $100 seats we had, but I am glad we didn't pay more. 

Thank you for this detailed review.  Much appreciated.