Review: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Brings Romance, Puppetry and Circus Magic to Broadway San Diego

From acrobats and funny clowns (not the scary kind, don't worry) to big Broadway numbers, puppetry, and an intimate love story, Water for Elephants has a little something for everyone.

The Tony Award-nominated musical, directed by Tony Award nominee Jessica Stone and based on Sara Gruen's bestselling novel, is now playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre through August 23 as part of its first North American Tour. With a book by Rick Elice and music and lyrics by PigPen Theatre Co., the musical takes audiences into the traveling circus of the Great Depression, where spectacle exists alongside poverty, cruelty, and an unlikely search for home.

At its heart, Water for Elephants is a story about belonging: finding a place to call home when everything familiar has disappeared and discovering family in the most unexpected places.

The story follows Jacob Jankowski, played by Zachary Keller, but before we meet Jacob as a young man, we first see his older self, Mr. Jankowski, played by Robert Tully with warmth and nostalgia, visiting a circus that has come to town.

In his conversations with those working in the present-day circus, a memory is triggered, and suddenly we are transported to 1931, deep in the Great Depression, as we hear him tell the tale of his own circus life.

After losing his parents and everything he has known as home, Jacob finds himself with nowhere to go. Almost as if selected by destiny, he jumps aboard a moving train and enters the world of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

But...it is not exactly the glamorous world one might imagine. The circus is struggling financially. Its wild animals are mistreated and neglected, and the performers have little beyond one another. Then Jacob meets Marlena, the circus's dazzling star performer, played by Helen Krushinski, and immediately falls for her. There is just one problem: she's married to August, the circus's volatile ringmaster.

At the performance reviewed, August was played by understudy John Neurohr, who brings a sternness to Marlena's husband and the circus's volatile ringmaster. But I wanted more menace. August is the kind of character who should make you wonder whether he might charm you one moment and frighten you the next. Instead, I rarely felt that his morality was truly at stake unless the plot (or a song) explicitly pushed him there. His cruelty and controlling nature are clear, but I wanted to fear him before the story told me to.

In contrast, Krushinski brings warmth and vulnerability to Marlena, particularly in her quieter moments. Her emotional and tender performance while caring for her beloved horse, Silver Star—brought to life by acrobat and performer Yves Artières—is one of the scenes that will remain with me long after the curtain falls. Her chemistry with Keller gives the show's central romance its emotional weight, and their duets carry much of the emotional arc of the story. You genuinely find yourself rooting for them as they try to keep the circus alive while attempting not to get caught up in their feelings for each other.

As Jacob becomes the circus's official veterinarian, his responsibilities bring him directly into conflict with August. The reality is that this is a struggling operation that can barely afford to feed its performers, much less its animals. And then Rosie arrives. The amber-eyed elephant puppet becomes one of the show's most memorable characters, though the production wisely keeps her full reveal until Act II. For those familiar with the novel or film adaptation, her importance is no surprise, but seeing her take shape onstage was such a delight. 

The ensemble is another major strength of the production, especially the humor and big hearts brought by Javier Garcia as Camel and Tyler West as Walter the clown. Many of the other performers are professionally trained in circus disciplines ranging from aerial work to contortion, and they make the most of every opportunity they are given.

But here's where I found myself wishing the production had gone further. The story may be inspired by the circus, but Water for Elephants ultimately focuses on the lives of the people and animals who inhabit it. That means the acrobatics often arrive in short bursts rather than extended sequences. And with an ensemble this talented, I wanted to see more. The moments we do get—from aerial work and trapeze to other feats of circus skill—are marvelous, but they left me wanting to see what else these performers could do. When a production has this much circus talent at its disposal, it is hard not to wish it would let them loose a little more.

Still, Water for Elephants is not primarily a circus spectacle. Rather, it's a story about love, survival, and finding family. The circus is merely the world in which those stories unfold.

The score by PigPen Theatre Co. is not the strongest part of this show, but not everything can be. Songs such as "Easy" and "The Road Don't Make You Young" are beautiful and linger in the mind, but not every song has the same impact. The production does, however, know how to create a big Broadway moment, and several of its larger numbers are filled with the kind of joy and grandeur audiences come to a musical hoping to experience.

Visually, the production is gorgeous. The massive sky backdrop changes with the passing of time, shifting from pink sunsets to blue mornings, with David Bengali's projections working in tandem with Bradley King's lighting to create the changing time of day and atmosphere. Takeshi Kata's scenic design creates a world that feels both theatrical and tangible, with scaffolding transforming into the train and serving as an essential piece of the storytelling. The movement and choreography by Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll bring the circus to life in more ways than simply showcasing tricks. The physicality of the production is constantly present, particularly in the larger ensemble numbers and in the rocking, shifting movement of the train. The circus-inspired costumes by David I. Reynoso are equally fun and colorful, immediately transporting us into this unusual world of performers, animals, and circus life. The sound design by Walter Trarbach equally transports you into this life “on the go,” from the rhythmic swish and rumble of the train to its whistles and toots, layered with sounds of animals throughout the circus. It gives the production a constant sense of movement, as if the circus is always preparing to pull out of town and head to the next stop. 

And then there are the puppets. The puppetry, designed by Ray Wetmore and JR Goodman, with additional puppetry design by Camille Labarre and puppet direction by Joshua Holden, is extraordinary. Moved by members of the ensemble, the animals have remarkable personality and life. There are lions, horses, camels, an orangutan, peacocks, and, of course, Rosie. The elephant is the star, but the entire menagerie demonstrates just how much this production asks of its performers.

Perhaps what is most impressive about this company is how much everyone does. The ensemble members aren't simply singing and dancing. They are acrobats, aerialists, puppeteers, and storytellers, often shifting between those roles within the same production. 

And at the center of it all is Jacob. Keller gives the character an appealing innocence at the beginning of the story, allowing us to watch him grow into someone more confident, capable, and willing to choose his own path. His journey is not simply about falling in love with Marlena, but about finding a place where he belongs.

I left Water for Elephants with a question: What is the story I want to tell when I'm older?

Future nostalgia is my weakness, and this story knows exactly how to pull at those heartstrings. Jacob gets to live in a circus. He gets to become the veterinarian he dreamed of being. He meets the love of his life. He finds a family. He gets a story worth remembering. 

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