Life of Pi is an the epic tale of adventure. This Tony Award® and Olivier Award-winning hit is “an exhilarating evening of theater” (The Wall Street Journal) and “gives new life to Broadway” (The Today Show). After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions— a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger. A truly remarkable story unfolds of hope, faith, and perseverance that speaks to every generation. Told through incomparable puppetry and exquisite stagecraft, Life of Pi creates a visually breathtaking journey that will leave you filled with awe and joy.
In fact, the entire show has a fairy-tale quality, initially joyous and then steadily more Grimm. Like the insurance investigator, we stop asking whether Pi’s narrative is true and ask the more important question: Why is he telling it to us? The answer brings a gut punch that reminded me of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger,” a companion piece to Blake’s “The Lamb.” Blake, horrified by the “fire of thine eyes,” asks the tiger, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” This play answers frankly: God put all kinds of natures on Earth, sometimes in the same body. When a matter of life and death comes up, the survivors will acknowledge that truth and act accordingly.
Visually, Life of Pi is a spectacle. Tim Hatley’s innovative set design transforms the stage into a vast, ever-changing ocean, while projections and lighting effects create a dreamlike, immersive atmosphere. The seamless blending of physical set pieces with dynamic digital imagery makes for a strikingly fluid storytelling approach, capturing both the beauty and danger of Pi’s journey.
| 2021 | West End |
Original West End Production West End |
| 2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2024 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
Videos