Water For Elephants: A Musical About Hope And Salvation During Troubled Times

Sara Gruen was about a third of the way through her “springboard book”—a novel that she couldn’t bring herself to finish—when she stumbled upon the Edward J. Kelty photo Congress of Freaks in the Chicago Tribune. The photo that so intrigued her became the inspiration for the setting of what would become her supernova novel, Water For Elephants.

“Kelty made his own camera and the negatives were huge. The detail was amazing,” says Gruen of the photographer who went around the country photographing circus performers during the 1920s and 1930s and was called “the Cecil B. DeMille of still photography.”

“You could see the wrinkles, stockings, feathers, rhinestones and barrettes. All these people are in the photo and you can see every single one and all the details.” Completely fascinated by the circus performers and their transient lifestyle in the photo, Gruen told her husband, “This is what I’m doing,” she said. “And I didn’t know anything about it, so I just dove in.”

She began her quest in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the original home of the Ringling Bros. Circus. Then she visited the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. “I was sneaking into elephant enclosures, which was a pretty bad idea. But it was really fun,” says Gruen.

Gruen’s 2006 bestselling novel, Water For Elephants, tells the story of a circus troupe and their animals in the midst of the depression. Despite very challenging times, those who make up the Benzini Bros. Circus are on a journey to not only survive but somehow thrive while finding love and community.

At its center is Jacob Jankowski, an adrift young man seeking hope and his next meal. Then there’s the circus star Marlena, whose patience and compassion for the animals in her act is as vast as the big top. She’s married to August, the circus owner, whose prime goal is to make money at any cost.

This week Water For Elephants opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre. Directed by Jessica Stone, the show has a book by Rick Elice, score by PigPen Theatre Co and choreography by Shana Carroll and Jesse Rob. The sweeping musical, which mostly takes place in 1932 but toggles forward to Jacob’s life as an old man in the early 2000s, offers an intimate love story while featuring real-life circus artists who perform dazzling feats of tumbling and acrobatics that fits into the action in a seamless way.

“Water For Elephants is a survival story. It’s about getting yourself out of a dark situation when you think there is no future,” says Joe de Paul who plays Walter the Benzini clown. de Paul has actually been working as a clown in circuses around the world for the past 25 years. ”You realize on the other side is could be something that thrills you and fills your heart. There’s a real destiny in this show.”

For Jesse Robb, who co-choregraphed with Shana Carroll, who created the show’s circus designs, Water For Elephants is all about freedom and being invincible. “It makes you feel like you can still pursue whatever you want at whatever age,” says Robb. “And that’s empowering.”

The circus is a key piece of the production. “Because this vibrant chapter in Jacob’s life takes place at a circus, we thought, we must have a circus,” says director Jessica Stone.

But Stone wanted the circus elements to be organic to the story and action. “I didn’t want people arbitrarily peeling off to do a backhand or cartwheels for no reason,” she says. “We use circus language to illuminate some of Jacob’s most important memories and pivotal moments in his life. There’s an element of circus that is all about fragility and human connection. It turned out to be a beautiful lens and physical language for the piece.”

Then there’s the uniquely eclectic folk-bluegrass-jazz-blues-musical theater score from PigPen, a band of seven writer/composers/storytellers who met when they were freshmen at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and have been collaborating ever since. Band member Curtis Gillen refers to the music as “a window into the world of what America sounded like in the 1930s combined with a contemporary, timeless sound.” And at the forefront was the storytelling in the songs.

“The music spans anywhere from traditional circus melodies to patter song a la Cab Calloway to folksy stuff, to traditional musical theater,” says Paul Alexander Nolan who plays August. “What is consistent throughout is that it’s hard to figure out where it will go. I find that exciting because it’s so unusual.”

Two and a half years ago when she first got involved with the show, Isabelle McCalla, who plays Marlena, found herself enchanted by the multiple layers of Water For Elephants. “I got to rehearsal, heard the music by PigPen and was swept away by the incredible bluegrass music. Also, the lyrics are so poetic,” says McCalla. “Then I saw the circus choreography by Shana Carroll. I couldn’t believe that all of these mediums could exist in one show to tell a beautiful story in such a poignant way.”

What drew Grant Gustin was the level of hope he found in the characters. “I love playing optimistic people who can see the light. We all have a tendency to be pessimistic and I can skew that way,” says Gustin. “It’s nice to play someone who doesn’t go in that direction and follows the light. It brings light into your own heart and you can tap into those real parts of you.”

In fact, Water For Elephants continues to be a source of light for many people in the cast. Stan Brown, who plays Camel, spent much of his career as a teacher and mentor. With Water For Elephants he is making his Broadway debut at 61-years-old. “I want people to know they can choose the ride at any time in life,” says Brown who is a professor and director of Graduate Studies of the MFA in Acting program at the School of Communication at Northwestern. “Life is not static. I hope people walk away with that enthusiasm.”

For Broadway veteran Sara Gettelfinger Water For Elephants got her out of retirement after a decade away. “To come back and be given the gift of this piece, I’ve never felt more present, authentic, more myself as a performer and human being. It’s a gift I will keep forever,” says Gettelfinger.

After all is said and done Gruen hopes that Water for Elephants inspires more caring—“more love and understanding for each other,” says Gruen. “That’s beautifully and simply stated. And this is a very, very complicated multi-layered production,” added Elice about Gruen’s reflections. “Love and understanding. That simple thought is exactly what the show is about. If there is something that we need more of, I don’t know what it is.”