Life of Pi Broadway Reviews

With dazzling imagination and sublime control, the show’s cast and crew conjure a delirious, dynamic, highly pettable world. And oh, is it a wonder. Though the play is ostensibly about one boy’s fraught survival after a disaster, that story is somewhat thin. “Life of Pi” instead succeeds as a broader tribute to human ingenuity and animal grace.

The result is something like children’s theater for adults. Actual kids may be upset by the horrors that beset Pi on the traumatic journey from his hometown of Pondicherry in the 1970s—accompanied at first by his zookeeper father (Rajesh Bose), his protective mother (Mahira Kakkar) and his brainy sister (Sonya Venugopal)—to a doomed cargo ship, a hellish lifeboat, a paradisal island and finally the western coast of Mexico. But grown-ups will marvel at Tim Hatley’s sets and costumes, Andrzej Goulding’s video and animation, Tim Lutkin’s lighting and Carolyn Downing’s sound design. The production is often beautiful, especially when seen from above. (Because the floor is featured prominently, this is the rare Broadway show that is better experienced from the mezzanine than the orchestra.) But if Life of Pi is transporting, where does it leave you?

Still, the kid knows how to spin a terrific yarn. Even Broadway audiences still tickled by the bovine Milky White of Into the Woods and the massive prehistoric creatures of Lincoln Center’s The Skin of Our Teeth will be charmed by the creatures of Pi, courtesy of puppetry and movement director Finn Caldwell and his co-designer Nick Barnes. Same goes for the work of set and costume designer Tim Hatley, video designer Andrzej Goulding, and lighting designer Tim Lutkin (their combined Olivier trophies could capsize a ship of their own). At one point, Pi jumps overboard and is swallowed by the sea/stage, a bit of theatrical trickery no less effective for its simplicity. Still, visual appeal can’t quite wash away a stacked-deck ending, or make a convincing case for the fanciful over the plausible. Deep down, Mr. Okamoto probably agrees.

The production will likely bring to mind two other ingenious displays of theatrical puppetry – Lion King and War Horse. Like them, Life of Pi does a phenomenal job of creating a sense of realism with extraordinary stagecraft. And while Life of Pi may not have the emotional punch of the other two shows, it succeeds in different ways. In light of Pi’s relentless pursuit of spirituality, the play prompts us to ponder our own beliefs, the nature of truth, morality, faith, and perhaps most resonantly, the incomparable power of live theater.

The script, unfortunately, is not always on par with the fantastic production work. Occasionally, the action moves so quickly that the dialogue gets lost in the commotion. But these are small quibbles for such an impressive stage production. At 2 hours and 15 minutes, the play whizzes by and, while some younger children might find the action too intense, the older children and teens who attended my performance appeared rapt. Adaptations of Life of Pi have won everything from Oscars to the Booker Prize to Olivier Awards, and there is no doubt with this dazzling Broadway production that Tony Awards are sure to follow.

Besides the spellbinding puppetry, the production features stunning projection designs, special effects, lighting, sound design and musical underscoring that combine to create a truly stunning experience. That praise, however, must come with a caveat: Theatergoers would be well advised not to sit in the front orchestra section, as many of the projections, including the swirling ocean, are displayed on the particularly high stage floor, making viewing them difficult if not impossible from there. The best seats would definitely be in the front mezzanine. The play feels somewhat drawn out at 135 minutes (including intermission), and the climactic narrative twist is too blatantly spoon-fed to the audience, as if the show’s creators were afraid that we would not be able to figure it out. But those are minor quibbles about this enthralling, wildly imaginative production.

A pair of extraordinary elements make the new spectacle show “Life of Pi” seaworthy: stunning projections, and a better-than-necessary lead performance from the sensational Hiran Abeysekera. Working in tandem during the second act, when teenage Pi is adrift in the ocean with only dangerous zoo animals to keep him company, those fantastical images and Abeysekera’s boisterous energy create moment after moment of theatrical magic. They are sequences of pure action and ingenuity in director Max Webster’s production that do not rely on dialogue or plot to thrill us, only sheer emotion and awe. Not unlike an “Avatar” film. However, not all of “Pi,” which opened Thursday night on Broadway, packs that same stirring visual punch. The play — adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from Yann Martel’s novel, previously turned into Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film — starts off as a fairly straightforward, wonkily written drama that takes a while to kick in

The puppets are only part of the breathtaking effects in “Life of Pi.” We’re plunged into a world that’s at times hellish, at times heavenly, by a masterful team of designers – Tim Lutkin’s lighting, Carolyn Downing’s sound, Andrzej Goulding’s video and animation, Tim Hatley’s sets and costumes — Andrew T Mackay’s music, and, crucially, by the two dozen cast members, who are fully integrated into not just the action but also the scenery.

Direction is by Max Webster, with Set and Costume Design by Tim Hatley, Puppetry and Movement Direction by Finn Caldwell, Puppet Design by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, Video Design by Andrzej Goulding, Lighting Design by Tim Lutkin, and Sound Design by Carolyn Downing. Together, they’ve created a visual—and visceral—feast that engages the senses. I’d recommend sitting in the front mezzanine. That’s where they seated press people like myself, so we could properly take in the entire swirl happening onstage. By the end, you will no longer doubt the fact that bananas float.

Life of Pi, directed with a restrained sense of wonder by Max Webster, is a very simple story: will Pi and Richard Parker be rescued from the sea; and will Pi’s rescuers believe his story? Is it true? And if it isn’t, does it matter if it is as enchanting as the theater-makers attempt to make it?

Beautiful as the staging is, there are some bald bits of dialogue, including some obvious exposition in the opening scene; Father’s portentous observation that “man is the most dangerous animal in this zoo”; and a line that could be interpreted as making leaden parallels to contemporary issues: “This government show us bad behavior has no consequences. People are looting, fighting, vandalizing property and no one is held accountable.” Hmm.

Though the production is top-to-bottom visually arresting, it doesn’t spend much time examining the symbiotic relationship between man and beast. For all its initial high-minded talk of political parties being incapable of coexisting and Pi’s notion that all religions are variations on the same belief, the play is essentially over by the time our hero tames Richard Parker and life-saving peace is achieved aboard the lifeboat. This takes some of the fantastical bite out of the show. No longer centered on the glorious cohabitation of natural balance, a dampened weight is given to a social worker’s later belief that Pi’s recounting is mere fiction. Whether the boy’s story checks out, and how much that cosmically matters, has always been at the core of Martel’s inquiry, but a production built on wonderment should be wary of letting the whimsical air out of its sails.

“Life of Pi” is a most impressive and well-executed piece of theater. It’s a shame that Richard Parker is likely not eligible for a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Then again, one suspects that the artists that brought the tiger and the other animals and visual effects to life will be deservedly recognized.

In the end, there’s no question that director Max Webster’s staging is a technical marvel that makes the most of its moving parts. Those include amazing puppetry; evocative scenic, lighting, and sound design; and transporting video and animation effects that conjure the ocean and the sky above. “My story will make you believe in God,” Pi insists. Whether or not that’s true, it’s impossible to doubt such powerful theatrical stagecraft.