‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
Based on the Novel by Sara Gruen
Book by Rick Elise
Score by PigPenTheatre Co.
Choreography by Jesse Robb & Shana Carroll
Directed by Jessica Stone
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.waterforelephants.com

By David NouNou

Whatever happened to the adage “less is more”? There is so much and nothing going on here that the head literally reels. Water For Elephants starts out in a reasonable fashion and within minutes, it becomes an overwrought runaway train.

The fairgrounds have closed, the circus has been dismantled, and there is the elder Jacob Jankowski, the ever genial (Gregg Edelman) admiring and enjoying the pleasures the circus has provided him over the years. He is greeted by the current mangers, June (Isabelle McCalla) and Charlie (Paul Alexander Nolan) and wonder what he is doing there, only to be told he escaped from the old age home and came to enjoy the circus, and starts retelling them what he did as far back as 1931 when he started working for a circus. We now meet Young Jacob (Grant Gustin). His parents died in a car crash. He was young with nowhere to go, and accidentally jumped on board a circus train and hoping to get at least one day’s work at Benzini Brothers Circus.

Young Jacob is met with a lot of hostility and animosity from “kinkers and rousts,” the names of circus performers. He is hired by August (Paul Alexander Nolan) to do odd jobs from cleaning stalls to pitching tents. Jacob can do and does everything. Next enters Marlena (Isabelle McCalla), the star attraction with a beautiful white horse. The horse has been overworked and a spur is jutting from his foot; ultimately, he must be put down. Jacob—who was studying to be a veterinarian at Cornell but never graduated—euthanizes the horse and that brings an end to the specialty attraction of the circus.

Jacob has now been assigned to get a new act for the circus—and it is in the form of a giant elephant who speaks only one language. Wait for it. It is Marlena and Jacob who have to get the elephant act up and running in order for the circus to continue. Oh, did I mention that Marlena is married to the abusive August when this new trio forms?

That is basically the story condensed and is, hopefully, comprehensible. Also, a further clarification is needed that the story jumps to past and present, so stay alert and keep up.

A circus is basically a fun place to go to and be amazed by all the illusions taking place. What we have here is all the daily grind routines and pressures a circus endures with none of the pleasures involved. The book by Rick Elise is so top-heavy with every turgid cliché imaginable. It keeps hammering at you repeatedly if you missed it the first couple of times. The nice guy, the sinister malevolent circus owner, his gentle and sweet wife, all the fun and mean circus folk, on and on and on.

Next is the score by Pigpen Theatre Co. It has a depression-era bluesy 1930s sound and for every dirge inserted, an upbeat song follows, then another dirge, another rousing number and so on and so on. When all else fails, brings on the “kinkers and rousts” to do all the tumbling, scaling each other, with the acrobats throwing themselves across the stage, over each other and under each other. These routine antics, thanks to choreographers Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll, are akin to an alarm, keeping things moving to keep the audience awake. At this point, we haven’t even hit intermission yet.

Last year, director Jessica Stone delivered the beautiful musical Kimberly Akimbo with laser-focused direction. There is so much extemporaneous stuff  going on just before intermission, including a dreadful stabbing act that completely boggles the mind on why it even exists.  Her direction here is so loose and all over the place that at least half an hour could have been trimmed from the show and you would not have missed a thing. Why? Everything is repeated multiple times. Finally, the curtain comes down at almost two hours and 45 minutes.

Two things that do stand out are the ever-charming Greg Edelman, who makes the evening somewhat bearable; and making his Broadway debut is Grant Gustin. Mr. Gustin has boundless energy and is put through the wringer but comes out shining.

Not to worry, though, as this is one of the shows that out-of-towners can fully appreciate.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 29, 2024
Reviewed at March 28, 2024 press performance

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS”: Marissa Rosen, Sara Gettelfinger, Taylor Colleton & Grant Gustin. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’: Marissa Rosen, Gregg Edelman, Taylor Colleton, Sara Gettelfinger, Joe De Paul & Stan Brown. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Justin Cooley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Book & lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Jessica Stone
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street.
(212-239-6200), www.KimberlyAkimboTheMusical.com

By David NouNou

I had no idea that Kimberly Akimbo the musical was originally a 2001 play of the same name. I only knew the musical opened in 2021 Off-Broadway and was a huge success—and has now transferred to Broadway. As I was watching the show, I was mesmerized by David Lindsay-Abaire’s book and how compelling the storyline was, and thinking to myself of how the score was getting in the way of the script. When a book is so strong, the score becomes superfluous. I realize now that, in modern-day musicals, the score doesn’t propel the storyline forward as in yesteryear’s musicals, but the score now describes the characters and who and what they are. It’s the characters words with the music twisted around them that forms the score. This often makes most 21^st century scores unmemorable.

Back to the script, set in New Jersey in 1999.  It’s about a lonely 16-year-old high school girl, Kim (Victoria Clark) who suffers from a condition that causes her to age four times faster, which makes her look like 64. She is befriended by an anagram genius, Seth (Justin Cooley) who wants to work with Kimberly on the science project about her condition so that they can present to the class together.

There are also other teenagers that are fraught with their teenage angst and who wants to work with whom on various school projects. They are presented as real normal kids with their frailties but trying to figure things out for themselves. It’s the adults that are horrid with their repellent behaviors and attitudes.

Kim’s father, Buddy (Steven Boyer), is an alcoholic who is mostly repelled by her, and her mother, Patti (Alli Mauzey) is pregnant again, and hopes the second child doesn’t turn out like Kim, so she gets pregnant by a neighbor. Add to the mix, Patti’s sister, Aunt Debra (Bonnie Mulligan), who is a con artist and a convicted felon. Her aunt is ultimately Kimberly’s friend and helps Kim follow her dreams and her right to enjoy her life despite her handicap.

If you’ve seen Mr. Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole and Good People, you have an idea of what a genius he is with words and setting up a play and Kimberly Akimbo is no exception. There are so many layers to this beautifully textured show, it has to be seen and relished. His handling of Kim and Seth is both beautiful and touching. It is nothing like the perverse Harold and Maude. That’s thanks in large part to Victoria Clark.

Although a veteran of many Broadway shows, with the part of Kim, this establishes Victoria Clark as a contender in the theatre. Her dazzling performance is sublime. You can see her as 16 when she is giddily happy and 64 when she is down. Don’t ever count her out because she makes Kimberly a winner all the way because she lives on hope.

Her counterpart, Seth (Justin Cooley), making an impressionable Broadway debut is so charming and uplifting; there is nothing creepy about their relationship but genuine love of two lost teenage souls who see each other’s beauty.

Just as she stole the show in the ill-fated, short-lived musical Head Over Heels, once you get to know Debra, you’ve got to love Bonnie Milligan. Her quirkiness makes her lovable and you forgive her inequities.

The tough pills to swallow are Buddy and Patti—not the fault of Steven Boyer and Alli Mauzey, both of whom give their all. As characters, they are just vile.

Director Jessica Stone brings sensibility to all the proceedings, especially when dealing with the teenagers, but her main focus always centers around Kim and Seth and Aunt Debra. From a personal observation, at our performance there were a lot of older teenagers who were really into the show, and it is always a thrill to see younger audiences being absorbed by what’s going on stage and not what’s on their smartphones. Kudos to all the teenagers who will discover Kimberly Akimbo when they come and see the show.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 16, 2022
Reviewed at November 15, 2022 press performance.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Michael Iskander, Justin Cooley, Victoria Clark, Nina White, Olivia Hardy & Fernell Hogan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Nina White, Michael Iskander, Fernell Hogan & Olivia Hardy. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’ (left to right): Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley & Steven Boyer. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Justin Cooley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: (left to right): Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, Michael Iskander, Olivia Hardy, Nina White & Fernell Hogan.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: (left to right): Alli Mauzey, Victoria Clark & Steven Boyer. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Victoria Clark & Alli Mauzey. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Alli Mauzey. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘KIMBERLY AKIMBO’: Bonnie Milligan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Kimberly Akimbo’: Broadway transfer is a hit appeared first on StageZine.