‘Water For Elephants’ Musical Sets Spring Broadway Opening With Jessica Stone Directing
12.09.2023 - 13:17
/ deadline.com
Water For Elephants, the new stage musical adapted from the acclaimed 2006 novel by Sara Gruen to be directed by Kimberly Akimbo director Jessica Stone, will open on Broadway this spring, producers announced today.
With a book by three-time Tony nominee Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher) and a score by the band and performance troupe PigPen Theatre Co., Water For Elephants will begin previews on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at the Imperial Theatre, with an opening night set for Thursday, March 21.
Casting will be announced soon.
Combining circus arts, puppetry and musical theater, Water For Elephants made an acclaimed world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre last summer. The Broadway staging will be produced by Peter Schneider, Jennifer Costello, Grove Entertainment, Frank Marshall, Isaac Robert Hurwitz, and Seth A. Goldstein.
“What excites me most about Water For Elephants is working with our enormous design and creative team, an incredible group of artists from different avenues of storytelling,” said Stone in a statement. “From Broadway veterans to puppeteers to circus artists- we have an eclectic collection of internationally acclaimed and innovative creators.”
The Tony-nominated Kimberly Akimbo director added, “What’s amazing about the culture of the circus is that you’re dependent upon one another to do a trick safely, so as a team we really all must lean on one another. If we do our jobs well and connect with our audience we will, quite literally, get the story off the page and into the air.”
The musical’s official synopsis: “After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling