Displaying items by tag: Zachary Keller

The musical Water for Elephants, presented by Broadway In Chicago and based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel, is the rare touring Broadway production that feels like two forms of live entertainment fused perfectly. It is a sweeping musical, yes, but it is also a full-blown circus spectacle – and, more impressively, it manages to blow you away on both fronts.

Told through the memories and ghosts of an elderly Jacob Jankowski, Water for Elephants follows a young Jacob who, under unfortunate circumstances, follows the age-old childhood dream of running away with the circus. The show brings to life the complicated realities behind that fantasy: the idea of stumbling into a secret, self-contained world where danger, wonder, chosen family, and reinvention all exist under one big top. From the moment Jacob enters that world, the audience is drawn in with him.

Particular standouts in the principal cast were Zachary Keller as Jacob Jankowski, whose vocal talent and charisma are matched only by Robert Tully as Older Jacob – the perfect pairing across time. As Marlena, Helen Krushinski commanded the theatre like a pure-of-heart ringmaster, capturing our attention both on trapeze and vocally. However, no one made the audience laugh harder than Tyler West as Walter, the gritty, spunky clown and knife-thrower whose physical comedy was unmatched, projecting every larger-than-life expression to the backs of the theatre.

The show’s creative engine fires on all cylinders: a soaring score from the acclaimed PigPen Theatre Co. (The Tale of Despereaux), a sharply crafted book by four‑time Tony Award nominee Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher), and tour direction by Ryan Emmons, faithfully re‑creating Jessica Stone’s Tony‑nominated original staging (Kimberly Akimbo).

(left-right) Connor Sullivan, Helen Krushinski, and Zachary Keller in Water for Elephants. Photos by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade. 

The most immediately astonishing element of this production is, unsurprisingly, the circus work. The show features a truly impressive range of skills, including aerial hoop and silks, Spanish web, trapeze, and dozens of genuinely death-defying acrobatic tricks and stunts. These sequences are not treated as decorative flourishes or occasional spectacle breaks; they are woven directly into the fabric of the show, pulling us behind the scenes of how the circus breathes, moves, celebrates, and survives.

Aside from their incredible acrobatic talent, it is the ensemble’s acting and collective presence that really bring the Benzini Brothers Circus to life. They do not just perform like a group of talented individuals; they feel like a community. Their presence gives the spectacle a lived-in quality, as if we are getting a glimpse into a strange, beautiful little village that existed long before Jacob arrived and will continue on after he leaves. The choreography only deepens that feeling, filling the stage with constant motion that still somehow feels purposeful, like the well-oiled machine behind a traveling circus, rather than chaotic. Even in the busiest moments, there is a sense of shared rhythm and collective trust among the ensemble that’s impossible to fake.

That trust extends beyond performance and into the technical construction of the show itself. Throughout the production, the cast quite literally assembles and dismantles the world around them. The big top is built, broken down, reconfigured, and rebuilt in front of us, using artistry to turn scene transitions into their own kind of performance. For a concept that presents so many obvious challenges – live animals, circus-scale theatricality, and the limitations of a traveling production, to name a few – Water for Elephants meets each obstacle with remarkable creativity and a steady grounding force.

The touring cast of Water for Elephants.

The production design is especially successful because it knows when to lean into abstraction. Rather than attempting to make every element literal, the show often suggests the world of the circus through movement, fabric, shadow, structure, the bodies of its performers, and some of the most beautiful puppets I’ve seen on stage. The amount of thought that went into creating something cohesive, theatrical, and fully transportable - without dulling any of its magic - feels less like standard Broadway stagecraft and more like a feat pulled off by a traveling chosen family.

All of this authenticity, however, at times feels at odds with the musical’s book and score. The ensemble feels so natural, so physically and emotionally connected to one another, that a few of the more dramatic scenes begin to feel noticeably staged by comparison. That is not a question of the principal cast’s talent, but rather a limitation of translating this story from novel to musical. There are moments when the circus – and even the puppets – feels startlingly real, and moments when you are reminded that you are very much watching a musical. Neither approach is inherently wrong, but the gap between them can be jarring. Still, that critique feels small compared to the scale of what the production accomplishes. It is also worth noting how vocally balanced the ensemble remains despite the wide range of performers on stage. In a show that combines musical theatre performers with circus and acrobatic artists, maintaining that level of cohesion is both a performance achievement and a technical one.

Water for Elephants captures the exact feeling it is chasing: awe. It is dangerous, romantic, inventive, and deeply theatrical, with a company that makes the impossible look effortless.

For anyone who has ever wanted to run away with the circus – or simply be reminded of what live performance can do when artists push it to its limits – Water for Elephants is running at James M. Nederlander Theatre through July 5th. Tour information and tickets are available at https://waterforelephantsthemusical.com/.

As with any good mystery, suspense, intrigue and surprise are the key elements in making a successful story that keeps one on the edge of their seat and keeps you guessing. ‘And Then There Were None’ at Drury Lane in Oakbrook has it all. And even though I have seen this play before, I did not remember the ending and was thoroughly surprised and shocked to find out who “dunnit” and why!

Without giving anything away, this Agatha Christie story is about ten strangers who have been invited to an island vacation by a secretive host or hostess. After realizing that there is a murderer on the island and no escape until a boat comes, the characters all begin displaying their own foibles and ways of coping with what seems to be certain death with some welcoming it and others fighting to the death to stay alive. As the mystery progresses, clues unfold that keep amateur sleuths (audience members) involved as we try piece the puzzle together.  

The mature and very talented, ensemble cast includes Vera Clayton (Cher Alvarez), Justice Wargrave (Matt DeCaro), Mrs. Rogers (Jennifer Engstrom), Emily Brent (Marilyn Dodds Frank), Fred Narracott (Casey Hoekstra), William Blore (Paul-Jordan Jansen), Anthony Marston (Zachary Keller), Doctor Armstrong (David Kortemeier), Philip Lombard (Yousof Sultani), Thomas Rogers (Paul Tavianini), and General Mackenzie (Bruce Young). And all ten had a solid grip on their characters. I was particularly impressed with Emily Brent as Marilyn Dodds Frank. Brent really knows how to infuse every word and look with an element of intensity and humor as her character teeters on the brink of sanity.

The set design by Andrew Boyce was particularly lush in depicting a mansion set on a private island somewhere off the coast of Maine with a stunning view of the ocean. As one who truly enjoys a water view, I was engaged immediately. Directed with great timing by Jessica Fisch, this production had me guessing on the murderers' identity right up until the last scene. But though the thought of a murder mystery might be macabre to some, the play infuses enough humor to keep things light enough for everyone to appreciate. 

There is a very interesting subtext in this story by Christie wherein the murderer has real reasons to kill off each of the guests who are guilty of murder in various ways themselves. The murderer has justified in his or her mind that killing each of these "alleged" murderers is the right way to serve up justice, and to a point the audience begins to actually want to see some of the characters die. But by the end it is clear that when a human presumes to "play God" they must be ready to experience the kick back of instant karma! Recommended for a fun Summer night of mystery solving that is suspenseful but not too scary for the whole family to enjoy.

‘And Then There Were None’ is a delightful whodunnit that is attractive to all sorts of theatre goers. Playing at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook, you can catch this fun mystery through September 1st For more show information visit www.drurylanetheatre.com.