PicksInSix Review - Water for Elephants-Broadway in Chicago

‘WATER FOR ELEPHANTS’ IS TRUNKING AMAZING!
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Catey Sullivan

Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre may well be the most thematically appropriate venue in the country for the first national tour of “Water for Elephants.” The endlessly ornate venue opened in 1926, a scant five years before the musical based on Sara Gruen’s 1931-set novel about a travelling circus trying to outrun the Great Depression. There are literally elephants in the vestibule of the 100-year-old Nederlander, their tusked heads holding orb-like lamps. There’s also at least one elephant built into the house, a fanciful pachyderm amid the sea of gryphons and other fantastical creatures sculpted into the walls around the seats.

It’s a marvel of an interior, and a place that ups the ambiance in the stellar production (book by Rick Elice, music and lyrics by Pigpen Theatre Co.) running through July 5. There are a few significant departures from the novel, including the inexplicable decision to excise a pivotal plot point involving the Brookfield Zoo. Directed by Ryan Emmons (original direction by Jessica Stone) “Water for Elephants” is a whiz-bang of a show, beguiling, jaw-dropping, and irresistible.

Crucially, an astounding array of circus acts are incorporated into a story that takes the brutal impact of the Great Depression and wraps it around a star-crossed romance, a host of indelible circus folk and, obviously, an elephant. Shana Carroll’s circus design has cast members flying on wings of billowing silk, spinning on gleaming hoops and acrobat-ing up and down 15(ish)-foot pools. There are jugglers, burlesque dancers, roustabouts and extraordinary puppet creatures (designed by Ray Wetmore, JR Goodman and Camille LaBarre) that look every bit as sentient as the humans on stage. Rosie is the showpiece with massive lumbering legs, a swinging trunk and expressive, saucer-large eyes.

The cast knows its business: As Jacob Jankowski, who joins the circus after his parents die, Zachary Keller delivers just the right mix of vulnerability and leading man bravissimo. The love interest is Marlena (Helen Krushinski, navigating the score’s treacherous modulations with ease) who performs, trains, befriends and tries to protect Rosie. Working against her: the villainous ringmaster August (Connor Sullivan), whose final confrontation with Rosie is immensely satisfying. But arguably the most memorable member of this rag-tag troop is Walter the clown. Tyler West is a hilarious showstopper, combining physical slapstick and rapid-fire wit and impeccable comic timing. West has one of the best, most ridiculous death scenes I’ve seen in 35 years of reviewing musicals. (He’s actually got a couple of death scenes, it’s the first one that’s snort-level side-splitting.)

Pigpen’s score is a terrific mix of up-tempo, energized, stunt-filled numbers (the all-hands on deck opening “Prologue”) slower, fluid ballad-like tunes (Krushinski’s flowing “Easy”) that come with a dream-like quality.

“Water for Elephants” unfolds as a memory, bookended by Jacob as an elderly man (Robert Tully) from the nursing home he is desperate to get out of. The show then gracefully vacillates between soft-focus beauty and vivid detail. Either way, the production is—if not the most spectacular show on earth—surely one of the best musicals on the tour circuit.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | CATEY SULLIVAN has been covering Chicago theater for more than 30 years. Her work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, Windy City Times, Playbill, Chicago Magazine, Chicago Tribune and New City, among others. She has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Illinois. 

PHOTO|Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Broadway in Chicago
presents
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
James M. Nederlander Theatre
through July 5, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: Kimberly Akimbo - Broadway In Chicago

Achingly Touching Story Bursts With Joy!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

The national tour of “Kimberly Akimbo,” directed by Jessica Stone with choreography by Danny Mefford, opened at the CIBC Theater on Wednesday. The recipient of eight 2023 Tony nominations, that won five including Best Musical, Best Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (who also wrote the original play), and Best Score for Jeanine Tesori (“Fun Home”), “Kimberly Akimbo” is the achingly touching story of a teenager navigating a rare disease that has been aging her five years to one since birth. The cast is steeped in talent—many connected with the Broadway production—and stars the luminous Broadway veteran Carolee Carmello in the tender role of Kimberly. It is a story with abundant heart, bursting with joy and the promise of a life well-lived, even as the end is so crucially near.

It’s 1999 and Kimberly is trying to fit in with classmates who are focused on other aspects of their lives (read that: normal teenagers). There is one exception in the group, Seth (a terrific national tour debut for Miquel Gil), who plays the tuba and works at the local skating rink. Like Kimberly, Seth is a bit of an outcast, too, but he is wired just tight enough to stand out in a crowd as the keenly analytical guy with a penchant for anagrams. Seth and Kimberly team up on a class project that defines her medical situation and, as the show unfolds, their friendship and support for each other blossoms. While the rest of the world is closing around her, they each become the others anchor.

The clock is ominously ticking for Kimberly, her life plotting to pass her by as she turns sixteen still dreaming of having enough time to do the things she wants to do. At home, her dysfunctional family is another story. Her hilarious mom, Patti (Laura Woyasz), who is pregnant and nearly incapacitated with dual carpal tunnel, and a broken leg; her irresponsible dad, Buddy (Jim Hogan) who’s drunken lapses constantly add pressure to Kimberly‘s life; and then there is the boisterous Aunt Debra (Emily Koch) who barges back into their lives unannounced with yet another hare brained scheme to bilk people out of money, needing only a small crew to pull it off.

That crew—Grace Capeless (Delia), Darron Hayes (Martin), Skye Alyssa Friedman (Teresa), and Pierce Wheeler (Aaron)—are Kimberly’s delightfully engaging classmates who have a chemistry all their own, join forces and fall under Debra’s charms. After a joyous celebration of her sixteenth birthday, and as Kimberly‘s condition progresses, an event triggers the real sensibilities of everyone around her. It is then that Kimberly realizes it’s time to take charge of her own destiny and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.

The relationship between Carmello and Gil feels very much in the moment from their first encounter at the skating rink. As she navigates this challenging role with the wide-eyed innocence of a teenager, Gil immediately connects with the young woman inside, forming a strong emotional bond that melts away the darker aspects of the story unfolding around them. Tapping into the uncertainty of simply trying to get through their teenage years, being accepted for who they are and finding some joy in life together.

Some of this on one level or another could have only happened in 1999 when the skating rink was the place to be, kids played UNO, sang harmonies, played instruments and did dance routines for fun instead of being transfixed on a cell phone. One of those modern devices went off during Act 2, but even that reminder of the world we live in could not dampen the uplifting elements of this truly memorable and remarkable show coming to a theater near you.

PHOTO|Joan Marcus

National Tour Premiere
Broadway in Chicago
presents
Kimberly Akimbo
CIBC Theatre
18 West Monroe
through June 22, 2025

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