A multimedia spectacular, this Jungle Book is based on Rudyard Kipling’s original work of that title. Its plot, though, gives a modern view of Mowgli, a human raised as a wolf and torn between human and animals’ worlds. It transports us (aged 5 upward) from today’s New York City to a jungle and nearby town in Madhya Pradesh, India. Magnificent technical-staging means of transportation bring us to share in Mowgli’s worlds with its problems, happily with suggestions for solutions. Levin Valayil nicely captures Mowgli’s frustration as a NYC architect worrying about his connection to his jungle home and the animals who raised him there. He shows us life in the city where he’s cut off from nature, then takes us back to that part of natural India that gave him home and family. Three actors—Matt Lacas, Anita Majumdar, and Miriam Fernandes—play all the other roles. They range from Mowgli’s wolf parents (Matt Lacas, Anita Majumdar) to helpful python Kaa (Miriam Fernandes) who sings. The bear Baloo teaches him Jungle Law, which involves an elephant hunter who uses a horrible prod. (Matt Lacas gives a fine rendition of Kipling’s poem “If” as part of his explanation.) Bad hunters, we learn, kill for sport. Most of the animals want to know how to make “the red flower” (fire) or how to control its growth or death. The major animals like elephant, tiger, and python are shown in stunning silhouette. (A young audience member I spoke to after the show said the silhouettes were the outstanding things she’ll remember.) We also are treated to original music and puppets. Attractive costumes grace human characters. Lighting and sound turn out to be of paramount importance in creating places and mood. Mowgli’s plight serves to make us aware of the importance of preserving nature and trying to achieve harmony between the structures of civilization and modernity with those of ages old natural ones. Like Mowgli, we have lessons to learn. It is a pleasure to get some of them in a presentation of a modern The Jungle Book and in an often interactive way.
