Theater is the ultimate medium of the imagination, more so than film or TV. With the latter two, there is the potential to travel literally anywhere in the world (or the universe in fact), but the audience must work their minds to transform the four corners of the stage into the four corners of the earth. The stage provides more magical experiences than the ones offered before the large or small screens since you are a collaborator on making the trip and not just a viewer looking through the cinema camera lens.
Two current productions take us on thrilling journeys employing metaphorical means and imaginary dialogue. Life of Pi at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti from Yann Martel’s classic novel, chronicles the harrowing voyage of the title character, a charismatic, intellectually curious young East Indian, from a zoo in his native country to a lifeboat in the Pacific shared with a hungry tiger named Richard Parker to a hospital bed in Mexico. (This production arrives on Broadway after debuting in Sheffield, followed by an acclaimed, Olivier-winning run in London and at stint at ART in Cambridge, Mass.) Like Keith Bunin’s The Coast Starlight, now playing at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse, the show focuses on a sextet of strangers, each at the end of their respective ropes, sharing a coach car from Los Angeles to Seattle. Both works feature sojourns of self-discovery and sublime stagecraft. Directors, designers and cast combine to transport us emotionally and spiritually.
Pi is one of those novels that seemed impossible to bring to the stage not only because it features a menagerie of animals, but also because of its deep ruminations on philosophy, religion, biology and the nature of storytelling. Ang Lee won an Oscar for his inspired direction of the 2012 film version which used spectacular cinematic effects, but how could similar wizardry be accomplished in the theater? The main answer is provided by Max Webster’s multi-dimensional staging, Tim Hatley’s amazing globe-spanning set, and the incredibly lifelike puppet creations of Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell. Pi ranks with The Lion King and War Horse as Broadway’s most memorable puppet shows.
Chakrabati’s contribution is just as vital. She compresses the action, paring down Pi’s colorful backstory and framing the action as a flashback (In the novel, the author meets the protagonist who relates his tale).
As the play begins, Pi (a magnificently complex and magnetic Hiran Abeysekera) is being interviewed by Mr. Okamoto (brusque Daisuke Tsuji, concealing seething emotions), an investigator with a Japanese shipping line, and Lulu Chen (ably played by understudy Celia Mei Rubin at the performance attended), an official with the Canadian embassy. They have come to question Pi, the sole survivor of the wreck of the freighter belonging to Okamoto’s company. Through the magic of Hatley’s set, Tim Lutkin’s lighting and Andrzeg Goulding’s video projections, we relive Pi’s incredible story. His hospital room melts away, the bed becomes a boat, and the stage a vast ocean.
Pi and his family were transporting the occupants of their zoo to start a new life in Canada because of political unrest in 1970s India. After a storm at sea, Pi and the oddly-named tiger are the only ones left. Or are they? As the tale becomes more fantastic, questions of God, humanity and narrative are introduced and Pi’s adventure takes on troubling ambiguities. What’s real and what’s imaginary? Just as in life, no clear answers are offered and we must ponder the intentions of God and his various manifestations.
The ferocious feline, named after the hunter who captured him due to a clerical error, becomes a fully realized character as he and Pi fight for dominance and survival in the tiny lifeboat. Chakrabarti adds variety by introducing characters in Pi’s imagination to debate him on religion, science and the nature of man versus animals.
In addition to those already mentioned, standouts in the excellent large cast include Brian Thomas Abraham’s brutal French ship’s cook, Rajesh Bose’s domineering father, Mahira Kakkar’s compassionate mother, Sonya Venugopal’s whip-smart sister, Avery Glymph as the no-nonsense voice of a naval survival guide Pi reads, and the amazing ensemble who manipulate and bring the animal-puppets to life (the puppet movement is credited to Caldwell). This is a nourishing slice of Pi for the mind and the soul.
