‘Water for Elephants’ Brings Circus Spectacle and Broadway Drama to Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre
CHICAGO, IL — “Water for Elephants” has arrived in Chicago with the kind of hybrid appeal that can draw both Broadway regulars and circus lovers. Playing at the Nederlander Theatre, the touring musical blends a Depression-era showbiz story with acrobatics, puppetry and a Broadway score.
Based on Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel and the 2011 film starring Reese Witherspoon, the production gives the audience a traveling-circus world that feels inventive and physically ambitious. The result is a flashy crowd-pleaser with enough heart to generate a strong reaction, even when its structure does not always fully connect.
Why the production stands out on stage
The show’s biggest strength is how clearly it sells the circus itself. Under director Jessica Stone and circus designer Shana Carroll, the staging makes the big-top setting feel alive, with large animal puppets and carefully choreographed movement helping create the illusion of a full-scale traveling troupe.
The lead performances also give the romance some needed warmth. Helen Krushinski and Zachary Keller, who plays Jacob Jankowski, are presented as an appealing central couple, and Keller in particular is singled out as a performer with a promising future in Chicago theater and beyond.
A darker story sits beneath the spectacle
Even with its visual inventiveness, “Water for Elephants” is not a lightweight family outing. The story includes an abusive ringmaster and harsh treatment within the circus world, so the material keeps its edge even when the musical adaptation softens some of the novel’s brutality.
The review also argues that the framing device, which follows an older Jacob in a nursing home as he looks back on his past, does not land as strongly as it should. That split between memory and present-day life leaves the emotional center a little blurry, especially with Robert Tully in the role of the older Jacob.
What Chicago audiences can expect next
The touring version is also notable for being a non-Equity company, with a cast made up largely of early-career theater performers and artists from the circus world. That may help explain how the production works as a road show, but it also shapes the experience audiences are buying into.
Still, for theatergoers interested in spectacle, it offers a big, polished evening at the Nederlander. The run continues through July 5 at 24 W. Randolph St., with tickets priced from $39 to $130 through Broadway in Chicago.
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