WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Opening Night Critics' Reviews — Page 2

B- from Entertainment Weekly

Water for Elephants review: Dazzling circus performers steal Grant Gustin's spotlight in his Broadway debut

Step right up to experience the razzle-dazzle of a circus, live on Broadway.

https://ew.com/water-for-elephants-review-broadway-grant-gustin-8612582

"If nothing else, we never wonder how Jacob is swept away by the circus. The romance may fall short, and the songs lack a certain luster, but the magic of the circus is winning. Grade: B–"

NYT Critic's Pick from Green:

‘Water for Elephants’ Review: Beauty Under the Big Top

The circus-themed love story, already a novel and a movie, becomes a gorgeously imaginative Broadway musical.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/theater/water-for-elephants-review-broadway.html

"What a pleasure it is to be treated that way by a brand-extension musical, a form usually characterized by craftlessness and cynicism. Indeed, at its best, “Water for Elephants” has more in common with the circus arts than it does with by-the-books Broadway. Sure, it features an eventful story and compelling characters, and apt, rousing music by PigPen Theater Co., a seven-man indie folk collective. But in the director Jessica Stone’s stunning, emotional production, it leads with movement, eye candy and awe."

Holdren in Vulture is positive:

Water for Elephants Is Best When It’s Behind the Times

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-water-for-elephants-broadway.html

"Why am I so hung up on this totally conventional framing device? Well, partly for its convention — but also because, in the case of Water for Elephants, whenever we leave the sappy present behind, there’s suddenly a great deal to enjoy. As is so frequently the case, the show’s stagecraft outstrips its script by a mile. Under Jessica Stone’s exuberant direction, a huge ensemble of ridiculously talented acrobats ebbs and flows—and flips and flies—through the house, coalescing into gorgeous paintings in front of projection designer David Bengali’s lush, shifting cloudscape of a backdrop. Roustabouts hammer a tent spike into the floor in time with the music. Lyras, silks, trapeze bars, and long, twisting strands of corde lisse appear from the shadows above. Rolling banks of scaffolding and vast stretches of parachute silk elegantly create box cars and big tops in the vibrant, mutable expanse of Takeshi Kata’s set. PigPen’s bluegrassy tunes start to snap and sparkle — most of all in the production’s up-tempo stompers like “The Road Don’t Make You Young.” And of course, there are puppets."

Chris Jones/Chicago Tribune is positive

Review: Water for Elephants is one of the most authentic circus-themed shows to make it to Broadway

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/03/21/water-for-elephants-review-broadway/

"Not everyone on the stage can fly to the rafters, of course, but it’s the seamless integration of what’s really a compartmentalized ensemble that reveals the fusing visual talents of the director, Jessica Stone. Here, by blending the worlds of Broadway and the not-so-big top, a tent always in danger of collapse, Stone captures a milieu that has slipped away from many hands. And I say this as a circus geek who saw every Ringling and Cirque show for decades and who regards circus folk with awe. Their lot is well represented here. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise."

Vincentelli in the Washington Post is mixed-to-positive. Other than the music, is mostly positive.

In Broadway’s ‘Water for Elephants,’ circus parts are good, songs are meh

The new musical based on the bestselling novel incorporates acrobatics, along with puppets to portray animals

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2024/03/21/water-for-elephants-broadway-review/

"Not everything works in Jessica Stone’s production — there’s a reason the words “dream sequence” tend to set off alarm bells — but at least it summons a coherent theatrical universe. And more often than not, the show (whose world premiere was this past June in Atlanta) captures the unabashed mix of romance and pathos that made its source material, a bestseller by Sara Gruen, so wildly popular."

...

"It is telling that it has taken me so long to circle back to the music, because it is not what makes the strongest impression. At their best, the numbers sound like the 1930s filtered through the folk rock of the late 1960s and early ’70s: “Wild,” a duet between Jacob and Marlena, emulates early Joni Mitchell romanticism, while a few songs’ melodic melancholia and period atmosphere recall Randy Newman’s explorations of Americana. The lyrics never come remotely close to Newman’s sharp angles, though, and too often succumb to bland earnestness. If only the score had been willing to be as untethered from gravity as the rest of the show."

Isherwood/WSJ is mixed, though he loved the songs:

‘Water for Elephants’ Review: A Sanitized Circus on Broadway

Directed by Jessica Stone, this musical adaptation of the hit novel loses much of its source’s pungency and grit.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/water-for-elephants-review-broadway-musical-pigpen-jessica-stone-sara-gruen-5eaefa7c

"The songs are flavorful and well-wrought, and perhaps the show’s most accomplished achievement, although the director, Jessica Stone (“Kimberly Akimbo”), does an excellent job of juggling the varied elements.

Still, the largely pasteurized manner in which the musical depicts the often-sordid lives of circus folk of the period lends “Water for Elephants” an anodyne weightlessness, at least until the denouement. I’m not sure if a more faithful adaptation of the book would make for a better musical—although John Kander and Fred Ebb, in their heyday, might have taken a good crack at it—but it certainly would have made for a more provocative and adventurous one."

The Mary Sue

The ‘Water For Elephants’ Musical Is Everything I Wanted ‘The Greatest Showman’ to Be and More

https://www.themarysue.com/water-for-elephants-review/

I am downright baffled by the praise. I thought this show was deadly in every department.

DaveyG said: "I am downright baffled by the praise. I thought this show was deadly in every department."

From what I understand, they made improvements in leaps and bounds throughout the preview, so I guess it depends when you saw it.

Theatrely is mostly positive:

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Flies To Broadway — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/water-for-elephants-flies-to-broadway-review

"Their performances, Stone’s direction, and Takeshi Kata’s ever-moving set are enough to keep the production on its track, though Rick Elice’s book often steers itself away. Each circus member has a backstory that’s hinted at during their introductions, then largely discarded. An interesting thread about animal cruelty is left undisturbed and, if I haven’t mentioned a plot yet, it’s because its wispy existence only materializes in the final moments of the first act, when the love triangle between Jacob, August, and Marlena musters up some drama. A frame story about Jacob in his senior years (Gregg Edelman), visiting a more modern circus, is tender but useless.

But PigPen’s score, period appropriate with strumming ukuleles and happy-go-lucky lyrics, creates a strong thread to tie together the production’s tendency to roam. And the ensemble — by far the best arms on Broadway — provides endless visual richness. You’re never supposed to look too closely at the circus but, here, there’s more than enough to keep you staring."

DTLI - 7 positive, 4 mixed 1 negative

I feel like I've taken crazy pills or something. How... I.... I'm speechless. I saw Water for Elephants and The Notebook on the same day and if you told me then that one show was going to be given pans and one was gonna get praise I NEVER would have guessed it would be this.

And how Did They Like It grade some of these reviews as mixed when they are VERY clearly negative? This whole thing makes me feel like I've watched through the looking glass into Wonderland. Everything is mad here!

Scarlet Leigh said: "I feel like I've taken crazy pills or something. How... I.... I'm speechless. I saw Water for Elephants and The Notebook on the same day and if you told me then that one show was going to be given pans and one was gonna get praise I NEVER would have guessed it would be this.

And how Did They Like It grade some of these reviews as mixed when they are VERY clearly negative? This whole thing makes me feel like I've watched through the looking glass into Wonderland. Everything is mad here!"

Right??? If you look on BWW, there are 7 positive, 5 negative and 5 mixed. Seems like some kind of politics going on.