Anyone who has read or seen the film “Life of Pi” might be surprised that it is now a Tony Award–winning play that will be at the Fox from Oct. 7 to 19.
The book, by Yann Martel, is about a young man named Pi whose family owns a zoo in India. With political changes at home, Pi’s father decides they should emigrate and books passage for his family and all of his zoo animals on a cargo ship bound for Canada, but the boat capsizes and Pi is one of the few survivors. The only problem? He’s sharing his lifeboat with Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, who is getting hungry.
Pi narrates the book, so, spoiler alert, he does survive, but he and the tiger encounter challenges and adventures as they stay lost on the Pacific Ocean for 277 days.
While the 2012 film could avail itself of CGI to create Richard Parker, how exactly does a stage show do it?
Well, with puppets.
“A lot of shows do have puppetry, but for our show our puppets are actual characters, and they’re crucial to the story,” says Jon Hoche, the resident director for the touring production. “We are bringing these characters to life that a lot of shows don’t normally do. So it does set us apart from any other show that you might have seen.”
People become so invested in Richard Parker, for instance, that they swear the puppet loses weight by the end of the show.
Hoche, who is also the associate puppetry and movement director for the show, says that they don’t change the puppet.
“One of the questions a lot of people after the show ask is, ‘Did you guys change puppets? How does it look skinny?’ But it’s just one puppet,” Hoche explains. “That’s really just the skill of our puppeteers. They draw the audience in and they become fully invested in the character and see a real tiger.”
Hoche is a skilled puppeteer, having worked on “King Kong” (where he also voiced the giant ape), “Little Shop of Horrors” and the touring production of “War Horse.” He first heard about “Life of Pi” when it was in England, where it started in Sheffield in 2019 before transferring to London’s West End in 2021. He joined the original Broadway production when it opened in 2023 as part of the ensemble and later transitioned to the puppetry team.
Richard Parker is not the only puppet in the show and puppetry isn’t the only element used to re-create Pi’s story. “Life of Pi” won Tony awards for its lighting, costume, scenic and sound design.
“We really kind of use every element of theater to really tell our version of the story,” Hoche says. “Puppetry is a low-tech art form, or it can be, and we’re combining it with very high-tech projections and sound to make a really immersive, exciting experience for people.”
The book is about a writer interviewing Pi years after the event is over. In the book, Pi is also interviewed by investigators as he’s recovering from what happened to him in a hospital. The play uses the latter framing device and flips back and forth between the action in the boat and the hospital room.
“Our playwright really found an exciting way to tell a theatrical version of the show,” Hoche says.
While you may be amazed at the visual effects of the show, you will not be falling in love with any songs. “Life of Pi” is a play, which is unusual for the Fox, but not unheard of.
“We always aim to bring the best of Broadway to St. Louis,” John O’Brien, the vice president of marketing, said about the decision to open the season with a play. “Its stunning design and captivating puppetry make it a production we know St. Louis will be swept away by.”
The Fox has brought in other touring plays. People may remember “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “War Horse” came in recent years, plus, next year the Fox is bringing another play, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
“While it isn’t often that plays launch national tours, St. Louis audiences have enthusiastically embraced (them),” O’Brien adds.
Fans of “Life of Pi” know that the book and movie offer up a variety of versions of Pi’s story. There will be more than one version in the play as well (though the main focus will be on Pi and Richard Parker in the life boat).
As someone who read the book but never saw the film, I’ve always fallen into the camp that the story with Richard Parker is the “true” one and the other version of Pi’s adventure isn’t. Others, particularly those who just watched the film, believe the inverse.
Where does the play fall?
“One of the exciting things about live theater is the audience is an active part in the play as well. And I think that a lot of people walk away from our (show) questioning, which is the real story, or just talking about the power of storytelling,” Hoche says. “We don’t necessarily answer that question for the audience. Instead, we open it up to let them have their interpretation and keep the show alive in the conversations that they have afterward.”
(Sure, sure, but also, I’m right.)
Since it’s primarily set in India (and the Pacific Ocean), “Life of Pi” also features a diverse cast, which happens to be one of Hoche’s favorite things about watching it (he watches it regularly to make sure it’s adhering to the original Broadway show) and working on it.
“I really am proud of the diversity that we have on our stage. I think it is really special to have a show that is predominantly a South Asian and Southeast Asian cast,” Hoche says. For audiences “to see people that don’t necessarily look like you, but are going through the same kind of struggles that you are is really important to shrink those gaps between what makes us different and realize that we have more in common than we think.”
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Rosalind Early | Post-Dispatch
Deputy features editor
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