Blazingly Theatrical!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Musically Haunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not To Be Missed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             I don't say these words lightly, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             When Sara Gruen's novel "Water For Elephants," first appeared in 2006, I found it enjoyable, but nothing that stuck with me.  When the film came out in 2011, I avoided it.  And when I heard a musical adaptation was being planned for Broadway, I laughed uproariously.

                                                  Well, now, the laugh is on me.  Because Broadway's "Water For Elephants" at the Imperial Theatre, is a dazzling, pyrotechnical display of theatrics from the cast, crew, and just about everyone connected with it.  I came out of this show feeling I had seen a real musical.

                                                     The set-up is poignant.  This is a flashback story told by the older Jacob Jankowski (the wonderful Gregg Eldelman, older, but still in excellent voice) in a heartrending performance, as he recalls his youth (portrayed by the handsome, athletic and vocally adept Grant Gustin, who I believe, replaced the original lead) as he recalls both the tragic and pleasurable aspects of his life.  Having trained to be a vet at Cornell and having come back to his hometown to practice with his father, this dream is dashed when his parents are tragically killed in a car crash.  With nothing and nowhere to go, he hits the road, hooking up with a traveling circus. ("The Road Don't Make You Young" is one of many compelling songs, and it comes early on, to indoctrinate audiences into the lifestyle Jaccob is getting himself into.)

                                                  As mentioned, the two Jacobs are superb.  But the show belongs to the ensemble, all acrobatically inclined, and who do the most amazing tricks, on stage, without a net, that makes one think how much these performers are risking, and how skilled they are to be able to do it.

The presence of the animals onstage is handled in a rather Julie Taymor way, and I have to say, Rosie, The Elephant deserved a TONY nomination!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    And so did Isabella McCalla as Marlaine, Wade McCollum as Wade, Joe DePaul as Walter, and while he played a villain, Paul Alexander Nolan, as the Ringmaster.  Their voices are glorious to hear, and the songs and stories they tell are haunting in a Woody Guthrie kind of way.

                                                      Kudos must go to the choreography of Jessie Robb and Shana Carroll (Miss Carroll also did the Circus Design) and to Director Jessica Stone for helming the whole thing.

                                                       Darlings, do not miss "Water For Elephants."  If prices were affordable on Broadway, I might have seen it a second time.  It was that good.

                                                       And when the last time I said that?  Oh, yes, "Sweeney Todd" with Josh Groban last year!  Ane 'Merrily' this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                        See what I mean?