Life of Pi on Broadway Tickets

By: Lolita Chakrabarti, adapted from the novel by Yann Martel
Director: Max Webster
Cast list: Hiran Abeysekera (as Pi); Nikki Calonge, Rowan Ian Seamus Magee, Jonathan David Martin, Betsy Rosen, Celia Mei Rubin, and Andrew Wilson, Fred Davis, Scarlet Wilderink (as Richard Parker); Adi Dixit (as Pi alternate); Brian Thomas Abraham (as Cook/Voice of Richard Parker), Rajesh Bose (as Father), Avery Glymph (as Father Martin/Russian Sailor/Rear Admiral Jackson), Mahira Kakkar (as Nurse/Amma/Orange Juice), Kirstin Louie (as Lulu Chen), Salma Qarnain (as Mrs. Biology Kumar/Zaida Khan), Sathya Sridharan (as Mamaji/Pandit-Ji), Daisuke Tsuji (as Mr. Okamoto/Captain), Sonya Venugopal as Rani
Design: Tim Hatley
Costumes: Tim Hatley
Lighting: Tim Lutkin
Sound: Carolyn Downing
Other info: Puppetry and movement direction by Finn Caldwell, puppet design by Nick Barnes and Caldwell, video design by Andrzej Goulding, original music by Andrew T Mackay, dramaturgy by Jack Bradley, wig design by David Brian Brown

The main character of the Life of Pi play is a 16-year-old boy who was shipwrecked while traveling with his family across the Pacific Ocean. Pi is the only human survivor, alongside four animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger named Richard Parker, who must learn to coexist in harsh circumstances until they reach land again.

The play, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti, sees Pi recounting his adventure to hospital workers in Canada, sharing all the different philosophies he used to get him through. Life of Pi is both a thrilling survival tale and an exploration of how people cope in times of crisis.

Life of Pi itself has had a long and far-reaching journey in multiple mediums. The original novel was rejected by five publishers before finally coming out in 2001, when it quickly became a bestseller. More than 10 years later, Ang Lee directed a Life of Pi film, adapted by David Magee. The movie was also a hit, earning 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning four awards.

Life of Pi on Broadway comes after the play’s world premiere in England, first in Sheffield and then in London’s West End. That production won five Olivier Awards out of nine nominations, including Best New Play.

What to Watch For

• Martel named the tiger Richard Parker after a man in the Edgar Allen Poe novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. That book’s Richard Parker gets shipwrecked with a dog named Tiger.
• The animal puppets are made of Plastazote, plywood, aluminum, nylon, and bungee cords so they're flexible. They're designed, though, to look like they're made of driftwood, mirroring the shipwreck.
• The tiger puppet weighs about 44 pounds, and the one used in London took six people nearly a year to build!
• The seven puppeteers who played the tiger in London jointly won an Olivier Award in 2022, marking the first time multiple actors won an Olivier for a solo performance.
• Finn Caldwell, who designed the Life of Pi puppets, also worked on War Horse and Angels in America, both hits on Broadway and in London.
• Martel’s original novel is a philosophical novel. In the Life of Pi play, book, and movie, Pi turns to various belief systems and theories to find hope for survival: logic, faith in a god, mathematical analysis, and morality. This show will leave you thinking!