Not since War Horse has there been a theatrical experience as spectacular as Life Of Pi, the Tony-winning Broadway smash now dazzling L.A. audiences with its life-sized animal puppets, it cinematic spectacle, and Taha Mandviwala’s star-making performance in the title role.

Movie buffs will surely recall Indian teen Piscine “Pi” Patel, whose circus-owning family sets off for a new life in Canada in the mid-1970s in order to escape the state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Ghandi that has the entire country in a state of panic.

Unfortunately for the Patels, things don’t quite work out the way they had planned, since when the play begins, only 17-year-old Pi has survived the shipwreck followed by months spent sharing a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and eventually only with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

 Rescued after a mind-boggling 227 days adrift, a hospitalized Pi now finds himself being interviewed by Japanese transport ministry official Mr. Okamoto (Alan Ariano) and Canadian Embassy representative Lulu Chen (Mi Kang) to determine the cause of the shipwreck as only its lone survivor can recount it.

 The tale Pi has to tell is hardly the one either of them might have expected to hear.

 Flashback sequences recall Pi’s traditional upbringing, if being surrounded by circus animals can be called traditional, the boy’s interest in exploring his religious options stymieing his parents (Sorab Wadia and understudy Maya Rangulu), who simply can’t fathom why Pi can’t just be a good Hindu like the rest of his family and friends.

Their consternation pales, however, in comparison to the need to get out of India fast, destination Canada, the entire zoo menagerie joining them for an ocean voyage cut short by a storm to end all storms, though it’s not the last one Pi will experience as he fights to stay alive, his only surviving companion a Bengal tiger who’s just as soon have Pi for dinner as share a lifeboat with him.

All of this added up to one of the most breathtaking examples of CGI at its most groundbreaking in Ang Lee’s 2012 cinematic smash, and if Life Of Pi The Movie was all about how amazingly realistic Richard Parker and his fellow beasts appeared on screen, Life Of Pi The Play is all about theatrical magic as Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell’s life-size puppets (and the brilliant puppeteers who manipulate them) have audiences oohing and aahing and Tony-winning scenic designers Tim Hatley and Andrzej Goulding take us from a stark hospital room to a saturated-color India to the most dangerous of open seas, designs made all the more spectacular by Tony winners Tim Lutkin (lighting) and Carolyn Downing (sound).

 Max Webster directs Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel with supreme imagination and attention to detail as a gifted cast of featured players not only bring to life a myriad of supporting characters but execute multiple feats of stage wizardry along the way.

 Still, if there’s any reason not to miss Life Of Pi (other than its must-see puppetry), it’s the absolutely stunning performance delivered by an utterly captivating Mandviwala in what must surely be one of the most physically and emotionally demanding roles of any young actor’s career. (It’s perhaps no wonder that cast member Savidu Geevaratne takes over the role at Saturday matinee and Sunday evening performances.)

 It’s a performance that portends big things for the Kentucky native, whose side job as a wellness coach and personal trainer comes in particularly handy as Pi executes feats of almost superhuman strength and endurance.

 Only rarely has a stage play truly transported me to a one-of-a-kind world of wonders the way Life Of Pi did last night. It’s a theatrical experience I will not soon forget.

Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles. Through January 15. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:00. Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00. Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30.
www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

Continuing June 3 to June 15 at:
Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 7:30. Saturdays at 2:00 and 7:30. Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30.
www.scfta.org

–Steven Stanley
May 7, 2025
Photos: Evan Zimmerman

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Ahmanson Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Lolita Chakrabarti, Los Angeles Theater Review, Yann Martel