Life of Pi Takes Audiences On Transcendent Journey of Wonder and Survival

By Joanie Cox Henry

Sea It: Taha Mandviwala as 'Pi' and puppeteers Anna Leigh Gortner, Shiloh Goodin and Toussaint Jeanlouis as 'Richard Parker' in the National Tour of LIFE OF PI. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Life of Pi doesn't simply tell a story—it's a tale deeper than the ocean. It transforms the essence of theater into a vessel of possibility, carrying audiences on an inner voyage that is unexpectedly profound.

This Tony Award-winning masterpiece breathes vivid life into Yann Martel's beloved novel with a theatricality that defies imagination. Lolita Chakrabarti's adaptation honors the source material while understanding that live performance demands its own language—one spoken here through stunning puppetry that blurs the line between craft and magic. Pi Patel is played by the electric Taha Mandviwala.

Patel is a young man from India who survives a shipwreck and finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger. He's spiritual seeker opening being born Hindui and attending religious services at a Catholic church, a mosque and a Hindu temple all in the same day.

The moment Richard Parker, the magnificent Bengal tiger, prowls onto the stage, you forget you're watching puppeteers at work. You're face-to-face with raw survival instinct, with untamed nature itself. It's dangerous. It's primal and it's like nothing you've ever seen on stage before. It takes three puppeteers with extensive dance backgrounds to bring the notorious Richard Parker to life as he prowls across the stage. Aaron Haskell, Anna Vomacka and Austin Wong Harper move as the ferocious tiger's head, heart and hind. It's a feat that involved breathwork, physical limberness and plenty of vocal exercises. "I control the ears and the mouth and I help guide the heart puppeteer in the middle. Artisically, anything the tiger sees or hears first, I react to," Aaron Haskell said. Vomacka operates the puppet in the middle space between Haskell and Harper who maneuvers the hind. Vomacka describes her unique role as a "conduit of communication between the head and the hind."

Harper said adds weight and gravity to the back paws of the tiger and the tail to make the tiger "look and feel heavier than it actually is."

Eye of the Pi-ger: Puppeteer Aaron Haskell takes a paws between applause with Richard Parker. Photo by Joanie Cox Henry

The production's technical artistry is breathtaking. Through ingenious stagecraft and visual poetry, the creative team conjures an entire Pacific Ocean within the theater's walls. Storm sequences crash over you with visceral intensity, while moments of serene stillness capture the vast, haunting solitude of being lost at sea. Each scenic transition feels like a small miracle of imagination.

Yet beneath the spectacular surface lies the beating heart of this story: Pi's unwavering spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. His journey becomes our journey—a meditation on faith, resilience, and the stories we tell to survive our darkest hours. The performance captures both the terror and triumph of his 227 days adrift, reminding us that hope isn't naive—sometimes it's really all you've got left.

The play unfolds as Pi recounts his journey from a hospital room, presenting his survival tale through both animalistic and humanistic perspectives that challenge what we accept as truth. That's the thing about the truth—you often don't know what to believe so you just end up believing in the more riveting story.

Life of Pi represents everything theater can be when artists dare to dream impossibly big. This is experiential storytelling at its finest—immersive, emotionally overwhelming, and profoundly moving. Running through October 26th, it's an essential theatrical experience that will restore your faith in the transformative power of live performance. Don't let this extraordinary voyage sail away without you.

Pi In The Sky: Taha Mandviwala as 'Pi' and the cast of the National Tour of LIFE OF PI. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

Sharayu Mahale, who brilliantly portrays Pi's sister Rani, hopes audiences discover their own inner strength in this story. "Life of Pi  is a story about hope, resilience strength and just how much the human spirit is capable of. And our rendition of Life of Pi  is so spectacular because of the puppetry and the magic that we're able to weave and create on stage. So if you're in Fort Lauderdale, we'd love for you to see it at The Broward Center!"

Life of Pi  runs through Sunday, Oct. 26 at Broward Center. Click here for tickets.