In Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel “Life of Pi” (previews begin March 9 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre), a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker crowds into a lifeboat with a boy named Pi (Hiran Abeysekera), who is lost at sea. This is no run-of-the-mill apex predator: for the London show, Richard Parker’s operators won an Olivier Award for supporting actor—the first time the trophy was given collectively to seven puppeteering performers, not to mention the first time it went to a big cat.
“Life of Pi” Comes to Broadway
In a stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel, a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker—operated by puppeteers—joins a boy named Pi, who is lost at sea, in a lifeboat.
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Photograph by Dina Litovsky for The New Yorker