Written by orange• June 6, 2025• 2:58 am• Costa Mesa, Review, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Theater, Uncategorized

Life of Pi @ Segerstrom Center for the Arts – Review

photo credit: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Life of Pi is playing at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts from June 3 – 15, 2025.

From book to movie and now on stage at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts, Yann Martel’s story about a young Indian boy’s, Pi, journey of survival on the open sea with a Royal Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker and other animal companions is as visually stunning and spiritually profound as its film predecessor. Even better, this one has puppets!

As mentioned before, this is the story of Pi (Taha Mandviwala), a young boy from India who lives with his family and runs a zoo in Pondicherry, India. Political instability convinces Pi’s father (Sorab Wadia) to move the family and animals to Canada in a large cargo ship. Brought down by a terrible storm, luckily, Pi finds a lifeboat, but it’s full of dangerous animals in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and survival seems bleak.

Story:

It’s been more than a decade since I last watched the film. Time has just flown by. Where did it go? Come back. Watching it reminded me of how much I did enjoy the movie so long ago. Besides the apparent changes, the puppetry, the fact that it’s on the stage, who Pi is telling the story to in this version is also different than in the film, which gives the story more urgency.

A young Pi who has survived and is now in Mexico, telling the story to a Japanese official, Mr. Okamoto (Alan Ariano), and Lulu Chen (Mi Kang), a Canadian official like Okamoto, is there to document Pi’s journey. Watching Mandviwala awkwardly crawl from under his bed after being hidden, was comedic in tone. It is just one instance of many where we get to see the psychological impact the journey had on Pi.

It is a very different perspective, watching that from the perspective of an older man who had time to cope. As much as this play is a story of resilience and “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” a famous quote from the German philosopher Nietzsche, it also shows that it’s not that simple, that trauma can change people in positive and negative ways. Plus, there is the power of faith and the stories we tell ourselves.

It’s a splendid piece and adapted so beautifully to the stage.

Set Design/Acting/Puppets:

Multiple set changes in this show fly by. The video screen titled Life of Pi, with the texture of the ocean, is well animated as you walk into the theater. From the zoo to the cityscape of Pondicherry, India, and the boat, Tim Hatley has crafted an exquisite atmosphere for these actors and the puppets. What stood out to me about this design was how it plays with reality and the extraordinary in some ways, combining the two.

The show does not hold back on displaying the violence this story portrays. So, it is probably better appreciated by someone who can understand and appreciate the more adult content, possibly a teen or older.

I actually had a chance to talk to Taha Mandviwala, who plays Pi in this production, and he told me he trained in Parkour. Parkour is a discipline originating from France that focuses on efficient movement, typically through city spaces, but not necessarily. The movements can often be very acrobatic. This talent for movement was put on full display, with his many scraps with the ferocious Richard Parker, who is puppeted by three tremendously talented puppeteers, who not only move the tiger puppet but also produce the realistic, astounding roar.

Life of Pi is a Roaring Achievement!

Review

8.9 Overall

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Story9
Acting8.9
Set & Design9
Costumes8.7
Entertainment8.8

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Excellent Show! OCR Recommended!

Show Note: The Richard Parker puppet takes three puppeteers to operate. Richard Parker puppeteers: Ben Durocher, Shiloh Goodin, Anna Leigh Gortner, Aaron Haskell, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Betsy Rosen, Anna Vomacka, and Andrew Wilson.