'Water for Elephants' could be adapted as a Broadway musical
'Water for Elephants' is by Sara Gruen and follows a veterinarian-in-training who joins the circus and falls in love.
'Water for Elephants' is by Sara Gruen.
Sara Gruen鈥檚 bestseller 鈥�Water for Elephants鈥� could become a musical.聽
According to the , 鈥�The Lion King鈥� producer Peter Schneider and "The Old Woman" Elisabetta di Mambro have obtained the rights to the novel. Gruen鈥檚 book is set in the 1930s and follows a young veterinarian-in-training who joins the circus and falls in love with a married member of the company even as she also befriends a trained elephant.聽
Schneider also produced the stage musical 鈥淪ister Act.鈥�
鈥淚 have loved Sara Gruen's聽Water for Elephants聽since it was first published and was captivated by its theatricality,鈥� Schneider said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Gruen said in a statement that she is 鈥渂eyond thrilled to be involved in a creative process that is entirely new to me, especially with such wonderfully talented people at the helm to reimagine my work for the stage.鈥澛�
According to THR, the show is expected to premiere on Broadway.聽
Perhaps the creative team is hoping to recapture the success of another circus-based show. When the musical 鈥淧ippin鈥� returned to Broadway in 2013, the show took place in a circus atmosphere. 鈥淧ippin鈥� won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.聽
鈥淓lephants鈥� was previously the basis for a 2011 movie that starred Robert Pattinson as veterinarian Jacob Jankowski, Reese Witherspoon as performer Marlena, and Christoph Waltz as her husband August. Monitor film critic Peter Rainer gave the film a B, writing that 鈥渢he Depression that we see is a bit too gussied up and commemorative 鈥� [but] Pattinson seems at home here 鈥� [and] Waltz 鈥� confirms the gift for preening nastiness that had its fullest flower in 鈥業nglourious Basterds.鈥� "
Rainer added, however, that "The best film鈥檚 best performance ... comes from Rosie the elephant.鈥�