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QuickTake:
The Broadway touring production combines puppetry and extreme acrobatics in a way that performer Adam Fullick says doesn't happen often. For him, the result is something “magical.”
Near the end of the Broadway musical “Water for Elephants,” cast member and acrobat Adam Fullick slides head-first down a 20-foot-tall pole, stopping just before he hits the ground.
“That’s one of the big moments in the show,” he said. “There’ll also be people flipping in the air, being thrown from one end of the stage to the other.”
Fullick is a British international acrobatic champion. The 29-year-old and has trained for years in the different disciplines of acrobatics, and he graduated from the National Centre for Circus Arts in 2018.
He said there’s no need to worry about him hitting his head.
Before every show, the acrobats do a body check-in: an off-stage swing can jump in if someone isn’t feeling right.
“As circus artists, we’re all swinging for each other,” Fullick said. “If someone is taking a trick they don’t feel comfortable with that day, then someone else will step in.”
The story behind the musical
“Water for Elephants” is based on Sara Gruen’s best-selling novel of the same name. The musical has been nominated for Tony awards seven-times. It that combines skillful acrobatics with life-sized puppetry.
The musical follows a young veterinarian after a loss changes his life. He finds a new home with a traveling circus during the Great Depression.
Fullick plays multiple roles. He’s one of the circus’ acrobatic performers, and also one of the workers who take care of the circus animals.
“I also play Rex the Lion, which is the lion puppet who famously has no teeth,” Fullick said with a chuckle. “The puppet is huge, so my body becomes the body of the lion, and then my head is the head of the lion.”
When he breathes, the lion breathes. When he moves, the lion moves.
“Joshua (Holden), who is the puppeteer director, he did a great job of really sitting with all of us, and we really went through how does this animal breathe, how does this animal move, and if it was real, like how would it interact?” Fullick said.
The show has many other animal puppets, including an elephant named Rosie who happens to be at the heart of the musical. She’s operated by three puppeteers, including Holden.
From the circus to Broadway
Fullick began gymnastics at 7 and competed until 18, traveling to national and international competitions.
He then moved to London, studying circus disciplines such as the Chinese pole, and specializing in the Cyr wheel, a large metal hoop he spins and flips inside, at the National Centre for Circus Arts.
He later performed with the contemporary circus company Seven Fingers before joining the touring cast of “Water for Elephants.”
He said it’s rare for circus performers to move into musical theater. “Water for Elephants” offers a chance for him to combine his skills.
“It’s really beautiful to see all of these things come together in one space,” Fullick said. “We’re creating something really magical.”
If you go
- When: Friday through Sunday, Nov. 6-8
- Where: Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center in Eugene.
- How much: Tickets start at $34; details can be found online.
