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How ‘Water for Elephants’ Composers PigPen Used Their Background as Puppeteers to Bring the Circus Show’s Theatrics to Life


PigPen Theatre Co. Brought Circus Show's Theatrics and Contemporary Music to Life in Broadway's Water for Elephants.

PigPen, a collective of seven musicians (Alex Falberg, Arya Shahi, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Daniel Weschler, Matt Nuernberger and Ryan Melia) is also a theater company, and that uniqueness made them the perfect fit to bring the show’s music to life. The idea of the show taking place across a cross-country train made PigPen excited to work on “Water for Elephants,” especially since they could blend in emerging genres to tell the story. Shahi said, “There are moments of real specific music integration, but then there’s also just our experience in puppetry has led us to learn that there are a lot of ways to not only use your own voice to create animal sounds.

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