Review | ‘Life of Pi’ is a feast for the eyes, but don’t expect much drama
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Comment on this story Comment NEW YORK — It would be completely understandable if the crackerjack technology team working on “Life of Pi” included a zoologist. Much of the enjoyment of this stage version of the popular 2001 novel that became a popular 2012 movie derives from the enchanting animal puppets that lope, float and scurry onto the stage of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Eight puppeteers alone are credited as operators of Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger sharing a lifeboat with Pi, played by heroically energetic Hiran Abeysekera. Richard deserves above-the-title billing as much as Abeysekera would in the London-born production that marked its opening Thursday night. He’s the most expressive cat to make his Broadway debut since, well, “Cats.” The old show-business saw about leaving the theater humming the scenery certainly applies to “Life of Pi,” which owes much to the puppet designs of Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell and the ingenious sets of Tim Hatley (who also cr