A co-choreographer for the circus-centric stage musical “Water for Elephants,” Shana Carroll has among her list of credits directing Cirque du Soleil’s “Crystal” and overseeing the circus component of “Queen of the Night.” You imagine then that, as a little girl growing up in Berkeley, California, she had one magical day under the big top that illuminated the path she would walk in her life. “Yeah, no, I hated the circus as a little girl — it’s really funny,” Carroll admits during a recent interview. “I was a theater kid, like so many of us, and pretty seriously into theater for a kid and teenager. Then, I hated (the) circus.” We mention we’re going down this road with Carroll as we are waiting for Jesse Robb — her partner in choreography on “Water for Elephants,” a touring version of which will soon set up its tent in Cleveland — to join our Zoom call. “Can you see me?” asks Robb, popping on the screen as he speaks and letting us know he’s been there pretty much the whole time. Wow, is the pandemic already so far behind us that we’ve forgotten how to do the virtual thing? The two exchange enthusiastic pleasantries, the New York City-based Robb noting they’ve switched countries, as he’s just arrived in Toronto while the Montreal-based Carroll is on a brief stop in Chicago. “We don’t get to see each other,” Robb says, “so these interviews are wonderful!” Shana Carroll and Jesse Robb are co-choreographers of "Water for Elephants," the North American Tour of which is about to begin a run at Cleveland's Playhouse Square. (Courtesy of Shana Carroll) The North American Tour of the seven-time-Tony Award-nominated “Water for Elephants” will run from March 10 through 29 at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace as part of the theater organization’s 2025-26 KeyBank Broadway Series. The Broadway production of the show ran for about nine months in 2024. Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Sara Gruen, which was adapted into a movie released 2011, “Water for Elephants” tells the tale of Jacob (Zachary Keller), a young man who jumps from a moving train and finds a home within the crew of a traveling circus. The show is told from the perspective of an older Jacob looking back at this time, punctuated by time shared with Marlena (Helen Krushinski). Helen Krushinski portrays Marlena, and Zachary Keller is Jacob in the Cleveland-bound North American Tour of "Water for Elephants." (Matthew Murphy) Boasting a book by Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys,” “Peter and the Starcatcher”) and a score by the PigPen Theatre Co. (“The Tale of Despereaux”), the show was directed by Jessica Stone, who brought Carroll onboard early in the development process in 2019. “There are very few people who are in circus who also did theater,” Carroll says. “I have a nice Venn diagram of the different worlds.” However, she says she doesn’t believe the show’s creators initially sought to incorporate circus elements so strongly into “Water for Elephants.” “(Stone) really felt that there was some use of circus that was necessary dramaturgically, and it would have been a shame to just eliminate it from the narrative,” she says. “Then, I think, through our conversations, we were able to clarify how the circus would be used. And then once you have it, it’s easy to use it in a more spectacular way and throw flips into the choreography. Furthermore, they worked to convey the memories of the older Jacob through “the language of a circus,” she says. “He’s seeing these really memorable moments … with a circus representation.” Well, no offense, Mr. Robb, but given Carroll’s background, what did the production need you for? “Exactly,” he says with a laugh. “That’s what everyone asks me.” “No, quite a lot,” Carroll says. “Quite a lot.” Robb — who’s the movement director/associate choreographer of “Les Misérables” globally and who’s also worked on productions of “Miss Saigon” and, notably, Cirque Du Soleil’s “Zumanity” — was brought on to add what Carroll calls a “more evolved movement vocabulary” much later, after Carroll and the other creatives had found a way to work relatively steadily through the pandemic. “I had the (benefit) of seeing what Jess and Shana had already structured in their Zoom sessions during COVID and what they were already envisioning in terms of storytelling and the circus design and the circus narrative,” Robb says. Helen Krushinski's Marlena and Zachary Keller's Jacob share a moment in "Water for Elephants." The North American Tour of the seven-time Tony Award nominee is about to begin a run in Cleveland at Playhouse Square. (Matthew Murphy) In past interviews, Carroll and Robb have referred to their pairing as an “arranged marriage.” Was either initially plotting out how the other might suffer a, well, very unfortunate high-wire accident? “It took a second for us to figure each other out … and not only in our process and rhythms,” Carroll says. “At first, it’s sort of hard because we’re working on one thing together and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m not quite understanding from which direction this person is coming.’ And as soon as we learned that about one another, it became easy to figure out how we interlock. And I think for both of us, we have so much respect for what the other does.” Robb echoes her sentiments. “The learning part is always the challenge, and then it was just gravy,” he says. “It was being able to have fun and know and trust and 100 percent respect the other.” "Water for Elephants" co-choreographers Shana Carroll and Jesse Robb work behind the scenes on a production of the musical. (Courtesy of Shana Carroll) For a large part, Stone assigned them different parts of the show to work on individually. “But then, with time … we figured out how to feed off each other,” Carroll says. “‘I do a layer, you do a layer, I do a layer, you do a layer’ to, finally, we’re just both doing it at the same time. “I do feel there was a lot of cross-pollination.” At least in a figurative way, the circus will be in town when the North American Tour of "Water for Elephants" runs at Cleveland's Playhouse square from March 10 through 29. (Matthew Murphy) If “Water for Elephants” boasts a showstopping number that exemplifies the best of what both of them brought to the table, they agree it’s “Zoltan,” early in the second act. That section of the show, Carroll says, involves a party the crew has on the circus grounds, complete with elephants and featuring some of the performers trying to one-up each other. Stone, she says, cited the high-energy dance number “Too Darn Hot” from “Kiss Me, Kate,” as a source of inspiration. “I think it’s the one that’s most collaborative,” she says. “Jesse kind of laid down a choreographic structure and then left me some holes to fill. “Then we were just ping-ponging constantly, and we would redo a piece of choreography to add a moment here and there.” Robb adds, “I think it also really showcased the two worlds just smashing into each other — the world of circus and the world of moving and having fun. And I throw flowers Shana’s way because I think the ‘holes’ were really blossoming moments of how we showcase … circus abilities and stunts. And that’s what really took it to the next level.” Nominated for a Tony for their work on the show, Carroll and Robb have worked with three “Water for Elephants” companies: Broadway, the regional production in Atlanta that preceded it in 2023 and then this Cleveland-bound tour. “At this point, we sort of knew — we as a creative team — what we were doing,” Carroll says. “It was more of a well-oiled machine in terms of how to put the parts together.” Oh, and they teased that Northeast Ohio audiences can look forward to a Cleveland-related joke that’s been in the show from the beginning. (Sigh, we’re always the joke.) More importantly, Robb says, is something he sees in the touring company and that audiences experience — if social media posts are any indication. “Everybody who goes out and sees the show and reports about it across the country (notes) the palpability of the humanity inside of the company offstage radiates on stage,” he says. “You really feel the storytelling in honesty and truth, and it feels like the company truly is a traveling circus. And they just seem like they are really an interwebbed humanity that loves what they do.” ‘Water for Elephants’ Where: Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland. When: March 10 through 29 Tickets: Starting at $24. Info: PlayhouseSquare.org or 216-241-6000. ...read more read less