It’s not very often one gets lost at sea on a Tuesday night while living in landlocked Utah.

But that’s exactly what happened at Eccles Theatre on opening night of the Broadway touring production of “Life of Pi.”

This is a visually stunning evening of theater.

“Life of Pi” about faith, survival and the power of a good story, is based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel (stage adaptation by Lolita Chakrabarti). It opened on Broadway in 2023 and took home Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design. All three were breathtaking.

Tim Hatley’s set serves as more of a blank canvas which brilliantly took us from the starkness of a hospital room in Mexico to fantastical voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean. And that is thanks to the lighting design by Tim Lutkin and Tim Deiling. Actually, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like it.

This is one show where you want to sit in a mezzanine or balcony. They show relies heavily on projections onto the stage floor and I’m not sure those sitting in the orchestra got the full experience. We were glad to be sitting up higher where we could be fully immersed in the drama of the sea.

Lutkin’s lighting, creates shipwrecks and storms; dramatic sunsets and inviting sunrises; calm sea waters and beautiful starlit nights. The projections of water on the stage (Andrezj Goulding video and animations) swirl around the makeshift boat that carries Pi and Richard Parker, his ‘frenemy,’ for lack of a better word. We’ll get to him in a minute.

This is one of the things I love most about theater. Somewhere, on some random day, a bunch of brilliant creative minds came together and said ‘how can we bring this story to life? How can we get a young man and a tiger on a boat floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?’ ‘What if we make puppets, build amazing sets and do cool lighting!’

The magic of theatrical storytelling.

“Pi” uses beautiful puppetry throughout – everything from birds to orangutans, goats and zebras and yes, Richard Parker, a full grown, male Bengal tiger. These puppets require several puppeteers to skulk, rear, lunge and pounce – some of them doing all of that bent over at the waist the entire time. The movement around that boat for the puppeteers and for Taha Mandviwala, the actor playing Pi, is a 2+ hour workout and obstacle course. They all must go home needing a hot tub and a masseuse.

Mandviwala’s performance is quite captivating. And while the story is about Pi being lost at sea, he’s both alone and also never alone as he conjures memories and advice from his family and others throughout his journey.

Pi, much to the chagrin of his parents and religious leaders, explores many faiths including Hindu, Christianity, Islam and others, because he “wants to love God.” He relies on all of them during his ordeal.

It’s a beautiful show – a real feast for the senses – with a thought-provoking message of faith and belief.

The show runs about 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.