‘Life Of Pi’ Broadway Cast To Star Olivier Winner Hiran Abeysekera

Hiran Abeysekera, who won the 2022 Best Actor Olivier Award for his performance of the title character in the London stage production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Life of Pi, will lead the Broadway cast when the play arrives at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre next month.

Joining him will be Fred Davis and Scarlet Wilderink, who shared the Olivier for Best Supporting Actor as the puppeteers behind “Richard Parker” the tiger.

Life of Pi begins performances Thursday, March 9, at the Schoenfeld, with an opening night of Thursday, March 30.

Based on Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation won a total of five Oliviers including Best New Play. In addition to Abeysekera, Davis and Wilderink, the Broadway cast will feature Brian Thomas Abraham as Cook/Voice of “Richard Parker,” Rajesh Bose as Father and Avery Glymph, Mahira Kakkar, Kirstin Louie, Salma Qarnain, Sathya Sridharan, Daisuke Tsuji, and Sonya Venugopal.

Also in the cast: Nikki Calonge, Rowan Magee, Jonathan David Martin, Betsy Rosen, Celia Mei Rubin and Andrew Wilson. Mahnaz Damania, Jon Hoche, Usman Ali Mughal, Uma Paranjpe and David Shih round out the 24-member cast with Adi Dixit as the “Pi” alternate.

Directed by Max Webster, with set and costume design by Tim Hatley, Life of Pi features Puppetry and Movement Direction by Finn Caldwell, Puppet Design by Nick Barnes and Caldwell, Video Design by Andrzej Goulding, Lighting Design by Tim Lutkin, Sound Design by Carolyn Downing, and Original Music by Andrew T Mackay.

The synopsis: After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive? The novel was adapted for the screen in the acclaimed 2012 film directed by Ang Lee.

Life of Pi is produced on Broadway by Simon Friend, Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig, Mark Gordon Pictures, Playing Field, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Gavin Kalin, Hunter Arnold, Hall Smalberg Winkler, 42nd.club, Elizabeth Armstrong, Eilene Davidson, deRoy Shea Waxman, Federman Jenen Productions, Susan Gallin, Independent Presenters Network, John Gore Organization, Kuhn Dodani, Harriet Newman Leve, Anastasia Muravyeva, Mary Lu Roffe, Catherine Schreiber, American Repertory Theatre and Sheffield Theatres, with Aaron Lustbader and Hanna Osmolska serving as Executive Producers.