Sara Gruen's 2006 novel, "Water for Elephants," tells the story of an old man reminiscing about his days in the circus seven decades earlier.

"Water for Elephants - The Musical" brings this story to life, complete with circus workers, acrobats, and animals.

At its heart, WfE is a love story. Zachary Keller (Jacob) and Helen Krushinski (Marlena) have enough chemistry to pull off this story. But this is about more than their romance. It is an adventure story, set under a big top and on a moving train with chaos all around and the threat of violence ever present. The shifting, changing sets brought this tension to life.

The play's story is lighter than the source material, omitting some of the racier sections, and darkening the set in the moment before the most violent acts occur. Robert Tulley portrays an older Jacob, who is much younger and more spry than the jaded old man of the novel, whose walk has become a shuffle and who can no longer remember his exact age. This old Jacob goes beyond reminiscing and serves as a narrator for much of the show, interjecting himself into his own flashbacks.

The music and lyrics, credited to The PigPen Theatre Co., are good, although no song stood out as particularly memorable.

The most entertaining parts are when the cast shifts into circus mode. Athletic acrobats enhance musical numbers by providing impressive feats of balance to augment the dancers around them. Tyler West, as pint-sized Walter, steals the show whenever he is on stage.

But a major star of this production is the costumes and puppetry that made the menagerie of animals come to life. Most impressive is a life-sized Rosie the Elephant, which at least three puppeteers man. Rosie appears on stage in the first act as a pair of ears, then as a trunk. In the second act, she reveals herself in all her glory, complete with moving eyes.

The acrobatics and the puppetry visuals make this play worthwhile, even without the moving love story.

"Water for Elephants - The Musical" is a delight to all our senses