By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Running away to join the circus. It’s something that people did for the sake of a life they saw as full of fun and freedom. “Water for Elephants,” a multi-award-winning musical based off of the bestselling book, is coming to Seattle Oct. 6 to Oct. 11. The Northwest Asian Weekly asked cast member Yemie Woo what it’s been like to “run away” with the circus on her national tour debut.
The cast of Water for Elephants (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)
“My parents always say to this day that they would not have encouraged me if they didn’t believe that I had what it takes,” Woo told us. A shy child who nevertheless loved singing, Woo went on to earn a Musical Theater degree from Pace University in New York. Her parents were very supportive, she said, of Woo and her older siblings in whatever they loved to do. Woo loved choir and theater, which she pursued throughout her K-12 years. She recalled to us how it all got started. Her parents are musically inclined and invited young Woo to sing as a bit of a joke at a church event. She must have been about 7. “Both my sisters at the time played the violin, so I didn’t really have ‘a job’ in that performance,” she recalled. Little did Woo know that performing on stage with shows such as “Water for Elephants” would become her real-life job.
Yemie Woo
Woo has been touring with the show for a little over a year. She got noticed by the casting director through a showcase of material given by the students at Pace. After five rounds of auditions, the now 23-year-old Woo was in. She was assigned as the understudy for the roles of “Sue,” “Wallace,” and “Barbara.” In the circus, a person was either a “kinker” or a “roust,” and so those are the terms you will see next to Woo’s name on the cast list. A “kinker” is a performer, especially one that does acrobatics, originally. A “roust” is someone in the circus that works with the animals, Woo explained, someone who “gets their hands dirty.” In the show, “Sue” and “Barbara” are both part of the “cooch tent,” which is the striptease tent—the early days of the circus were a bit on the rough side! Woo loves Sue’s sassiness. The character of Wallace is a clown, and it just so happens that Woo has done some clowning in school and enjoys it.
The show, based on the original story by Sara Gruen, revolves around life with the circus during the Great Depression in the United States. The protagonist, Jacob (played by Robert Pattinson in the movie version), joins the circus as an animal tamer after losing his parents and his hopes for the future. In those days—and in some cases, still today—the circus was a place to escape and to start over. Its association with the railroad and with traveling the country added to this idea. The circus was flamboyant. It was some of the most popular entertainment out there in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but there were a lot of dark secrets that no one saw under the lights of the big top. Some of the attractions were not something we would be thrilled about today. Circuses were known for taking advantage of “freaks,” people with birth defects, to draw audiences. Animal neglect was also a huge problem and figures prominently in this story, although Woo assures that the treatment is “palatable” for children, as compared to the book, which is more graphic. The neglect is directed mainly at a circus elephant, “Rosie.” Woo spoke enthusiastically about the puppeteering and the costuming for the animal characters. “It’s beautifully done.”
Zachary Keller and Helen Krushinski (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)
Woo describes the show as “a beautiful intellectual integration of circus and musical.” It’s not something that has ever been done before. The story is told as a “memory play”—looking back on Jacob’s life in the circus once he is in his older age. It’s not all circus tricks, Woo assures; it’s a captivating story told by an ensemble who are “truly blended” and who work well together.
Yemie Woo, Robert Tully, Tyler West, Javier Garcia, ZaKeyia Lacey and Ruby Gibbs (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)
As a kid, Woo loved “Les Miserables” and “Hamilton,” the latter for its impressively diverse casting, which encouraged her to join theater herself. She did wonder if being a minority in theater would be a problem, yet at first, she didn’t really let it distract her. “I was highly optimistic. I really, really believed in myself. And so, that seemed like very small, small potatoes for me,” she told us. Now, she recognizes how challenging it is to be Asian in an industry where Asians are an extremely small percentage of those finding work. She doesn’t let it slow her down and plans to hit the auditions looking for new roles after the end of this tour. “Especially for creative people, you just have to continue creating opportunities for yourself,” she said. “That’s how you are fulfilled as an artist.” It’s also important, she added, to network and talk with other Asians and Asian Americans, build bonds, and create opportunities that way, too.
Woo’s favorite scene in “Water for Elephants” comes with the big fanfare at the start, when they are setting up the circus tent. That is one of the most exciting times for everyone, when they see that the circus has come to town, and they see that big tent go up. “It just feels so electric,” Woo said. It’s an electricity that can be felt coming from the audience as well. “It invigorates us.” Woo believes that the show has a great balance of historical accuracy, storytelling, and flare. Come see it, she urged, if you want “a really exciting, unique night of musical theater and circus, and a really, really beautiful story told by performers who love doing the show every night.”
Cast of Water for Elephants (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)
“Water for Elephants” is part of the 2026 to 2027 Premera Blue Cross Broadway at The Paramount series, presented by Seattle Theatre Group, with support from Premera Blue Cross as the series title sponsor. For more information, visit: www.waterforelephantsthemusical.com.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
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