After 'The Flash,' Grant Gustin Makes His Broadway Debut In 'Water For Elephants'

After playing crime-fighting superhero Barry Allen on “The Flash” for nearly a decade, Grant Gustin has happily run away and joined the circus.

The Virginia-born actor can be found under the big top ― Broadway’s version of it, that is ― in the musical adaptation of “Water for Elephants,” which opened at New York’s Imperial Theatre last month. He stars as Jacob Jankowski, a veterinarian-in-training who is left destitute and adrift after a family tragedy in the early years of the Great Depression.

As recalled in flashback by an older Jacob (played by Gregg Edelman), the character flees town and becomes a train-hopping stowaway. He eventually takes refuge with the Benzini Brothers’ traveling circus, where he tends to animals and finds himself smitten with a horse trainer and acrobat, Marlena (Isabelle McCalla). The pair soon embark on a romance that becomes a high-wire act in its own right, given that Marlena is the wife of the circus’ volatile ringmaster, August (Paul Alexander Nolan).

“I’m drawn to characters who possess qualities I wish I had or could foster in myself a bit more,” Gustin told HuffPost. “The one comparison I can draw between Jacob and Barry Allen is their fight to move forward in the face of tragedy and great loss.”

Jacob “loses his parents, his home and his career path, and he really has nothing left, but he decides to find a way to keep living his life with light and optimism,” Gustin continued. “I tend to be pessimistic and hard on myself.”

“Water for Elephants,” directed by Jessica Stone and based on Sara Gruen’s beloved 2006 novel, marks Gustin’s Broadway debut. The actor is a charming and affable stage presence, performing the musical’s bluegrass- and folk-inflected songs (written by PigPen Theatre