RINGLING BROS AND BARNUM BAILEY CIRCUS
By Gary Murray
Starring Tigers, acrobats and clowns
When I was three, my parents took me to the circus. As I got older, I would ask Mom & Dad if we could go and they would say “you’ve already been” like the memory of that day would be in my 9 year-old brain. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I got to see the circus again. It was just an eye-opening thrill. Well, every year Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus comes to town. It plays in both in Dallas and Ft. Worth for the next month.
Before the show started, there was a pre-show on the show floor with clowns, stilt walkers and an upfront look at an elephant. The children were thrilled to be a part of the act with the clowns, helping the merrymakers with spinning balls and balloon tricks. The kids could try on different circus costumes and have temporary tattoos placed on their hands. The tattoos read “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
The producers of the show are Nicole Feld and Alana Feld. With two women at the helm, there is a definite feminine touch to the proceedings. Not just a series of stunts and acts, the show has a flow like an ocean tide going from ‘act’ wave to ‘act’ wave. The audience is taken from under the sea to high in the air, to and fro, while never losing the theme or flow. The journey covers air, land and sea while going to the four corners of the world.
The show opens with clowns, clapping and banging on trash cans. Their job was to get the already fired-up audience focused and ready for a show. They are lead by Paulo Dos Santo, a little person with some massive skills as an acrobat. The circus train parade of acts happens with all the performers on the stage. Led by ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson, he sings a strong opening to the proceedings. It is a visual display of colors and lights.
The first act is Whirl Renowned, a circus in the sky of balancing acts and ring work done high up in the sky but with an ocean ‘under the sea’ motif. From there we go to China and The High Risers, a gymnastic feat of balance beams and catapults, black-flips and front-flips. They used traditional Chinese Dragon costumes in the mix of performance.
In a big change from years past, there is a giant series of acts that keep the three ring concept fresh. This is a recreation of the side show. Girls with snakes and contortionists take the rings but the center is left for feats of strength by the strong man, the Mighty Meetal, who lifts massive weights and finishes by suspending almost a ton of weight with his legs and arms.
The biggest thrills of the first act had to be Daniel Raffo and the tiger show. Being in a cage with these beasts is a feat of bravery that few would ever attempt. He gets these cats to stand on their hind legs and jump over one another. As he makes these animals work, he keeps food on the tip of his guide stick, rewarding the tigers for a trick well done.
The clowns are used more as a distraction, as the workers set up part of the floor; the jesters in make-up do their funny bits. The big clown car bit takes on a superhero idea, when all the guys and gals come out of an old school VW Bug dressed as Spiderman and various other costumed heroes.
The second act was the first time there was actually a three ring circus laid on the floor. A series of Wild West wonders happened with trained ponies, a dog that rides on top of a stallion and a trick llama. One of the elephants joins in the series of stunts and trick ropes.
The highlight of Act II was the Flying Caceres troupe. These high flying daredevils leap from trapeze to trapeze with precision. The big feat was the quadruple summersault. In this performance, the acrobat didn’t make the stunt, but it was still a thrilling attempt.
I asked my goddaughter what her favorite parts of the circus were and she said ‘one-no- two-no-three’. First, she liked Vickie Zsilak and her ponies. Then she started on about the motorcycle show, the Torres Family. This is daredevil group of Black-light painted riders of motorbikes in a cage. Spinning around in perfect sync, they are a twisting and spinning bunch of riders’ inches from one another. At one point there are seven riders in the cage at the same time. Then she said she liked the jumpers. Lastly, she went on about the Barnum Bouncers, a trampoline act with flashy costumes that jump through hoops in perfect balance.
I thought that the elephant act was the highlight of the show. The grey giants easily took center ring, doing tricks and stands for their half dozen trainers. It is just amazing how well these giant beasts moved with such grace.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey‘s circus has been around for decades and this performance celebrates the 200 year of P.T. Barnum. It is a thrilling spectacle of acts that will thrill and excite just about every person. With almost two dozen acts, there is something at this edition of the circus that will please. Don’t miss it.
