Ringling Brothers Circus At
the Allstate Arena By Dan Zeff ROSEMONT—This
season’s Ringling Brothers circus offers two shows for the price of one. First,
there is the usual collection of circus acts, both human and animal. Second,
the audience also gets a magic show—about a dozen illusions and tricks
administered by Alex Ramon. Ramon replaces the traditional ringmaster, performing a
selection of familiar magic/illusion presentations, mostly of the “disappearing
body” and “separated body” genre, like when someone enters a large box and
presto, a moment later the person is gone, replaced by a tiger. Or when a man
seemingly is divided into two pieces and then put together again in full view
of the audience. I’ve seen these illusions many times and still haven’t figured
out how the magician pulls them off.
This year’s circus is called ”Zing Zang Zoom,” the
incantation Ramon pronounces at the climax of his magic stunts, and it’s a
leaner production, running a bit more than two hours including one intermission.
That will be good news for parents and guardians trying to keep their
youngsters awake at evening shows. Clowns play a much reduced role in the 2009
circus, and what exposure we do get from the clowns resides most prominently in
an entertaining tumbling display. Unfortunately, the circus allows excessive stage time to an
obnoxious and noisy character called Mr. Gravity, who is supposed to be a
villainous comic foil for Ramon and just wastes time with his unfunny antics.
Mr. Gravity either needs to get an act or remove himself from the show. I suspended my usual lack of enthusiasm for animal acts
during the dog performances guided by the Olate family and Hans Klose. Their
dogs are funny, cute, talented, and relentlessly energetic. Regrettably both
acts performed simultaneously in separate rings, forcing the spectator to
choose which act to enjoy. The novelty act of the show is the team of Clara Ruiz and
Fabio Mela da Silva, a Brazilian couple who perform upside down high above the
arena floor. Their performance includes playing badminton and watering flowers,
all with heads down and feet up. Very weird and very entertaining. An aerialist act performs vertically instead of horizontally.
Rather than soar across the arena, the aerialists worked from swinging
contraptions, doing their somersaults and jumps up and down from the moving
swings. In the same spirit, the Skokov and Romashov troupes perform their
acrobatics from swings on the arena floor, flipping and twisting in
synchronized precision.
Tina Miser and Ekaterina Borzikova may have the best gig in
the circus. Their act consists of being fired out of twin canons across the
arena into large inflated cushions, a voyage that takes less than two seconds.
There may be some danger in the act but you can’t beat the hours. The highlight act of the circus comes from the Fernandez
brothers from Mexico (most of this year’s talent comes from Latin America and
eastern Europe). Guillermo and Alberto Fernandez operate off a pair of giant
rotating pendulums with a large opening at one end. The brothers cavort in and
on top of the pendulums, keeping their balance and even jumping rope in
defiance of the laws of gravity. I saw no safety cables or net, and the margin
for error is zero. As usual, the circus band plays nonstop at rock concert
decibel levels. The show doesn’t have as much spectacle as earlier editions,
but we still get a decent display of marching elephants and lots of exotic
costumes. Again this year the audience is allowed onto the arena floor an hour
before showtime to mingle with the acts up close and personal. It’s a great way
for the audience to connect with the circus and hundreds of youngsters and
adults happily took advantage of the opportunity. Once again the circus is splitting its local run between the
Allstate Arena in Rosemont (November 5-15) and the United Center in Chicago
(November 17-29). Prices remain remarkably affordable, though one suspects that
Ringling Brothers can keep its tickets cheap because the organization cleans up
on concession sales before and after the show and during the intermission. Ticket prices start at $12 but patrons can spend as much as
$95 for “Circus Celebrity” seating.
Performance times vary depending on the day. Call 1 800 745 3000 or
visit www.Ringling.com. Customers
can avoid the annoying “convenience” fee by purchasing tickets directly from
the Allstate Arena and United Center box offices. The show gets a rating of 3 1/2 stars. November 2009 Contact Dan at zeffdaniel@yahoo.com.
**********************
Ringling Brothers Circus
At the Allstate Arena
By Dan Zeff
ROSEMONT—If you want to see a trained porcupine, the Ringling Brothers circus is the place for you. Of course, there is more to this year’s circus than a porcupine. The Greatest Show on Earth offers the talents of 7 elephants, 30 horses, 30 dogs, 2 Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, 11 tigers, 2 llamas, and an alpaca. And the human beings in the production are pretty good, too.
The circus is making its customary split stop in Chicagoland, opening at the Allstate Arena and then transferring to the United Center.
The 2008 circus is produced by the father and daughter team of Kenneth Feld and Nicole Feld and their show is a considerable upgrade over recent versions. The production has a greater theatrical flair and greater coherence. The evening got off to a strong start with an opening parade that is actually entertaining rather than just a walk-through of coming attractions. The acts flow into each other more fluidly and the chorus girls are elevated from the frozen smiles and left foot-right foot choreography of the past to real dancers.
Unfortunately, not much can be done about the clowns, a component in the circus I have been grousing about for all my years attending the Ringling Brothers extravaganzas. This year the clowning is dominated by Tom Dougherty, who has two interminable segments in the show. Virtually all the clowning falls to him with surprisingly little independent activity by the large corps of complementary clowns. The large opening night audience seemed to enjoy Dougherty’s shtick, so probably my impatience can be written off as a constitutional distaste for circus clown acts.
The performances are a savvy mix of the familiar and the novel. In the latter category is the Inner Tube Troupe, a septet of young eastern Europeans who accomplish impressive acrobatic antics while bouncing on what look like giant inflated inner tubes. The Henan Troupe from China provides a fresh wrinkle on traditional trapeze work by propelling themselves from swinging poles instead of horizontal bars.
The smaller animal acts were led by the opening bit, a charming high energy performance by a group of dogs who dash about the arena catching Frisbees tossed by Americans Gail Mirabella and Nadja Palenzuela.
I have never been blown away by performing tigers. Doubtless it’s a considerable feat to get six tigers to stand on their hind legs simultaneously but the act has never gripped me. On the other hand, this show presents the best elephant act I have never seen. These huge beasts actually perform impressive stunts under the guidance of Alex Petrov of Bulgaria.
The Flying Caceres aerialist act had a terrific night, hitting every stunt with precision, including a mid air triple summersault. Likewise, a solo trapeze act by Wellington Silva had its jaw dropping moments. The Torres family takes its motorcycles into a 16-foot wide steel globe, spinning around at high speeds with a margin for error measured in centimeters. For my money, this is the most gee-whiz act in the circus, drenched in danger and excitement.
The circus has fortunately abandoned the old time three-ring concept that forced spectators to swivel their attention from ring to ring, missing good bits from each competing act. The only simultaneous acts this year involved two contortionists and a couple of hand balancing acts. They were all worthy of solo billing and it was annoying having to either concentrate on one to the exclusion of the other two or surf my gaze among all three, hoping not to miss too much.
The show comes in at a tight 2 hours and 15 minutes. Ringmaster Chuck Wagner keeps the evening going with his blast furnace voice, but his running gag conflict with Tom Daugherty over Wagner’s hat soaked up too much time. The circus band accompanied with nonstop professionalism. The show, as always, is perfect for children, though really young children may get the fidgets at an evening performance. Overall, this was a Ringling Brothers edition alive with spectacle, pace, and superb performances, and at astonishingly affordable prices.
The circus plays at the Allstate Arena until November 16 and then plays at the United Center from November 18-30. Tickets are $13 to $24 with VIP tickets going for $35 to $50. Performance schedules vary. Call 312 559 1212 or visit www.Ringling.com.
The show gets a rating of four stars Nov. 2008.
Contact Dan at zeffdaniel@yahoo.com