TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Ringling Circus To Be 'Over The Top'

Jay Nolan / Tampa Tribune

Flag bearers practice a routine for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus Tuesday at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2007

Photo Gallery: Circus Rehearsal

TAMPA - Acrobats, clowns, dogs and, of course, the elephants strutted their stuff during today's rehearsal of the 138th version of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus, again billed as the "Greatest Show On Earth."

It was controlled chaos, with movement everywhere and the disembodied voice of Amy Tinkham, the director, issuing orders to people scattered around the floor. Tinkham has staged rock and roll concerts, but this is her first circus.

To the side, circus bigwigs mingled with reporters and photographers and other invitees to the rehearsal. Still cameras clicked and video cameras whirred. Interviews were held. Clowns talked and Kenneth Feld held court.

Feld owns the circus. His father, Irvin, bought it from John Ringling North in 1967 and he got involved just three years later. Feld's daughter, Nicole, got involved six years ago and is now executive vice president and producer. She makes the Felds a three-generation circus family.

Rehearsals have been held inside Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds since the day after Thanksgiving and will continue until Jan. 2 when this year's premier of the circus, entitled "Over The Top" will unfurl inside the St. Pete Times Forum.

"It is over the top," said Nicole Feld, whose enthusiasm for the production was apparent as she watched the rehearsal unfold this morning. "We have more than 300 people involved in this," she said. "One hundred thirty are performers. We have creative teams, writers, production people, animal handlers and production designers, all in the house."

To be successful, Kenneth Feld said, the circus has to change each year.

"The only way this institution has survived for so many years is change," he said.

This year's production contains a storyline behind all the death-defying acts, the animal tricks and musical numbers. The ringmaster, a Broadway-experienced baritone named Chuck Wagner is repeatedly flummoxed by Tom Dougherty, a bald, pasty faced clown with a Moe Howard wig and a burning desire to steal the ringmaster's hat.

"It's a tug-of-war between the two," Feld said. The storyline is designed to appeal to parents and kids alike.

"Parents with children in today's world want more focus when it comes to the show," Feld said.

Mainstays still find their ways into the acts. The show includes animal acts, which sometimes draw the attention of animal activists. Feld said the animals at the circus are well taken care of, including the 54 Asian elephants, which represents one of the largest herds in the world.

Animals are a favorite with circus patrons, he said.

"We have everything from porcupines to dogs to elephants," he said.

"And llamas, Welsh ponies and goats that ride the Welsh ponies," added Nicole Feld.

The rehearsal began just after 11 a.m. and featured animals, dancers and acrobatics during the opening musical number. The show had it all. Elephants lumbered around the perimeter, using their trunks to hold onto the tails of the ones in front of them. Frisbee-catching, obstacle course running dogs followed. Two young men danced on stilts and jugglers tossed dinner plates into the air.

Many of the performers this year are new to the circus, said Tim Holst, circus vice president who auditions and signs the talent.

Performers are signed to two-year contracts and he insists on interviewing them in person before offering the contract. "I want to get a sense of who they really are," he said.

Performers travel with the circus to 90 U.S. cities over the two-year period, he said.

"I wake up every day wondering where I can find somebody new," he said. His searches have taken him all over the world, interviewing acrobats in China and the Ukraine to motorcyclists in Paraguay.

The Torres brothers ride motorcycles around the inside of a metal mesh globe. They're not really brothers, but cousins. Ariel Torres is from Paraguay and Mariano Munoz is from Argentina. They love the circus life, they said, and have been a part of the circus for five years. They've seen a few injuries in motorcycle mishaps along the way.

"But," Munoz said in broken English, swearing that he coined this phrase, "the show must go on."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT