Jango Edwards Highlights Italian Clown & Acro Festival

The new FUNAMBOLIKA was conceived by Raffaele De Ritis,Legendary icon Jango Edwards (seen here, right, with partner Peter Ercolano) moved from the States to Europe in the early 70s and founded an avant-garde school of clowning.Also featured at the three-day bash was traditionalist David Larible and an international mix of acrobats from the circus school of Torino.[photo by Andrea Stracci...

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Hairspray on Screen: Movie Musicals Were Once This Good

Movie ReviewAfter we saw Singing in the Rain when it came to Santa Rosa in the fifties, on our way home my sister Kathy literally danced down near-vacant Santa Rosa Avenue while my enchanted mom hummed along. Such was the effect a film could have on one during the golden age of movie musicals. Something happened that silenced the magic. Call it the sixties. Rock music in its primitive form had not yet been harnessed to serve dramatic narrative. And a new generation decided not to patronize characters suddenly “bursting into song.” In recent years, yet more good and earnest attempts to revive the screen musical have given us the ambitious if belabored Chicago and the simply morose, overly long Dreamgirls.At last, a new day is here. I have just...

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Big Apple Circus's Sky-Shy 30th Promises Fumagalli's U.S. Debut, Brit Ringmistress, Kovgar Return, Michele Barette Direction.

Paul Binder and Michael Christensen premiere their 30th Anni Edition, dubbed Celebrate!, on September 20 at Dulles Town Center in Virginia. A month later, the circus uncorks its annual 3-month run at New York’s Lincoln Center. Rob Slowik will again direct Big Apple’s band, drawing upon original scoring created by Broadway’s Michael Valenti.Looking over a press release forwarded to me by Don Covington, new offerings include, from Ireland, the Huesca Brothers on Risley; and Italy's "clown prince of the world" Fumagalli, cutting up the sawdust with Daris, his "brother-in-hilarity." If Fumagalli lives up to his billing, Big Apple should shine for landing the jester's American debut.Celebrate! draws heavily on returnees from previous seasons. Among...

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Showbiz for Dummies: Let’s Face the Music

Consider me your Dummy-in-Chief. I’m catching up here on the Boob Tube Midway, where American dreamers of all ilk from troubadours to inventors (yes, inventors) are testing their talents against the judges. Each judging panel comes with the obligatory Simon Cowell Brit snit clone. What a blast.America’s got gall! Notice how the real stars are the judges themselves, grimacing and glaring, glancing away or holding flat noncommittal faces while contestants stand before them, about to be lionized or guillotined. We ride their every facial tick like a carnival ticket. We wait for Big Buzzers to go off, Red Lights to flash — OUT, damn Dummies, OUT! It’s all in the script, public humiliation is a spectator sport.Dummy Memo to desperate circus owners looking for a hook: Book Kevin James, a nerdy illusionist...

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Kelly-Miller Update: Fire Destroys Truck ... Boffo Biz Rules ... North II, High on Ownership, Due to Rejoin Show for 2008 Production Talks ...

Let’s first clear the smoke away. Climbing up a long steep grade, a Kelly-Miller sleeper pulling a seat wagon caught fire and was totally destroyed. Occupants Michael Harber (the show’s musical director) and K-M school teacher David Schwartz came out of it okay ...On went the show ...Tomorrow’s Promise Rising: Due in on July 30 is owner John Ringling North II, buzzing with ideas for next season’s tour. "He has some definite plans,." reports show manager Jim Royal. Next year’s route is to be hashed out. Also slated for revamping is their customer-unfriendly website. And North II Plans to spend more days on the lot next year...."He is thoroughly enjoying his new role as circus owner," reports Royal. That includes being a hands-on sort of guy. The staff and fans are finding John Ringling North’s...

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Bitty Big Top Bits ... Let’s Take What Little Comes Our Way, Kids...

As some of you may know (well, all three of you out there who read this biog.), once upon a time, thus it would appear, I was Royally favored by Kelly-Miller’s new big top boss. Now, Royally ignored. No problem ... I’ve trod this sod many times before, and I’m still belligerently doing it my way. Yeah, Frank, I hear you! .... Anyway, nice to hear from Big Bertha Retro Booster Craig Johnson of having e-mailed the new John Ringling North II produced Kelly Miller Circus for dates near his PA home, and getting, in return, a "very professional reply."Wonders, Craig, would 150 miles to Warren, PA "be worth the trip if JRN II would be on the lot? Your thoughts?"A no-brainer, Craig. With or without a Ringling icon on the lot, GO! Hop a bus, a train, a skateboard, rig up a wagon or get out your new...

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Mid-Season Musings: The Tents Tremble, My Paranoia Rises ...

Lay ‘em out, get ‘em in the air and pray they stand ... So far, new Clyde Beatty gone in weeks ... Chimera shuttered July 2 ... How many more to heaven in ‘07? ... I keep checking the Circus Vargas website, and still a Long Beach date hinted at by the show’s evasive pr dept. does not appear... Another e-mail from yours skeptical to Vargas vague. And in return, "We will be going to Long Beach."Pardon my paranoia, but I entered this crazy biz during another iffy period fraught with turmoil, oh, back around ‘55, only a few trembling weeks after the Big One stood abandoned on a St. Paul lot, the work force having walked off before the night show began in the wake of mass management firings. A feisty Noyelles Burkhart charged onto the scene, had the respect to rally the roustabouts, and got the...

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On Broadway, Disney’s Magic Disappears ...

I’ve never bought into all the Disney hype. Beauty and the Beast has a great score and a poignant tale to tell, but buried under a penny arcade of production blitz. After a long and hugely successful run, it bows out in July ... The critically acclaimed Lion King works okay, I guess, energized or enervated (whichever you prefer) with serviceably pedestrian songs composed by an international panel of musicians engaged to assure wide cultural diversify. Boring. King was obviously designed for the world market, and its touring productions are making millions ... Aida, Disney’s third entry on the Great White Way, is just plain awful, a limping turkey bearing a few sparkly things (a few decent Elton John tunes, some funky dances and those distracting costumes). It lasted four amazing years ......

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