And the Best Circus of 2008 Is ...

Perhaps never before has circus performance art — and by this, I am speaking the entire show as a single unit or form of creativity —been given so huge a boost as was yesterday unveiled in Bucharest, Romania. There, a ground breaking event took place when four of “the best circus companies” from Italy, Germany, Russia and Romania, as went a press release, competed for the unprecedented honor of best show.For the record, Romania's Circus Globas somersaulted off with the Golden Lion Award; Italy's Medrano Casartelli, the Silver; Russia's Nukulin on Ice, the Bronze.Heralded as “the first edition of the international festival of circus art,” the big top bash appears to throw the focus onto the elements of a performance. Kudos to that! For too long, in my opinion, has the flow of action in and...

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Romaninan Circus Review Revolution is NOW

How very interesting and truly ground breaking -- over across the Atlantic in Bucharest, they are judging not circus acts but entire circus performances! The revolutionary review festival winds up tomorrow, June 30. We must talk more about this. Meet me at the tea tent tomorrow eveni...

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The Ziegfeld Dream When It Dies, As It Must ... A Brilliant Movie Musical Discovery....

Lucking Out at the Movies on TV...To have known the spotlights of fame and fortune, to have known the acclaim of a thousand raving fans seeking your favors, and then the pain of withdrawal that follows when they are no longer there — this is an experience precious few mortals face. The rest of us can only imagine how harrowing the last ride down to the final exit must be. Some marquee idols make the transition; many wither away in remorse and anger, depression and booze and suicidal solitude.Recently on Turner Classic Movies, actually a half hour into the film, I discovered a riveting old black and white movie musical from 1941, Ziegfeld Girl. It’s lucky heroine, Sheila Regan, is a looker who lives two lives. One is that of a Ziegfeld Follies...

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Midweek Midway Mix ... Niche Circuses from Black to Pink

When last we met here at the Tea House of Tranquility, my fragile psyche was rattled by rumors of a Cirque du Soleil sale to a dubious Dubai syndicate (is anything in Dubai not dubious?) ... and what a flood of e-mail it drew (to me, one counts for a “flood”). And no less than from an ex-Cirque Insider (trust me), who helped launch the whole thing way back when it suddenly went from one-ring humble to multi-tent haughty. Can you blame them? Says Mr. Ex, amorally instructive, “Guy Laliberte has no real vision for the future of CDS but he has a clear vision for himself. Think about it!”Okay. So I thought about it, and I hereby declare that producer Laliberte, by having no vision set in stone, is more creatively open to whatever new revelations...

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Ladies of the Sawdust ... Pitch Your Tents, Yes!

It should be no surprise that more and more, women are beginning to manage and direct circuses. After all, if they can rise to the title of CEO, why not that of “Circus Queen”?Lady #1 in my Ring of Fame: Determined, committed, dedicated, multi-talented. Unknown force behind the throne of a new circus syndicate destined too dominate the entire tent show field: Louse Ringling (above). Yes, past tense. She will stand for other unknown women down through time who no doubt have helped run shows. We can only imagine the degree of family indifference and public scorn that Louise suffered in silence for her love of Albert Ringling. Female performers were then likened to prostitutes. And we will never know how intricately important Louise Morris Ringling...

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Celebrity Circus on TV: A Big Top To Nowhwere

TV Review: NBC Celebrity Circus.Pardon my naivete, but can celebrity and bare taut flesh alone carry a television show woefully lacking in real talent? Ooops, that's right, there was that episode of Survivor that I couldn't take my eyes off of ...Second question: What is a judge to do when there is nothing to judge? That’s the dilemma faced by three "experts" recruited to adjudicate NBC’s glitzy Celebrity Circus, in which assorted star names from sports to film pretend to be performing real circus acts. Pretend is the operative word. How to, indeed. Do you accept veiled bribes from the producers and fake being swept away? Memorize pre-scripted reactions? Agree to be paid per adjective uttered --“fabulous!” and “absolutely fantastic!” getting...

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Midweek Midway Mix ... Cirque du Soleil For Sale?

Ladies of the Sawdust, hold your engines! Just when I was about to salute our new circus queens, so thoughtfully, so thoroughly, here comes a Don Covington flash about Cirque du Soleil considering a bid from dubious Dubai suitors to sell for 2.5 billion. “No,” says the Montreal office to Daily Telegraph reports. "Many rumors and speculations result from these conversations. In this case, it is just that." Still, I felt a minor earthquake rock my battered big top soul, a sincere pang contemplating life without the Great Guy Laliberte. He is the force behind a big top movement that has fascinated, even sometimes thrilled me. ... I’ve looked forward to following his trajectory into the future, especially after his remarkably older-styled and more real Kooza. The man can change. The man is full...

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Tonys Bless South Pacific, In the Heights, Gypsy; August: Osage County --- Totally Snub Mermaid & Frankenstein

The Tony Awards, 2008Monster assembly line musicals got the Tony kiss-off last night. And the biggest turkeys were: Young Frankenstein and The Little Mermaid. Other tuners completely ignored: Cry Baby, A Catered Affair, Xanadu. Having seen the latter -- a disco roller romp that skids off the rink long before final curtain, I think sound judgement prevailed.That left two new musicals to battle it out, In the Heights and Passing Strange. And what a strange outcome. Heights took four Tonys (Best Musical among them -- I thought it would sweep the awards, not realizing that both new shows and revivals are now lumped into the same category for production awards). Strange landed one Tony, for Best Book. Hard to make sense of that. Some of the reviews as well as patron comments pointed to scripting...

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Vargas Very Alive -- Three Giants Headed for Northern California

Putting to rest my hyper paranoia (read all about it on the post below), my e-mail to Circus Vargas was answered by Yasmin Rivera: "Yes we are coming North! Please check our website www.circusvargas.org for updates on our New Cities in the next weeks!" We all, of the battered American circus syndrome class, thank you, Yasmin.And that means, baring a last minute collapse of either Ringling-Barnum or Carson & Barnes, that my stomping ground will see a Golden Age this summer, when all three Big Ones (now look who's working spin) display their razzle dazzle in my own backyard. Hey, I want more -- There's room for Kelly-Miller and New or Old Cole, too. Let's hold a survivor's celebration, okay?Can't wa...

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Mid Week Midway Mix ...Circus Vargas breaking or folding???

Most troubling tidbit to toss around at the tea shop (I’m having Dragonwell, and you?...): Circus Vargas taking a “brief summer break,” per their website, promising to show up soon in Northern California. And my doubting heart sinks, fearing another long Circus Chimera summer, the latter having yet to return ... Oakland’s new Circus Bella (pictured above) as pure of heart as once was the Pickle Family Circus. It’s leader David Hunt e-mailed me a video of the gang in first outing charming a laid back Sebastopol gathering ... They’ve got dreams, and they’ve got wry Jeni Johnson who tilts whimsically off axis, pretending to be a reluctant ringmistress actually plotting inside to declare big top mutiny ... She’s a promising grad from the S.F. Clown...

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A Policy Note to Contributors ...

In order to avoid any future confusion, henceforth please be aware that anything you send me (solid news, rumors, speculation) will be considered fair game for coverage. If you do not wish to be referenced as the source, please so state at the beginning of your e-mail, and you may be assured that I will use something like "savvy insider" or "field sources," etc.While it is not my intention to embarrass anyone, I do however retain the right to post anything that you send me.I trust this will make our communications easier on both sidesThan...

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The One Act Circus – Why Not?

Sunday Morning, Looking Back ...It’s about time our tent shows face up and pace up, intensify and get to the point: Pack the acts tighter, move 'em as fast as the Kentucky derby, and give the public a thrilling break. People no longer want long. Too many things to consume or IPod or text message out. Diminished capacity to sit still. Intermissionless shows elsewhere may be growing in popularity. So easy to take in. So unmessy. Sit down once. Get up once, and you’re out of there. Like taking in a movie. My open memo to circus owners: Give audiences your best stuff in one glorious rush. Concise. Prompt. Action-packed. And then finish fast. Better to leave ‘em wanting than worn.On Broadway and off, some shows (the long-running Alta Boyz, for example) are nixing the interval. Xanadu on roller...

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Broadway’s New Golden Age? Reenter the Populist Composer...

Gotta give it to you, Gotham, Times Square today looks like a traffic jam of hit musicals — your modernized marquees ablaze with acclaim. “Ground breaking!” “Broadway may never seem the same!” “Brilliantly ridiculous!” “Best new musical in years!” On and on it goes, and I get dizzy trying to decide which shows to take a chance on. Although I never walked Forty Second Street during the fifties — still remembered by the old guard as the greatest of “golden ages” — how can it compare to these booming nights? When West Side Story opened in 1957, during its modest nearly two-year run it would compete with maybe half a dozen musicals of viable value — among them, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music, Redhead. Most of...

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Joy Over Broadway for South Pacific Revival .. Can the REAL Flower Drum Song be Next?

Originally posted April 4. Any Rodgers and Hammerstein fan will be floating on clouds over the near unanimous raves just accorded the first New York revival of South Pacific. I am floating, I must tell you, and I can’t wait to see it in May. Here’s one I’ll pay through the nose to see. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammer- stein II were once so popular, so critically acclaimed, that a TV tribute to their work in the early 1950s was broadcast nationally on all three major networks. Yes, all three. The country sang their songs. Hollywood made gold turning their stage musicals into film hits. Their made-for-television Cinderella starring Julie Andrews was seen by 107 million Americans — nearly twice the number who viewed Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan...

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Sunday Morning Looking Back: Reaching for the Unreachable, Even If They Agree to Talk, What Might They Say, if Anything?

Consider it a done deal, at least here, that the higher they fly under the big top, the harder they are to reach. For years, I tried reaching John Ringling North, once writing to Henry Kissinger, hoping he might set up a visit for me with the reigning Ringling ...John’s faithful brother, Henry, was my ultimate ace in the hole ... The most memorable thing that JRN told me? He once tried talking abstract artist Salvator Dali into designing the costumes for his circus (can you imagine???). Dali was reachable, okay, but his fees were not. Ah, even big top tycoons experience unreachable let downs ...Were I to reach Guy Laliberte (I am still trying to book space ship travel to his rumored porta parlor over planet earth), how revealing a subject might...

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