Two Views of Carson and Barnes Circus

A Note: Last year I stated on this blog that were I to review any circuses in ‘09 that I had seen in ‘08 and given less than three stars to, unless my ‘09 rating would be higher by at least ½ star, I would not review. Sorry to say, I have seen Carson & Barnes and I can’t give it a higher mark than I gave it in '08. So, since I have received interesting feedback on the show from two different sources, I am posting them. The first came in an e-mail, the second, a comment in reaction to my '08 review of the show.From Dave Wolowic, Oxnard, California:The last Monday, my wife and I drove out to Oxnard to see the last show of Carson & Barnes. There was a lot to like about the circus. And some not to like. We loved the aerial acts. The two...

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World’s Greatest Flies Again ... Russian Horse Show Struggling in Texas ... S.F Tiger Taunters Win Big Bucks ... Symphony and Circus Share Stages ...

from 5/30/09Roustabouts, hold your props! Vendors, cease all vending! Maestro Evans, softly into “Wedding of the Winds,” if you please! Ringmaster Ronk, your lines ...“Now ladies and gentlemen, it is with profound pride and respect that we present, high over center ring, the return of the greatest flyer who ever lived — Miguel Vazquez!”When I first viewed the photo above, that's how I felt. What a fantastic event the return of this big top icon would be. All that Miguel Vazquez, still evidently fit, would have to do is turn a double, even a laid back tipple. The announcement of his name and unmatched legacy alone would stir the crowds. After all, Americans still swoon to the spectacle of trapeze. The good news is that the quad king, who thrilled...

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Sunday Morning, Looking Back: How Sweet the Soviet Sawdust -- Thirty Years Ago

This first appeared on May 25, 2009How well I remember the gifted wild animal trainer who now runs what is left of the old Soviet Circus empire and is virtually begging for a government bailout. One frosty October evening thirty years ago after interviewing him following a performance of the New Circus in Moscow, he offered to give me a ride back to my hotel. Sharp frosty night air. Safe darkness over quiet streets. He and his wife. I and my interpreter, Tanya (seen here, above, with her son, Sergei). The four of us inside a luxurious automobile (Russian made, I think). Discretely privileged, careful not to overplay our status. How feted by fortune I felt. If only they knew what my “day job” was back in the States.My interviewee, who was one...

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Tent Tix Tumble, See Cirque du Soleil for 25.00! ... It’s a Virtual Twofer thing ... Blasted “Believe” Drawing Customers ... Wanna Know Why? ...

Was never a breeze, stocking the seats. Takes willing customers. Or plenty of shills. Seasons came and went, showman trouped on the fly. Now with this semi-depression thing on our lots, even the mighty monarchs are resorting to those discount deals ... Cirque du Soleil offering $25.00 tickets to five of its Vegas darlings, at the moment hurting for fans, that is, if you enter with a full-paying friend. Hmmmm, didn't I just see an offer sorta like that on the Carson & Barnes website? Very interesting. So, I did a mock purchase, pretending I wanted to see Ka, and the CDS promise came true, plus a few extra dollars. Perhaps that pays for a comp bag of peanuts. Now, if they will can add free airfare, they might attract millions of new believers...

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On Broadway, A Season of Redemption?

When the critics rave, beware. When they rage, beware. I’ve always been intrigued if not amused by the not infrequent disconnect between shows getting adored by reviewers, ignored by ticket buyers. Has anybody heard of The Golden Apple? One of dozens of ambitious shows that litter the junkyard of failure. Critical darlings, box office floporamas.This season, Broadway is hosting two new raved-about musicals: Elton John’s direct-from-London Billy Elliott, which looks like it could run for years, and the more complexly questionable Next To Normal, which might not turn out to be so audience friendly. Very deep interior stuff bordering on group therapy. Got lots of high-five notices. The rare dissenters suggest these dysfunctional hoofers are so...

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Showbiz Grabbag: Pizza Pitches to Vinyl's Comeback ...

Commercial Relief: Have you heard this on TV: “Alright, okay, so you’re saying you feel different ...” That’s the Pizza Whisperer guy, moving into The Meat Ball Marvel pitch, and what a laugh he is! I predict big things for this actor ... Why is it that sometimes the ads are better than the shows? I tried to get involved in this latest American Idol, but I keep waiting to see a contestant sing (remember the contestant???), and all they give us are the extras, like an opening Ringling spec shouting out, “We are the greatest!” Now, over to Coney Island: How great will Ringling's summer tent-in be? Kenneth Feld is trying to make, I take it, a big splash out there where the Cyclone roller coaster cries out for passengers, and under only the second...

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The Impresario Enters ...

Showbiz David from out of the pastoriginally posted 2/14/08Only he can silence a room. Only he can still the ego of others. The abrasive choreographer ... the overbearing set designer ... the prickly composer — they all suddenly turn silent when HE enters ... They all bow to him, for he is the ultimate arbitrator of what they will do. He is the studio mogul, the stage impresario, the big top king. The audience of audiences.In the riveting brilliance of the film masterpiece The Red Shoes, He is Boris Lermontov, played by Austrian actor Anton Walbrook. They all talk of him, wait for him to appear, take their cues from his wishes. Walbrook (who, in real life, broke from a circus family to pursue acting) teaches us perhaps everything there is to...

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Raves and Rants Along Forty Second Street

Showbiz David Out of the Pastoriginally posted 5/18/08Penn Station, New York“Another hundred people just got off of the train,” wrote Stephen Sondheim in his ground breaking musical Company. It felt more like a hundred million when I got off of the train on Wednesday at 5:07 p.m — and had to fight my way through a human version of freeway gridlock at rush hour. Try figuring out Penn Station — or the subways by night when track repair is under way — when even the locals don’t get it. And then it’s a city from hell.My first goal was the Gershwin Hotel on East 27th. Nice people. Super rates. Only one cockroach so far (last visit). Maybe it forgot to check out before I checked in. Walls on every cool floor covered with art from the Warhol-Studio...

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In the Church of Rodgers and Hammerstein: Allegro, their first flop, is no Show Boat.

Broadway CD ReviewA fine new, lovingly packaged concert recording of the 1947 Allegro, issued in a 2-CD set, does little, unfortunately, to bolster the show’s inferior reputation.Following the great success of their first two blockbusters, Oklahoma and Carousel, Rodgers and Hammerstein embarked on an original idea to dramatize, in a more experimental form (with ersatz Greek chorus) the life of a man who grows up to be a doctor, makes a name for himself in a big city, becomes disillusioned with rich folk who consume pills like candy, and returns to the small town of his birth to practice medicine among "real" people.Allegro generated a phenomenal advance ticket sale, opened to wildly mixed notices, and was gone in 10 months. Brooks Atkinson...

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