Big Top Bits: Ringling Risks Blue States Fallout ... Chinese Risk Higher Flights ... Rampaging Gorilla Risks a Tour of America. ...

Answering Connecticut’s drive to outlaw use of the bullhook (ankus) by bull handlers, Kenneth Feld threatens to ditch every date in this blue blue state. Now, that takes guts. And may it turn Connecticut truly blue. New Cole Circus’s Renee Storey is taking a tough rhetorical stand against the bill’s co-sponsor, one Diana S. Urban, accusing her of false statements (which, indeed, she has made) and undue action. The circus big shots are suddenly going constitutional. Here’s Storey citing the Equal Protection clause under Section 8 of Article 1. Go, Esquire Storey! ... Kenneth Feld’s daring threat could also backfire: What if he ditches Connecticut and nobody makes a fuss? Might other states and/or cities follow suit against elephant acts? ... Then bourbon for Ms. Urban?

Let’s chill out for a wee moment, okay. Can Feld afford to start a blue-state trend against his three touring units? A few thousand miles away out on bluer than blue west coast, there’ll be no Bellobration at San Francisco's Cow Palace this summer, marking the second season in a row without a Ringling visit ... Who could ever have guessed? All I can get from Cow Palace tickets agents, who grant that Feld ditched them, not they him — is a generic excuse about Ringling wanting to play Stockton instead. Stockton? This year in the labor day slot that for fifty years belonged to S.F., Ringling makes a round trip to Portland between Northern Calif. dates in San Jose and Stockton ...

While America’s big top moguls continue struggling to figure out what their vanishing audience base really wants — if anything at all — the fringers appear to be having a ball out there making hay of traditions in peril .... Up in Portland, there’s the Wanderlust Circus, promising 3 Leg Torso and DJ Global Ruckus, AND "ecological and educational amusements..." Also purring through pc-perfect Portland right about now is the Moscow Cats Theatre. The fluffy eqiuilibrists started out on sawdust and are now the queens and kings of stage. "Direct from Broadway!" spiels an add ... Go, kitties, go! ...

Other oddball offerings that intrigue: San Francisco’s eccentrically kooky dinner-circus under a tent by the bay, Teatro Zinzanni has cooked up a new concoction that sounds deliciously off kilter: Ukranian illusionist and original cast member Veronin returns. So does juggling chef Michael Davis ... Between bites, sample the "sensual power duo" Vertical Tango, opera diva Svetlana Nikitenko and German aerial acrobat Crystalle. And while your chasing those little cable cars half way to the stars — or the bars -- you might check out Circus Center’s first-year aerial program students on high, Ethereal Bodies and Crazy Clowns. Slated to perform June 2 at 7:30.

From hoops to traps, the Chinese are more and more pushing their flawless artistry skyward, and isn’t that a heady turn of events ... The Shanghai Swingers gave UniverSoul's 2005 opus true gold ...Another example of Asiatic stratospherics are the rambunctiously inventive Yunnan Flyers with Ringless Bros. On a stage, I find the various so-called "Chinese Acrobats" from here and there a little predictable and boring. In a ring and in the air, and mixed together with a diversity of performers from far and wide, these gymnasts add guaranteed zing and luster. Soar, China, Soar! ...

The Return of Gargantua? That would be our 400-pound male gorilla, Bokito, who is on display at a Netherlands zoo when not out on escape scaring the living daylights out of zoo goers. Now, what will Peta do about this? Bokito got loose and rampaged all over the grounds, sinking his teeth into a woman and dragging her around, panicking dozens of patrons. Our manic-depressive big ape only needed medication, so they say. In his break-out wake, four people were injured, that’s nothing to laugh about. Everything else — well, Bokito’s news-grabbing behavior marks him as a natural for an American big top in needed of a crowd. Jim Judkins, ahead of his Circus Chimera in an effort to bolster a weak gate (things are "very very difficult," he writes in a humbly haggard tone) might see about importing Bokito for a season or two ... There’s a lovely "jungle condition" cage in Baraboo — maybe for rent.

And that’s a gargantuan wrap!

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Real Risk: Coin of the Authentic Circus

A Replay from 2006.

A Golden Dragon Equilibrist Versus a Coreto High Wire Walker.

At the Golden Dragon Acrobats, who appeared last week on the stage of Berkeley’s Zellerbach, a very showmanly young hand balancer working the old chair-stacking routine gave us reason to feel fear, respect, hope and admiration. As he added, first one, then another and yet another chair to up his eerie elevation, we were treated to something we once took for granted under our now-emasculated big tops. (Who is he? The producer, whom I e-mailed, refused to provide a name.)

Just when you thought he had gone as high as he could go, there came that look on his playfully taunting face —— should I add just one more chair? Increase the danger and prolong your state of suspense and dread? From his perch on high, this slyly humorous entertainer smiled down upon our mounting sense of unease. We were on edge; not he. A circus owner somewhere should grab him fast by a contract.

What charges our emotions during such a performance is a feeling that only though skill, careful calculation, courage and resolve, can the performer stay on course and avoid the unthinkable. Every moment is in the balance as the stakes grow higher.
A metaphor for life?

Now ask yourself: would you feel the same drama were the young man strapped to a mechanic?
With a mechanic, it is impossible for the artist to succeed purely on skill. In fact, the artist does not have to succeed at all, because a lifeline will be there to save any tragic errors.

In contrast, at Cirque du Soleil’s latest under-canvas opus Corteo -- a fantasy sampler of many things that may you leave you with a new-found appreciation for the artistic brevity of the Three Stooges -- you can glance up at a young ballerina walking a "high wire," tethered, every antiseptic step of the way, to a thick white rope. You might wonder if Cirque intended to mock the dangers inherent in real circus as old hat. If, indeed, they are determined to deconstruct your appetite for the real thing by coercing you into buying the image without the reality?

Gradually, these insipid interludes will self-destruct. Audiences will tire of synthetic courage and go elsewhere for the real thing in other forums. Have you heard of extreme sports? Once at the circus, that's what you got



[On her own, the extremely real Josephine Berosini. Photo by Ted Sato]

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Showbiz Snaps: Legally Blonde, the musical, Didn’t Fool Me — or the New York Critics

Bubbles Over Broadway

When it tried out in San Francisco earlier this year to hometown acclaim, I refused to grant this hokey contrivance high marks, noting, nonetheless, that it does have a natural audience base in all the teen girls who are said to flood Broadway ticket counters.

Legally Blonde, which just failed to nab a nomination for Best Musical from the Tony people, got little respect from Big Apple critics when it opened on April 30, and I’m feeling (okay, smugly) vindicated. Read Clive Barnes: "amorphous, synthetic and manically empty-headed music." Even the often easy-to-please USA Today added sneer to the jeers: "Whatever pleasures Blonde provides ... are as fleeting and superficial as the highlights." Of course, you’re wondering, but what about the New York Times? Here’s what: "...approximates the experience of eating a jumbo box of Gummi Bears in one sitting." You heard it here first from Showbiz David. You can check out my review by typing "Legally Blonde" in the search box above... Or you can smugly ignore me.

Why do I watch Survivor? Without saying much, well, it’s kind of because if I find somebody whose looks and charm appeal to me, it’s a fun event. Okay, so it’s a flesh show, alright?

Hilarious satire makes a mess of figure skating during the early scenes of Blades of Glory, starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder, who will end up competing together as the first male-male "pairs" duo. I loved watching the phony baloney world of millionaire fluff bunnies and cutthroat bladsters spoofed (maybe because my sport of roller skating has always been pushed cleverly aside by theirs)--- complete with pip squeak cheerleader-analyst Scott Hamilton (playing himself) taking it over the top. Even the ice-on-mice shows are mercilessly trashed for laughs galore. How I wished this film could have continued apace. But no, it fairly melts away when Heder, who enters as a flaming queen, must learn how to love a real woman. Duh? And what a fairy tale that turns out to be. Get out the ice machine, guys, and sweep this ridiculous hetero farce off the rink...

Late Night watch: I watched Craig Ferguson and found him a bore, then tried him another night and found him a delight. Back again, he started to wear thin. Too much oddball body gyrations bring a stale penchant for Bit drag in. Methinks this Craig needs sharper writing and packaging. Me doubts he's going very far this side of the Atlantic. Super nice guy, and that's probably the problem.

Old flick discovery on tv: Rainbow On the River (1936). With Bobby Breen and May Robson fleshing out the touching tale of a young white kid raised by an ex-slave in post-Civil war South. He gets pulled away to live with his rich snobby in-laws in the big city. Happy ending, and that’s how it should be in this lilting musical fantasy that yet has a real soul. Relationships between people jump ethnic barriers all the time.

Next on the Big Lot: Baraboo Revisited.

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Big Top Bits: Kelly-Miller Shines North ... Don Stacey Doesn't ...

"It’s Showtime!" — and away we go at the new Kelly-Miller Circus produced by first-of-May showman John Ringling North II. "It’s Showtime" is the title of the opening production number, a chivari of sorts, or so I am told by manager Jim Royal who has been sending me, in glacially slow doses, program details bit by bit. A would-be archaeologist I have become, digging patiently away --- one pick at a time ... Bit by bit, into focus here we go:

From Mexico to Asia hail Kelly-Miller’s artists in the 18-act layout. Other production flourishes: A return of the North Starlets, down to an affordable foursome who glide around the cloud swing work of Jennifer Nichole. And a red, white and blue climax that fills the tent with flaring flags and confetti drops. Manager Jim stands by smiling "It does my heart good to go into the tent at finale and hear the reaction of our audiences. They are very pleased with the performance."

Has the show a star? Royal tells me that North, who booked all the new acts himself, was "particularly impressed" with contortionist Sai Zhang. "He was right. She gets a great response from the audiences." Bit by bit ...

The first act ever signed by North? The Rosales Family. More to follow from the trenches of Hugo ... Next to come: a complete rundown of the entire performance! I have it, kids...

Sunshine & Shadows: The Big Apple’s Maria Parra, who works dogs for Johnny Peer, is one of 30 Under 30's Picks for 2006. Says, Maria at 28, "I’m learning that you don’t have to go to every party. You don’t have to meet every single person" .... Big Apple Circus, by the way, is hauling in some adoring notices after opening to a New York Times rave last November ... Death stalks the sawdust — a Leitzel replay? Tragically, 35-year-young aerialist Roberto Valenzuela fell to his end while performing on Circo Hermanos Vazques in L.A., and maybe through no fault of his own artistry. Investigations point to rigging failure, and how often that, sadly, is the case ... Circus News.Com is following this story ... Stay out of Connecticut, circus with animals! That’s the intent of one chilly bill (HB 7019) moving through an unfriendly legislature. And if it passes, let the public suffer ... About my circus website ratings, Joan Hart of Circus Vargas e-mailed me: "We were thrilled with your favorable comments." One of the tidy little things about the Vargas site that I like is their concise listing of acts, specially from where they come. Thank God for places like Italy and Chile and Holland and Spain – well you get the picture. Keep spoiling us, World, please ... See the photo, on the sidebar, of North II and Royal I, taken in a revealing flash by Beverly Royal? Now that’s what the theatre calls "character delineation... The ever-resilient Zoppes, led by Alberto, are out with their first newsletter, and it oozes warm Italian charm, complete with Mama’s Recipe ... Go there and be embraced by one of Spangeland’s Great Circus Families ...

http://www.zoppe.net/newsletter.html

And here comes Englishman Don Stacey, raising high once more the Irvin Feld banner ... Go, Don, I feel your Piccadilly pain! Stacey continues to rant against the truth of what really happened. And I’m back on Stacey’s stage, and, gosh, I feel perversely flattered. A reference to me kicks off Stacey’s article about Circus World for the latest issue of King Pole ... As usual, I come off as the guy who loves John North (the original) and hates Irvin Feld, whereas Stacey loves Feld and doesn’t love North.

... I know there are many sincere Irvin Feld fans out there (and I respect them all) who may believe that Feld was actually the better showman. Feld as savior? There, I draw a line. Stacey — going near ballistic this time out — writes, "I am inclined to agree with those who feel that Feld and his family were indeed, the people who saved the oldest and biggest traveling circuses from annihilation" Bombs over the big top, Don? How about turning your radar onto how the Felds have tried to annihilate John Ringling North and Arthur Concello out of circus history?

The nuances, England, the nuances. Here, Don, is what you will find on page 299 of my book, Big Top Boss, concerning my take at one point on Feld's showmanship: "In the mid-1970s the greatest show on earth was as aggressively promoted as it had ever been, with Gunther Gebel Williams at the dazzling forefront of a glamorous and modern Ringling ballyhoo that captured the American public’s fancy." ... To a corner please, go, there to recite that sentence a thousand times over ... The two of us in vaudeville, Don? I could hoof a tad ...

Stacey, who handled publicity for North’s 1963-64 European tour and loathed every performance he was by contract obligated to promote, concedes that he never saw a Ringling circus in America produced by JRN. Hmm, how interesting ...

I’m back at Kelly-Miller digging for the truth, bit by bit ... And that’s a Royal wrap ...

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Big Top Bits: The White Tops Promises Criticism, Kelly-Miller, More Silence, Cirque, More Fog ...

We begin with my "death" which never happened ... Hamarstrom is not Hallberstam, thank you. Across the years I’ve been confused for the much richer, more famous and prolific writer named David Hallberstam. Tragically, this well-revered author of numerous books on politics and society died in a car crash not far from where I live ... A few people contacted me with guarded concern ... Robert Mitchell's phone message ended, "talk to you later — I hope ..." A mystically inclined e-mail correspondent invited me to "Reply the best way you can." Hmmm. Were I the other Hammarwhatever, an outreach seance back to planet earth might have been in order ...

Talk about being mistaken for someone we are not, seems the new and graphically improved White Tops magazine wants to be mistaken for a serious purveyor of critical reviews. I have in hand a comp copy, sent courtesy of Vern Mendonca (himself on track to be the CFA’s next president-elect). Inside, the usual platitudes embrace all shows big and small ...

Pardon my journalism, but a CFA reality check is in order, folks:. The Circus Fans Association, since is inception in 1927, has been a cheer-leading arm of the circus industry. New editors John and Mardi Wells promise "previews" and "reviews" ---- the latter, actual critiques of "the quality of the overall show " done by "those qualified to do them." And who would those be? Already, me thinks not ...

Raves roll forth apace, nonetheless. Ringling’s 137th opus is heralded as Feld's "best show ever." So, let's see, what if the "review"to follow disagrees? What happens, then, when somebody’s feelings get hurt and somebody (maybe like, say, a performer or owner) cools off on allowing fans coveted "jackpot" privileges in the backyard when the circus comes to town?

... In the same new and improved issue, a letter writer, claiming to have seen 100 circus performances, says this about the semi-new Ringless Bros. Blue, now in its second-year tour: "Let me go on record: this is the best show I have ever seen."

The drumbeat of acclaim never ends. And the fans seem to fall over each other in a mad dash to render their "best ever" reviews. Twas ever thus, I rue ... So many volunteer press agents. So little sobriety ... If only more reviews were thought out the morning after, if you get my drift ...

For the CFA to allow independent criticism goes totally against the organization’s DNA. Many years ago in my bristling adolescence (as opposed to my bristling decline), I managed to sneak past a notice both praiseworthy and critical of Polack Bros, and I have then-White Tops editor Walter H. Hohenadel to thank, thank you. In fact, were it not for the White Tops , believe it or not I might not now be carrying on like I am ... But don’t assume the course I staked out, for a moment codified in CFA ink, was granted many encores. Hardly. More about this remarkable chapter in my mini-career at the typewriter in a future post.

Back to "best ever" sentiments. In promising contrast to the status quo, a gingerly worded — though refreshingly insightful — White Tops review of Traces by Dominique Jando analyzes the show down to the non-circus it is. Operating, however, safely off the sawdust trail, Jando is careful to give the show high marks overall. (To read my own take on Traces, posted last December, type "Traces" in the search box above.) Will Jando and others dare to nitpick away over things they don’t like about "real" circuses? Will the CFA allow an invasion of opinionated fans? Will it dare rile the circus world it revels in celebrating and protecting? "We fight anything that fights the circus," is its still proudly-quoted motto. No, I think not....

Away from CFA hoopla, there are promising signs here and there of free-thinking under the big top, whatever the motives. Over at Circus News.Com, the Zimmers, Al and Beverly of Bradenton, complain that Ringling’s hometown edition at Robards Arena "stunk." Ouch, and don’t submit that to the White Tops. However, I’m sure their red-hot valentine to Sailor Circus in the same piece — "worthy of Madison Square Garden" — would be a front-page candidate.

....

And pardon my journalism, Jim Royal and John Ringling North II, but I am still waiting for details (titles, themes, make up, anything, boys) on the "three small production numbers" you tell me you are presenting to your Kelly-Miller audiences. ... A non-practicing CFAer, I am fascinated with any clues that may tell us something about JRN II’s aesthetics ... Yes, it’s not fun pressing for details, but let me be the one to do it ... My second e-mail to Royal awaits a royal thaw ...

Future best-evers, brought to us by CircusNews.Com: Cirque Du Soleil, at work on its new tent show Koza, promises a "return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil." I hope this means the simplicity they brought to L.A. in 1987 — before Vegas called ... Moscow hosts the Third Global Circus Festival from June through August. Thirteen countries are expected to compete, and what an exciting bash that should be! .... Cirque’s Koza circuses around "a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world." ... Cirque’s other show getting prepped for Madison Square Garden in November, follows the quest of a boy named Wintuk "to find snow and adventure."... That should keep the ice machines working overtime ... Ah, yes, leave 'em gasping over the substance stuff ...

You can have all the dry ice and soul-searching you want. I’ll take the circus that center rings Matinee, the sensational 9-year old mare who has rewritten the book on dressage. She, in my opinion the best ever, is profiled right here on this blog, and it’s all free ...

And that’s a White Tops Wrap!

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Dream Dressage from England ... Pure Circus and Take That, PETA!

The Circus That Once Reigned Supreme

Ride this link to the most amazingly intrepid dancing horse you will likely ever see – Matinee!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQgTiqhPbw&eurl

The 9-year-old mare, ridden by Andreas Helgstrand, dazzled Brit crowds at the World Equestrian Games in the Musical Freestyle Dressage competition. Here is a link to a video of Matinee's tanbark triumph — a revelation — sent me by my SoCal correspondent, Dame Dither of England. "Poetry in Motion – The Real McCoy," writes the Dame, gushing as rarely she does. Indeed, tally ho, pip pip and a dozen dizzy encores!

There on English soil where the circus was born, behold one sterling example of the mastery that once reigned victorious over pure sawdust — before fog machines, unidentified crawling objects, special effects and naval-gazing ballerinas took over.

Matinee reminded me of circus-going years ago. "She knows where the beat is," says the Dame. Indeed, and so did the big top.

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DVD Discovery: The History Boys is Rich and Riveting

>Brilliant in so many ways, The History Boys, written by Alan Bennett (who also wrote the stage play up which it has been adapted) centers its searing drama and comedy on the question of why we learn. Set in England in 1984, eight grammar school lads have scored well enough to apply for Oxford or Cambridge. Their heady headmaster is so madly determined to get them in and enhance his reputation that he hires a young teacher, Irwin, to badger the boys into edgier test-taking attitudes.

Irwin sells out for the chance to land a permanent position at the school by recklessly urging the boys to cease being so factually "bland" and, instead, fabricate their answers to test questions. This sets Irwin in callous contrast to quaintly aging Hector, a professor who revels in the mastering of poetry and philosophy and drama just for the joy of learning.

Essayed by actor Richard Griffiths with well-worn perfection, Hector is a teetering overweight pig of a man with a homely grin and the exquisite ability to impart the value of passing great ideas and prose from one generation to the next.

Hector is also, not to his advantage, a closeted and lonely "married" homosexual who has suffered a thousand unrequited desires at the chalkboard. With little regard for job security, Hector offers motorbike rides to his students and, en route at intersection pauses, gently gropes their genital areas in a a discretly appreciative manner.

Enter one of the eight students, Dakin, played by Dominic Cooper, a charmer who views life amorally. He is not exactly getting what he wants from his current girlfriend, so he eyes the gay options around him like a hungry speculator. He even accepts a motorbike ride from the fat professor, is touched for mere seconds and reports it to the headmaster, who seizes on the incident as a pretext to force Hector out and hand his teaching slot over to the more modern-thinking Irwin.

There is so much more than this. So many riches of thought and irony here to discover. For one, Mrs. Lintott, played by Frances de la Tour (seen here with Dominic Cooper), is a history professor who must tolerate a male dominated world, and she addresses her plight with bitting wit and insight. There are the boys themselves, full of cleverness and ambivalence over Oxford and the future And there is the tragic figure of Hector, about to be early-retired, about to lose the whole reason for his being.

Dakin is the pivotal surprise hero who in the end grows to understand and feel compassion for Hector’s brief indiscretion on him and who takes sly measures to exploit the headmasters’s similar molestations in the straight sphere in order to spare Hector the impending loss of his life in the classroom.

Hector’s redemption is short-lived, for one thing he can’t give up is his love for riding a motorbike with a big helmet on his happy head. His impact on one of his students, though, is not short-lived. "Pass it on!" Hector exhorts the boys their last day of school, alluding to the literary treasures they have confronted, however reluctantly. And one of them does, becoming a professor and passing on Hector’s passion for the chance discovery on the printed page of an idea, a feeling, a story from long ago that can feel so real and relevant today. That can salve painful wounds and offer understanding.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner, The History Boys is a major work of art.

Realty check: After writing this review, I looked over some of the reviews it received, and was astonished to find so many snickering dismissals. I also found that the stage play wracked up tons of awards from Ollivers to Tonys (a record six) to Drama Desks to Outer Critics Circles. The entire stage cast played their roles in the film, and to think, when I was in New York last year, I could have got a ticket to see the play!

[orignally posted 4/23/07]

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