Big Apple star Gena Cristiani
And so we head across the Atlantic - on YouTube Airlines - to the city so good they named it twice for a visit to the Big Apple Circus.
America's most fearlessly honest big top watcher, Showbiz David, was unimpressed with this 45th year production. Read his review, here. But he also hoped to see some other write-ups that might offer a different perspective, so I thought I'd give it a spin.
For a show titled Dream Big that stars one of the biggest names in circus, Grand Canyon-crossing wire-walker Nik Wallenda, this edition of New York's favourite circus has a decidedly 'small' feel - and not in the cosy, intimate sense. A procession of solo acts presented with little window dressing gives the proceedings a low budget look.
Apart from a nice cylindrical curtain that encloses the ring before the show, there's no production to speak of. No special effects, dancers, glitz, spectacle or razzmatazz.
Strangely, the show does open with a pleasing vignette that features all the performers in a kind of storybook or childhood dream setting. I say strangely, because the scene suggests we might be in for a story or a show with a theme. The strange thing, however, is that after that single scene, the director seems to have stopped directing the show. The artists simply come on, do their bit and go off, with nothing to connect them.
The short video messages with which the performers introduce themselves is a pleasant touch, but even that looks a little homely and amateur talent show-like. And given that this show runs over the Christmas period, where is the falling snow, balloons, Xmas decorations or even Christmas songs? Surely Christmas in New York is supposed to be a big deal, isn't it?
The acts themselves are fine. I enjoyed the juggling routine of Gena Cristiani (pictured above), a local girl from Queens, and especially her diabolo tricks with a couple of hats. I was also thoroughly entertained by a razor-blade-swallowing performer from Japan (whose name is sadly absent from the Big Apple's website). He also swallows and regurgitates a very long inflated balloon. Pulling out the razor blades on a long string is an old trick, but one with such a wince-inducing quality that it's always hard not to be engrossed.
There is also a cute act with small dogs, although in the current climate it may not be to everyone's taste. Speaking as someone who has often championed tigers and elephants in the big top, I'm surprised to find myself typing this, but I didn't find the sight of the little mutts walking on their back legs very endearing and in fact ever so slightly... distasteful? Blimey. Next, I'll be joining Peta. Just kidding, but maybe my tastes in circus are changing. Either that, or something about this particular act in this particular show didn't do the trick for me.
Perhaps I'd like to see a show that's full on with sawdust, horses, snarling beasts and polar bears sliding down chutes, or one that's all glossy and all-human. All or nothing, in other words. One thing or the other. This one seemed to fall between two stools with the little dog act - a relic from a glorious animal-heavy past - just making the programme look small, tawdry and old fashioned.
Circus is all about tradition, but also eternal renewal. It shouldn't look like a tired shadow of its past, but a bold, bright, startling thing of today and tomorrow.
Headline clown Johnny Rockett (pictured left) gets a lot of ring time throughout the show, playing off of a diminutive ringmaster. Not everything he does made me laugh, but the kids in the tent absolutely lapped him up, and that's probably the main thing.
My favourite part of the show found Rockett swaying about on top of a rubber lamppost right in the middle of the audience. That's the sort of funny-scary up-close antics that circus excels in.
It's a rare circus that doesn't deliver at least one knockout blow and Rockett on the lamppost was the golden moment for me.
Nik Wallenda's high-wire troupe provide a solid finale, if not a particularly exciting one. To be fair, it's not the sort of act that translates well to watching on a screen. You have to be there, to see the height and feel the peril. The same is true of a lofty hand-balancing act elsewhere on the bill. But, that said, I have seen more entertaining work on the wire this year, namely by Henry the Clown at Circus Extreme. Read my review of that show here.
Over all, I have to agree with Showbiz David that this is a mediocre show. There's nothing wrong with the individual acts. But it looks nothing like a must-see attraction for visitors to New York this Christmas. And as one of America's most famous circuses, it really should do, shouldn't it?
Nik Wallenda and cast
For a behind-the-scenes journey through the contemporary circus scene, with reviews of circuses of all types, both traditional and modern, plus interviews with big top owners and performers from clowns and sword-swallowers to trapeze artists and tiger trainers, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book for Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus!