Circus thrills under the Big Top

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s annual circus extravaganza makes its way to Nassau Coliseum next week, with an updated version of the super-sized spectacle. This 141st “Fully Charged” edition is chock full of mind-blowing acts as the circus folks seek to make an old favorite feel new again for a generation weaned on video games and fast pace our technology-filled lives.
Featuring an international cast of over 100 performers with an array of exotic animal acts, audiences can expect to see elaborate stunts, high wire acts, cavorting clowns, and all sorts of daredevil routines involving both man and beast. The action will explode off the arena floor with breathtaking daredevilry and superhuman stunts, beginning Wednesday, March 16.
The creative team behind this year’s Greatest Show On Earth considers it to be “the most electrifying edition ever” with “performance power” that will pull out all the stops in a celebration of a new-look circus for the 21st century.
The varied acts, which have evolved from the traditional routines parents saw as kids, aim to astonish even the most jaded teenager. These include Tabayara, a dynamic animal trainer whose ability to communicate with animals allows him to ride rearing stallions at a fully-charged gallop and orchestrate majestic four-ton Asian elephants in a symphony of dance. When he stands inside a cage, eye-to-eye with 12 ferocious tigers, Tabayara sees family where others see danger.
  Audiences will feel the earth shake when the strongman duo of Dmitry and Ruslan, who are as wide as they are tall, enter the arena. The brawny twosome give the word ‘manpower’ a whole new meaning as they lift large, cumbersome telephone poles, which weigh up to half a ton, and twirl them above their heads while acrobats balance atop.

The fearless Fernandez Brothers dial up the thrills as they perform daring feats of athleticism on the Twin Turbines of Steel, including extreme jumps and twists inside the moving wheels. Audiences will crackle with excitement as they watch Guillermo perform a 360-degree, flying-forward somersault, three stories in the air, a feat so difficult it has only been attempted by one other person in the 141-year history of Ringling Bros.
And, of course, “The Human Fuse” – aka Brian Miser – sets the arena sky ablaze as he rockets through the air from his self-made human crossbow. Don’t blink as he flashes across the sky in less than a second, and travels 80 feet at 65 miles per hour.
  Ever wonder how many clowns it takes to change a light bulb? The hilarious hoopla continues to flow as the clowns from the world-famous Ringling Bros. Clown Alley, charge up the audiences’ funny bones with hysterical silly antics and clownish comedy.
While watching the antics of those clowns and gazing at the acrobats as they fly through the air, make note of what they are wearing. The costumes also get a star turn this year. They were designed by Susan Hilferty, the Tony Award-winning costume designer, who spends her time creating costumes for Broadway theatricals, including “Wicked,” (which earned her a 2004 Tony), “Into The Woods” (she was nominated for a Tony), and “Wonderland” (first produced in Tampa, Fla., which moves to Broadway this spring).
“It was a sense of adventure,” said Hilferty, of her decision to take on the demands of designing 400 costumes for the circus, after being urged by the Feld family, who produce the show. “It was a new challenge for me and an exciting idea. The Felds have asked me before and I’ve never been able to do it.”
For Hilferty – who also designs for opera, film, and dance, and chairs the Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts – moving from theater to the circus world “was like learning a whole new language.”
The demands of learning that language were daunting. “I consider myself a storyteller,” she said. “I am used to working with text. In theater and opera, most of my decisions are made by the story; they are text-driven. What was thrilling for me here was finding a way to create my own text.”
Another challenge was balancing the visual beauty of the costumes with performers’ physical needs and safety considerations. And then there was dealing with the time pressure at the end, before the circus tour was preparing to open, when those 400 costumes had to be finished in three weeks. “It was an unimaginable feat,” Hilferty said. “You could say we were fully charged. “I’m quite proud of us.”
As a result of her circus experience, Hilferty has a new-found appreciation for the spectacle that is the Ringling Bros. Circus. “It really is exhilarating,” she said. “The performers are incredible. They give 100 percent all the time. There’s nothing else like it.”
See for yourself during Ringling Bros. five-day visit to Long Island, the only New York venue for the circus this year. Due to reconstruction of Madison Square Garden, the circus will not perform in New York City, for the first time in 40 years.
Prior to show time, stop by the Animal Open House – free with admission – where visitors can meet Ringling Bros. biggest stars, the Asian elephants, along with some of the other animal animal performers. It opens 90 minutes before the performance Also, check out the All Access Pre-show, which runs for an hour prior to the performance. Step onto the arena floor and into The Greatest Show On Earth – up-close and personal. Here, visitors can learn the basics of clowning and juggling at Clown Alley, meet some of the performers, watch an elephant, “paint” a painting, and take pictures with circus stars.
Families can welcome the circus to Long Island with some pre-circus fun, on Monday, March 14, at Long Island Children’s Museum. Those famed Ringling Bros. elephants march from the circus train to their temporary home at Nassau Coliseum during an “Elephant Walk” that takes them right past the museum. LICM is open that night for a special evening of circus-related activities, from 6-9 p.m. Kids can make circus arts and crafts, juggle, stomp and play all over the museum, aand finally, watch the elephants (and maybe some other animals) walk by. Admission is $8, $6 members. Early arrival is advised as roads are subject to closure.
It is recommended to purchase tickets in advance. Call (516) 224-5802 for information or visit www.licm.org. Long Island Children’s Museum is located on Museum Row in Garden City.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Wednesday through Sunday, March 16-20. Times vary. Tickets are $15-$150. All opening night tickets (excluding VIP seats) are $12. Tickets are available at www.ringling.com, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000.
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale.