A Day at the Circus

The Big Apple Circus is back with an all-new show about the town that Boston loves to hate. But even with a segment entitled “At Yankee (or Shea) Stadium,” the intense rivalry seems to have melted under the feel-good big top spirit, resulting in a lot more of the love and a lot less of the hate.

Clown Around Town, the BAC’s 2000-2001 season production, stars Orville (Tom Dougherty) as the Country Clown arriving in NYC to visit his cousin, Gordoon (Jeff Gordon), the City Clown. The two go on a tour of the city’s sites, encountering acrobats, magicians, jugglers, trapeze artists and animals along the way.

This is circus stripped down to its most basic elements: simple blue tent, one ring, two clowns and none of the fancy smoke or lighting that has become commonplace in the increasingly sophisticated recent big-top circus revival. This month, Cirque de Soleil pitches its tent for the eagerly anticipated “Dralion,” its newest, biggest and most expensive (and expansive) production ever at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, while earlier this year, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey offered a three-ring flashy extravaganza, “Kaleidoscope,” in a massive tent in Bryant Park, the heart of New York City (a departure from their usual venue, Madison Square Garden).

But what the simpler BAC may lack in sensory devises, it more than makes up for in sentiment. The BAC is full of heart—a quality that shines through not just in the enthusiastic performances of its entertainers, but in the circus’s business policy as well. It is a non-profit organization, deeply committed to several health and community programs benefiting children, such as the “Clown Care Unit,” a specially trained group of circus performers visiting chronically ill children in 14 participating hospitals nationwide.

There is also something comforting about the one-ring, intimate setting of the BAC, where even the worse seats are still within 50 ft. of the action. Without driving the audience into sensory overload, the BAC manages to charm through its time-tested approach to circus performance, and it will be interesting to see how the trendier big tops will fare once their novelty disappears. The fact that there is no effort to either glorify or mollify the circus’s tackiness makes the BAC a perfectly dignified little show.

BAC’s trick to success, in fact, is its deceptive simplicity. What appears to be crude and effortless is actually a very carefully plotted rusticity. This is attested to by the seamless transitions from one performance to another, the stylish, catchy tunes of a band perched above the ring’s main entrance and the fact that the show is tailored as much to the kids as to their parents. While the two clowns perform the requisite silly circus jokes and pranks their appearances are interspersed between well-choreographed couples’ dance and acrobatic routines that have a distinctly mature flavor to them.

Two acts in particular cater to an older crowd: the “Silk Aerial” team of Katherine Schumann Binder and Sasha Nevidonski, who gracefully twist and twirl several feet above the ground by wrapping themselves up in a long, white silk scarf, and the “Tango Acrobatics” of the French team of Sophie Ferrero and Virgile Peyramaure, a painful test of strength as the two balance each other’s bodies while, in stereotypical French fashion, infuse the act with a sexy je ne sais quoi. In another particularly creative act that both kids and adults will find amusing, Gordoon, Orville and company reek havoc at the “Department of Sanitation” with several rolls of toilet paper, blowers and special lighting.

Other moments of special note include the stellar rhythmic hula-hoop/latin dance combo of the petite Dania Kaseeva, the trapeze act, and the juggler Serge Percelly who, aside from his juggling act, could probably pass as a daytime soap star (again, this is probably best appreciated by the older members of the crowd). Two types of animals are used in the show: Dogs—a small terrier and a golden retriever—and an Arabian horse troupe, which are treated with utmost respect and humanity on the stage. While the horse routine is good, it is not spectacular; the dogs are much more amusing and entertaining to watch as they jump around suitcases tricking the scene’s prissy socialite and the hapless hotel valet (Pascale and Mike Sanger).

There is also quite a bit of audience interaction, although this is primarily the result of the intimacy of the BAC big top rather than a reliance on audience participation to fill gaps in the show. At several points throughout the evening the ring crew dashes around the audience frantically raising levers and pulling ropes to get the next act started—no machinery is used in the performances. Performers will also often play up to the children in ringside seats, and Act II begins with a cute exchange between Orville the Clown and a child selected from the audience.

Above all, the BAC is a child-friendly event. While little kids may not be the most discriminating fans, if the Big Apple Circus could manage to win over this skeptic who, incidentally, has a slight fear of clowns, then it must be doing something very, very right.