And how would you like your circus served today, sir? Wrapped in ballet ... or steeped in theater? You said Cirque free? A La Cart maybe? And for music, will it be Karl King or Cole Porter?
Of the various production elements that go into making a circus performance, by far the most powerful is music. And the closer it comes to connecting with an audience, the greater its impact on the show.
We need no better way to illustrate this than to take a look at the 1932 program magazine for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The holder of this particular copy appears to have written down the titles of favorite tunes played during many of the displays: That
1932 show played at least two songs hot off piano keys that year –
“Just Anther Shanty in Old Shanty Town” for a display of aerialists,
and "Lord You Made the Night Too Long” for Wallenda pyramids scaling the high wire.
Elephants cavorted to “The Washboard Blues,”from 1925, and
“Can’t We Talk It Over?” Family horse riding acts rode to “Keep on
Smiling, “ and the clowns held down the track to “Yankee Doodle.”Alfredo
Codona's trapeze artistry was serenaded by an 1882, ditty, “The Skaters Waltz."
Can there be any disagreement that favorite tunes will enhance our reaction to the acts before us? For my own ears, unforgettable are the zippytific Stephenson’s Dogs scampering merrily to “That’s Entertainment;” Gracious Charlie Bauman collaborating with his tiger friends to the music of "The Shadow of Your Smile;” Single trap daredevil supreme Gerald Soules diving dangerously close to the brink of extinction as Cole Porter's’ “So In Love”charges the air.
In recent times, with live music missing from most shows, the owners have resorted to either playing CDs that come with the acts, or producing original scores —the mixed results can veer between appealing and appalling.
Won’t you play a simple melody? Yes, please! John Ringling North in 1956 featured the music of the famed Broadway composer of the musical Guys and Dolls, and billed this novelty The Greatest Show on Earth, with songs by Frank Loesser.
Which brings me to a most interesting development over in London town, where a new kind of circus program under a small tent is causing a promising buzz. Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular is making its primary pitch on the songs it sings from the Hugh Jackman film, The Greatest Showman. Notwithstanding JRN's move above, this may mark a first in circus ballyhoo.
I don’t know if they can fill out the entire show, but this I know: I am rooting big time for the success of this venture. Why? Because, I can only hope that it will help put the focus back on popular songs and pull it away from other trendy embellishments pushed by theater and ballet elitists, which are dragging down and diluting the primal power of circus.
In fact, Come Alive! also comes loaded with a muddle of materials vaguely alluding to story-telling elements. From the London website Ham and High, which issued a great notice, also issued was a qualm that often dogs Cirque du Soliel reviews: "Overall this showman mash up is great fun for all the family, just don't ask what it's about." lol.
Nonetheless, score-wise, have we here the seeds of a new trend in the making? Are there other films that might serve the same purpose? Surely one would be The Sound of Music movie which has been screened to audiences who sing along to its songs.
Movie fans having lunch before a Sound of Music movie sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008.
So, how might its songs work for a circus performance? Here are my suggested match-ups:
Title song: I can see a serene ensemble opening, performers moving in slow motion.
My Favorite things: Teeterboard
Do Re Mi: Dogs!
Lonely Goatherd: Dressage
How Can Love Survive? (from the original cast album) Horse riders
No Way To Stop It: Jugglers
Climb Every Mountain: High wire
Edelweiss Trapeze flyers
Proposed matches for shows and music
Circus Vargas / Hollywood movie musicals
Cirque du Soleil / Andrew Lloyd Webber
Big Apple Circus / Broadway show tunes, Cohan to Sondheim
Zippos Circus / The Beatles
UniverSoul Circus / Motowown
Zoppe Family / Festive Italian score and music from Fellini's The Clowns.
Come Alive! may risk getting lost in an ill-defined structure, as seems to have been the plight of Water for Elephants on Broadway. Would it be too much to ask for simply some good songs to hear while a winning lineup rolls by?