Monday Wake-Ups: Rat, Rodent , & Pickpocket a Hit at Big Apple Circus ... New Circus World Boss Floats Big Ideas ... Cat Competition Videos a New Rage ...

A little levity from out of the past ...

Late breaking!  Another Circus du Soleil aerialist falls ...  Reported the Los Angeles Times Sunday evening, "... another mishap in Las Vegas last week when a performer fell during a show ... The accident Friday came just three days after regulators slapped Cirque with six citations alleging work-safety violations connected to the death of an aerialist during a performance of "Ka" at the MGM Grand in June."  Performer fell from the ever-hazardous Wheel of Death, and is expected to leave hospital in a few days.

 Pickpocket for fun makes hay with rat and rodent at Big Apple Circus 

My eyes on a certain rat and a certain Rodent named Bob, grabbing Gotham glee at Big Apple Circus’s new Luminocity, which is coming out to the usual rosy notices.   Waxing high in The New York Times, declares reviewer Laurel Graeber,  “A circus that can keep a rambunctious toddler rapt for two hours deserves praise. But an even greater test of quality is whether it can entertain a jaded grown-up for just as long."  Mission accomplished.  “Luminocity succeeds on both counts.’‘ ...

One of the delights amounts to the slyly simple: pickpocket- magician Pierre Ginet tossing an “amiable rat” into a trash bin, the amiable survivor, like any good NY rat, very much alive, reversing the snub by emerging into a far larger size.  “Big Apple fans,” writes Graeber, quite tickled,  “will recognize this as a capybara, the world’s largest rodent.”  Didn’t I tell you how Gotham went a gaga over Bob a few years back – that’s the rodent’s show name. Bob.  “And what could be a more appropriate place for the biggest rodent on the planet than a Dumpsters in Times Square?” asks the astute critic.  Those 42nd Street rats are lionized like stage stars ...

Don't go any further, yet!  Tell me what you see:  A.  Nebraska  Hay Balers Cooperative?   B. Donald Trump's Private Badminton Court?   C.  The Affordable Health Care National Calling Center? 

Is anyone still wanting to “restore” or “revive” or “rethink” the value of the old Ringling arena down in Venice, FLA, after looking at the sterile structure, above, of what still stands following a virtual demolition? Come on now, are you telling me you see circus in that thing?  I see a NASA parking garage. Wrote a local scribe,  “they tore down the wall, but left the basic structure,” which is like saying they struck the big top but left the stake holes in the ground.  What I see conveys absolutely nothing. It’s over, Tito, over.

Onto an abundance of atmosphere, still standing triumphant:  Circus World Museum’s new — or latest big boss — Scott O’Donnell, floating big expansive ideas for jazzing up the place, and, kudos in advance! He did not mention restoring another circus wagon, from what I read.  A start in the right direction ... He wants to restore for public display the old train barn in the backyard.  I’ve seen it, thanks to Heavy, who gave me a tour of the place, and it's an industrial show stopper.  So symbolic of early Ringling on the rise ... Highest on Scott’s list is bringing back the Great Circus Parade ... Also, he talks of building a new exhibit hall, as if they need another, projected to be “interactive.”  This designed partly to fill the big void left by a sucking sound south (to FLA) of numerous Feld-owned  historical goodies, alleged to have only been “loaned” to Baraboo many years ago.  Now being called home, home being the new Feld Entertainment headquarters just north of Sarasota.  Well, okay, if that's what they say.  I guess.  I suppose  But I do wonder if  the freight charges south were paid for by one Mr. Tibbals. As they say, follow the money ...

End Ringers: Cavalia, the horse troupe I stupidly predicted would meet with an early demise, still touring, now in DC showing off its latest, ‘Odysseo.”  They found their grove, I think, when they brought acrobats into the mix, thus crafting something much more than a horse show — closer to the original Phillip Astley modern-day circus invention from old London town.  Since then, I've detected various configurations of this latent reincarnation, promising indeed -- sometimes the tumblers coming first, other times the horses.  ... Circus cabaret “La Soire” previewing off-Broadway, itself a growing playground with ticketing for smaller alternative circus troupes reaching for the upper class.  Show hits the sawdust November 7. ... BTW: Did you know that one Italian automaker, of the Lamborghini line, refuses to hire a single robot? All-human all the way ...

Or, did you know that Cat Video Festivals are now purring across the land?  Precocious felines compete for a variety of awards offered by various venues, from the Golden Kitty to The Golden Litter Scoop – and what do they do to woo the judges?  Circus talent scouts, take note: One stares into a mirror.   Another attacks a sheet of paper coming out of a printer.  And, as seen above, possibly one of the trio of concert divas, recently observed “nodding in unison” to a passage from Mozart.   Paws of perfection, coming to a symphony-circus program near you soon!  You cats bearing medals, you have options  ... And soon, you'll have the agents I could never land in a million moons.

First posted November 14, 2013