Zerbini Family Circus, in collusion with go-for-it Shriners, to invade the land of no-animals Cirque du Soleil in a few perilous weeks, daring to dazzle – or nauseate -- the locals with genuine old fashioned big top fare, not with circus ballet but with circus bravado of the older sort.
Reporting on MTL, blogger Michael D’Alimonte writes of the Zerbinis “bringing clowns, acrobats, and elephants (oh my!) to Parc Jean-Drapeau this September.”
Did I detect a touch of breathless ambivalence? Reigning question, will anybody go? That partly depends on another, not so delicate question: Will the show be any good?
What’s even more brazen is the location itself. Where is Parc Jean-Drapeau, you ask, as did, I, myself? I googled it out, and, Oh my! Right there, “situated to the east of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada.”
Which makes me wonder if the Zerbini operation may come off looking like a flea-market and flea circus combined to the Quebec snobs, this indiscretion inspired by D’Alimonte’s post being answered by a rush of angry traditional circus haters, not a one of them daring to defend the performing menagerie about to spread sawdust, shame, and pachyderm poo, to wit, a few examples:
“YAY! THE KINGDOM OF ANIMAL ABUSE IS COMING TO TOWN.
Horrible, this makes me want to fly out of town and never read the mtl blog ever again.”
“this is fucking bull shit and must be stopped!!!!! big tents are NOT fun especially for the tortured animals!!!”
“time to start writing to the mayor's office in protest. these are your tax dollars going to promote animal cruelty.”
Oh my! Oh my again! Is free speech up there so uniformly predicable as that? All of which makes Canadaland look a tad too in the pocket of the Cirque King. Might half the population be, one way or another, above or under board, on his payroll? For one, the drama critic on the Montreal Gazette never seems to take in a new Cirque show that she does not like. Then again, down here, she'd be called a good and trustworthy circus fan, she would. Oh my, where am I going with this?
Back in the States, let's go basic and savor a min-victory in the land of Ringlingville, where the locals are “feeling like a million bucks” over the rousing success of their Big Top Parade and Circus Celebration Days, which filled and thrilled the great little town last month.
From a news flash, dispatched my way by cyber courier Don Covington, “Organizers reported this week that the Big Top Parade and Circus Celebration Days drew double the crowds of last year’s parade and generated more than $1 million in spending.”
The Aniskin Troupe return to the Big Apple Circus
Big Apple Circus comes to the Big Screen, maybe at a movie house near you. From Crane’s New York Business News, the show's new edition, uncorking in Gotham in late October, to be broadcast nation-wide in some 400 to 500 movies houses, same as how the Met Opera spreads is grand operas across big screens. Says Julie Borchard-Young, of Brooklyn-based BY Experience, the circus will be streamed live from Manhattan ... And that's great news for me, oh my, yes it is! Can't imagine it not being picked up in some S.F. Bay Area theatre, and I'll be there ... A genius idea from BAC and/or BY Experience. Tickets slated to sell for from $12.50 to $15. Now there's the best damn big top bargain on the planet.
Memo to Montreal: If Zerbini turns out to be not your cup of poison, well then, wait for Big Apple Circus on the big screen, due out in November. Horses and dogs, that maybe a little okay?
Off the lost, across the street: Wait! Somebody waved at me over there. Could that be? Can't believe it. See you later!
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