SEND BACK THE CLOWNS! The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of The Re-imagined Ringling, from REDDIT

I'd never gone to Reddit before for reviews to quote, but to my surprise,  under a thread headlined  The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly of The Re-imagined Ringling, I found a slew of even-handed comments by people who, for the most part, seemed neither aggrieved  circus fans or the PETA crowd, itself never missing a chance to spread more anti-traditional circus hate. These  voices reveal much that we have only been able to speculate about. 

So I am posting these here for a few days, and will then move the post down deeper.          

Highlight Quote:

"The robot dog Bailey was met with mixed reactions. I have never witnessed hundreds of people mass-discussing something all at once, which was bizarre."

u/Skater73 avatar
Skater73 6mo ago

I'm deeply concerned with the lack of audience showing up for these shows recently. I saw the new Ringling back in March, and the audience was quite large on a Saturday night. However, recent tour stops seem to be struggling to get people in the door, especially for evening shows.

I have seen a lot of advertising on TikTok, YouTube, and local media outlets but not much in the way of physical billb live in a mostly rural state with an older oards, fliers, etc. This is a major mistake for our area, as we population that likely won’t see much of it.                                               
    
hexualattraction
4mo ago

I was working at a stadium and Ringling came through. I didn't get to sit and watch the whole thing like a normal patron, but I did see quite a bit. I believe Equivokee - the three guys doing physical comedy are in fact clowns, like trained as clowns, but I believe since the US has such a bad association, they had them pare down the things that folks associate with clowns.

For example, even board games from Europe that feature clowns get stripped of them with localization, in order for the American market to engage/play/buy them.

All this to say, I think if Ringling performed outside of the us, clowns would be more apparent,and that it's kind of an American thing that they've been stripped out.

I did find the competing acts to be strange, it felt like so many talented people were sort of shoved off to the side, I think to try to keep peoples focus somewhere, but it felt pretty disrespectful to the performers.   

r/circus icon
Go to circus r/circus•
6 mo. ago

 The robot dog Bailey was met with mixed reactions. I have never witnessed hundreds of people mass-discussing something all at once, which was bizarre. I will personally miss the animal acts, but I am interested to see what can be done with similar technology as Feld Entertainment has used puppets and animatronics in other shows.

The Bad: For a show focused on human talent, it’s incredibly disappointing to see the removal of time honored roles such as arena clowns and ringmaster. There are several show guides and physical comedians which were entertaining in their own right, but it mostly felt like a hollow attempt to distance the new show from its past.

The stage direction is somewhat confusing. During the BMX stunts, a Chinese pole act was taking place on the opposite side of the arena. As someone else recently mentioned in this subreddit the circular overhead screens were missing, which would have been nice as I could barely see it even from the lower level.

The sound was a bit muffled, which often confused the audience resulting in lukewarm responses. I have no experience with entertaining but I imagine that can be a real confidence killer

Other notes: I attended Sunday’s performance midday and some friends attended in the evening, the arena was less than half full on both occasions. Historically our city has produced a good turnout. I am unsure if this decline in attendance is due to the retirement of traditional acts, loss of relevance, cost, or other factors. The show will be in town this weekend and the following with approximately two shows daily Friday-Sunday, so maybe the others will fair a bit better.

Our friend’s six year old daughter was attending for the first time and lost interest several acts in, they did not return after intermission.

r/circus icon
Go to circus r/circus•
6 mo. ago

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the re-imagined Ringling 

conclusion: Like many others I am left feeling a bit mixed. The performers were excellent, but the show itself needs work in several areas.

Ringling may have a difficult time living up to the expectations of longtime fans and retaining first-timers after the revival tour. I will be returning when and if it is renewed, but my friends and their daughter may not.

Needless to say, it is vital for Feld Entertainment to be receptive to feedback if they hope to remain relevant and continue turning an audience. 

ccb621
6mo ago

Aside: Why not post this after you’ve seen the show and have more to contribute to the conversation?

The animals will never come back. They are public relations and logistical nightmares.

I attended a show in Oakland, CA. The arena was not very full. The tickets were about $225 after fees for my family of three. We’ve paid more for Cirque du Soleil and far less for Monster Jam (for almost the exact same seats). 

Cirque remains the pinnacle for me. Ringlimg isn’t there. The show was too kinetic and distracting. There were screens with performers’ names and countries glaring just at the performances were beginning. This would be fine if there was one act; however, at one point there were three separate acts happening simultaneously! I had no clue who to watch.

This was barely okay for aerials. I think they had straps in the center with two folks on silks to the sides. This was downright insane when they had an aerial performance and folks jumping through hoops. 

I felt like they were trying to toss in a buinnch of acts to make folks feel they got a good value. In reality it felt cheap—quantity over quality. I recall at one point wondering why the show hadn’t ended because it just felt so long. 

I don’t think everyone needs to follow Cirque exactly, but it might help to learn a bit from their model. A story or through line connecting the performances would greatly help the flow and progression feel less frenetic.

I hope they make it work. I saw one of the last performances of the old company in Providence, RI, and it was quite good, so I know someone can help write a better show.

 No-Commission-242
4mo ago

I won't waste my money again.  I knew that there would be no animals,  but didn't know that there wouldn't be any clowns.  I've got my memories from when I was a kid and I'll have to live with that.  It's bad that I built it up to the grandkids and had to look at the disappointment on their faces.  All of the people around us felt the same.  Take them to Chuckie Cheese and everyone will be a lot happier,  plus you can get them much better souvenirs.

SUNDAY MORNING NOW: The Show Must Go On ... or Must it? ... Big Top Ballyhoo Shuns the Old ... Circus Reviewer Reveals Crowd Size ...

12,557 page views on 5/6 - my most popular post ever

RINGLING IN RETREAT? - One bot mutt for sale? Has appeared with the Greatest Show on Earth.

What is happening to Ringling? To Circus or not to circus? That may be the pressing question dogging Kenneth Feld for the next ten months while he  creates an  “all new’ edition.  How new? How different from the first? Does he need ten months in hiatus to figure it out?  Thriving entertainments usually have next year’s model in the works, ready to take up the parade when the current cast leaves it.

Seems severe to me. As I understand it, when a company closes down for an extended period of time, usually the reason is too re-invent itself or its product line – in order to stay in business.  Ringling closed down mid-way in the 1956 tour when John Ringling North struck the big top for good and made known his plans to move it indoors. Some fans hoped he would change his mind.  No luck. He had foreseen a more viable future ahead.

If the Felds have been reading the outcry of unhappy Ringling customers on Yelp (average 1.5 stars), they  can’t ignore the enthusiasm most Americans still evidently feel for animals and clowns. When you take away two of the three staples of circus, up goes a roar from the masses. The last to cry ‘no!” on Yelp:

Thalia H.

Norfolk, VA  Mar 22, 2025

"I've never been so humiliated in all my life I'm going to the circus in New York City at Madison Square Garden for many years as a child every year I never missed a circus there were animals and clowns I don't know what Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is doing now with these acrobats nobody wants to see acrobats a circus is not a circus without animals and clowns it was a waste of my money I am so disappointed I don't know what in the world to do I will never attend another Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus again without the animals and clowns."

"Humiliated" That's a new one. From AI? 

I have no idea what their business has been. I only know that when Ringling played the 18,000 seat Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, according to an inside source at the arena who took my call to inquire about business, they were drawing between six and eight thousand per show.  

Strategic blundering?  Even the smartest of showman can make big mistakes: When  Feld removed the elephants from the show, winning high cheer from animal rights hysterics and their fawning media acolytes, I was left dumbfounded by his not having at the same pivotal moment also removed the big cage act as well.  This gave PETA sanction to continue harassing customers outside the arenas.  Give them a dog and pony show, and they'd come off looking like fools.

And then, six years later, when Feld unveiled his comeback edition., I was left equally baffled by his wholesale elimination of clowns and animals.  Will ten months in circus rehab give him pause  to consider a more fulfilling outcome?

What to expect? At the moment, even Keneth Feld may not know.  But he has plenty of time to bring off perhaps the most spectacular comeback in show business history by reinstating the dazzling  totality of what Ringling once stood for.  It is not irrational to imagine dogs and ponies and horses and kitty cats, among other domestics, bringing back a major part of  “the greatest show.”  When I saw the last old-school edition around 2017, a pig coasting down a slide nearly stole the show . 

The circus that no longer dares speak its name needs to come back.

CIRCUS BALLYHOO --- FACE OF A BARN TO FACEBOOK

Long gone are the days when splashy 24 sheet lithos covered half the town. When was the last time you spotted circus imagery on a billboard?  Across the Big Pond, some Brit circuses are now almost exclusively  marketing on  social media, and gradually giving up on  newspaper ads pushing discount coupons. As covered by Douglas McPherson in The Stage, show owner Zippo revealed that he has  stopped running them because nobody appeared at the ticket window with one. That is, while there was a ticket window. Heck, even the red wagon is disappearing over there  as Paulos and Circus Zyair are shutting theirs down. 

But not so fast, argues Julia Kirilova of the Big Kid Circus:  “Posters still have a big impact. People still expect to see them. We are a business which depends a lot on feelings and nostalgia. Everyone knows circus and has a distinct memory of it. Our job is to find a way to make them remember that feeling, whether that is through a short video clip on TikTok or a poster.”

(I guess I was a dinosaur a few years ago, when I picked up a coupon offered in a Vargas newspaper  ad, took it with me to the show and tried getting a resistant lady at the ticket window to honor it. She nearly scowled, claiming never to have known of such a thing.  I let it go, feeling like a stool pigeon from a long lost world.)

Zippo told  McPherson that everyone buys on-line tickets on their phones as they enter the midway.  No need for cash and tickets.  And Sir Douglas rues a day walking the grounds where only yesterday, billowing tents had adorned it.  “There won’t even be a discarded leaflet or ticket stub in the grass to prove it was over here?"

Well ... maybe with luck, a loose nut from a bot mutt?

REVOLUTIONARY CIRCUS REVIEWING LISTS CROWD SIZES

Also over there in Brit land, get this:  A reviewer for the Circus Diaries blog, Charlie Holland, is listing crowd sizes.  Recent disclosures:  300 (about one third of the tent) at Zippos; 500 (half a house) at Big Kid.   That's quite refreshing, although yes, I can imagine that many fans would rather not know. But this does not surprise me. I often see those kinds of turnouts when I go to a circus.

Still, it's nice to see a reviewer taking the time to address both parts that make up a circus performance, the show itself and the audience.  A trend?   Don't bank on it.

SUNDAY MORNING NOW: A Challenging New Day at the Greatest Show on Earth: Hyperactive Set Design, Feeble Direction Suck the Life out of an Ageless Delight

 from 7.15.24

Acrobatic Circus Review
Ringling Bros / The Greatest Show on Earth
On You Tube at Columbus, OH, 8 months ago

Preface. I had imagined being lyfted out to the Oakland  Coliseum, right up to the arena.  No, I would have been dropped off at a gate on the edge of a parking lot along one of the town’s deadliest streets. No thank you.

Once, again, as with Vargas last year, I am left muddled in a dizzy dichotomy between the acts and the production. So, let us take them one at a time:
        
THE ACTS

On balance, they are a sturdy, sufficiently accomplished  lot — when not hooked to lifelines, falling into nets, or grabbing hold of rigging between tricks. To my (jaded?) eyes, only a precious few rang my WOW bell.   Most of the action favors the customary staples: teeterboard, webs,  hand balancing, contortion,  juggling, flying trapeze, high wire, double wheel, Rola-bola, and the human canon.

The show lifts off now and then, and I wished there could have been more of the show-stopping mastery produced by two absolutely terrific risley acrobats. A+ in my book.  In fact, for me, the highlight of the program. 

Other notable high points include two criss-crossiing trapeze acts, which marks a refreshing interlude from the norm.  And there are two double wheels instead of one, offering a tad more tingle to what is regularly expected. These riders worked overtime.

In addition to the staples, show offers gaucho dancing and young bike-riding daredevils up and down ramps. 

At the top: America’s own Wesley Williams, who has a talent for being human, something this show could use a lot more of, scores big time with his sky high ride on a 35-foot high unicycle. I felt a genuine thrill even though he was life-lined; without which, a crash landing over the audience could spell catastrophe.  His act has been split into parts performed at intervals. A shame, but the show benefits from his ingratiating recurring presence.  Indeed, what is lacking the most in this strange antiseptic comeback is a personality.

Where was the robot dog? I might have missed him during Wesley's turn. The you Tube I saw appeared to contain the entire show from start to finish.

A couple of kind of charming clowns take up little space inconsequentially.

THE PRODUCTION:

As for Ringling’s over the top set – stay with me here --- I saw three hills (or platforms), roughly spaced as in the old three-ring layout. On and around them, the performers tend to look smaller and diminished, like ants lost in a maze of flashing light patterns that grab our attention, in effect dissipating the action. In effect, disrespecting the artist. Whatever was Kenneth Feld thinking?  Does he have so little faith in his talent pool which he claims to be world class? 

On the  outer two ant hills of Ringling, other acts endeavor  to snare a little attention, one of them, a group jump-roping troupe that may go four-high.  I would love to have seen more of them.

Spectacle?  Dancers and hand clappers circle the arena periodically in an effort to rouse the audience, which can feel somewhat hollow and obligatory. 

A trend not worthy of the “Greatest show”–  The insidious invasion of mechanics are of no help here. These tell-tale safety wires can render the user a lazier, less skilled artist, no longer needing to rely on exacting technique in order to avoid a plunge. Thus, they now can get away with being sloppier, less tautly disciplined.  The performance suffers.

Music: An amorphous recorded soundscape with a cold  heavy beat left me in a fog.  Totally unmemorable.  This, from the Greatest Show on Earth?  This from a billionaire  circus owner?  

At the  very end of the performance, Wesley alone, in street clothes, comes running across the set -- a touching human image closing out a cold, impersonal enterprise.

All of the above notwithstanding, the crowd was large and responsive. For all we know, the show may be cleaning up, in which case look for more of the same to continue.  But why do I still see widespread hostility in Yelp Reviews, still  averaging 1-1/2 stars?  (Vargas is drawing 4).

Let me close with a recent Yelper from Brian, Willow Grove, PA, May 29:

 "Save your money. The American circus is officially dead. There is no Ringmaster. There are no clowns. There is no pageantry. There is no National Anthem. You cannot buy a pennant. There are no programs sold. They won't even say: "May All Your Days Be Circus Days." They lamely announce: "May All Your Days Be Ringling Days." This costs hundreds of dollars a ticket?"

 My Rating:

Acts B+

Production values: D

May all your days be better than this one.

First published 7.14.24

MIDWAY FLASH! ... Surprise! Guess Who's the New CEO of Circus World?

When I learned last year that Scott O'Donnell had resigned his CEO post at Circus World (it sounded more like he'd been eased out), it did not make any sense at all, so I thought of the decks being cleared for a big name in the museum's history.  One name that came to mind:

Parkinson.

I was half way there. The other half?

Julie.

Down the Covington Chute comes a press release from Circus World:

"Following a national recruitment, the Wisconsin Historical Society is pleased to welcome Julie Parkinson as the new site director for Circus World in Baraboo."

I wonder how really really hard a time they had in reaching this decision? 

In my year end wrap, I had written about O'Donnell: "A big big loss in my outsider opinion.  A new CEO yet to be named.  The selection might tell us about the split.  Watch for a big name insider."

Sadly, it all makes sense.  Entitlement rules the day.

MIDWAY FLASH! MIDWAY FLASH! Scott O'Donnell to Leave Circus World ... Dave Salutos, Another Exit ..

from 8.28.24

updated: 9:21 AM

The sudden exit of CEO Scott O'Donnell from the ringmaster's desk at Circus World took me by total surprise.

News of his exit came through a Don Covington link.  Naturally my first thoughts where, why? Had he been let go?  So I called CW this morning, to inquire, and they put me through to Scott, which marked the first time we have ever spoken. 

Was it his decision, I asked him?

Yes, he answered. 

Why?

He said he does not share a new vision held by  the state government, which now owns Circus World Museum. For most of its  existence, CW operated as a virtual private enterprise.  But that changed about four years ago, when the Wisconsin State Historical Society came in with much needed funding and assumed  greater control.   Evidently, they now want more power at the Top.  Or were they hoping to effect a "resignation"?

Momentous achievements on the job, not good enough?  A press release from Circus World overflows in citing O'Donnell's "countless transformative contributions," including preservation of Ringlingville, creation of a master plan "that will enhance the visitor experience for generations to come," and the "driving force" behind the Society's acquisition of the Al Ringling Theatre.  This and more, in but eleven seasons?  Something is wrong with this picture.   

I asked Scott if he will miss being there, and his answer sounded more like one reluctantly leaving.

"I put my heart and soul into Circus World" he answered. Clearly, as I heard him speak, the job meant a great deal to him, and yet he is leaving without rancor, ready for an "encore" somewhere else.

Scott's departure will be in tandem with Dave Salutos, who is  retiring at the end of the current season, following a 40 year run.  Ominously, this adds another layer of implicit intrigue to a back story.

Sheer speculation on my part, we may find out what was really going on when we learn who will next assume the CEO desk.

There are some things in life that just don't make sense.  This feels like one of them to me.

 Sad to see you go, Scott. 

posted 8.28.24