The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus rolled into Los Angeles this week, and I saw it tonight at the Staples Center.
I've been going to the Ringling Bros. Circus off and on since I was a little kid. When I heard this year's edition was a radical reinvention of the venerable "Greatest Show on Earth" I immediately got tickets.
So disappointing! I know the circus is under lots of competitive (and PC pressure). But this edition just seemed cut-rate to me.
Gone are the three rings. Inserted is a narrative having to do with a family "picked" from the audience who get to experience their circus fantasies right before our very eyes.
Gone are almost all of the great big thrills.
If the circus is a dying art form, this edition tells me it's gone to the ICU.
No comments:
Post a Comment