You might want to consider running away to join the circus for a few hours this week.
In an enormous air-conditioned tent on the outskirts of Hanover, the stars of the Big Apple Circus are amazing spectators with stunning stunts and jazz-age song and dance. The two-hour show with world-class performers has everything that makes a circus great.
Freaks, elephants, horses, dogs, clowns, midgets, dancing girls, jugglers, tightrope walkers, trapeze artists and a Dartmouth-educated ringmaster (Paul Binder '63) keep the action non-stop in the tent's single ring.
The entire show is performed to the music of George Gershwin, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and modern composer Linda Hudes, performed by the Big Apple Circus Band. Performers were dressed in the styles of the 1920s in keeping with this year's "Jazzmatazz" theme.
The music alone might be worth the admission. The circus band pulls off the tunes beautifully, with a number of soulful solos in the slow segments.
The ring was designed by James Leonard Joy to reflect the art-deco spirit of the jazz age, and the costumes are by Paris designer David Belugou.
Clown Barry Lubin steals the show with his portrayal of "Grandma," a senile, mislead woman whose antics annoy the ringmaster but exhilarate the crowd. Grandma surfaces every few minutes, and always manages to "accidentally" become involved in the acts. At one point she dances the Momba while dangling from a rope over the crowd.
Another clown got some laughs by singling out children from the crowd, introducing them to the audience, then flipping them upside down with his arms. Just when the cuteness was turning sappy, the clown selected an overweight, balding, middle-aged man to flip. The clown seemed surprised to find himself flipped by a force equal and opposite his own.
Despite their massive size, the company's three elephants are nimble as monkeys. Even 51-year old Anna Mae is agile. A highlight of their performance occurs when the largest elephant pirhouettes with a trainer hanging upside-down by his leg from its mouth. You have to see it to believe it.
The elephants, trained by William Woodcock, seem unreal, out of place, and utterly huge in a tent that seats a scant 2,000.
Swiss juggler Kris Kremo foregoes the usual axes, knives, chainsaws and burning torches in favor of felt hats. Kremo does things with top-hats not even the mad hatter could conceive. For instance, he juggles three hats using his head as much as his hands.
Sixteen-year old Russian Elena Egorova is to hula hoops what Kremo is to top hats. In five minuts, she does more than Wham-O ever conceived.
Egorova keeps five hoops spinning about five different parts of her body, all while performing a dance that would make Mae West blush.
Egorova's performance is followed by the Russian Rizhkov Trio, who seem more at home on the trapeze than on the ground. Forty-feet up, hanging by nothing but knees, elbows and various other joints, the group could make a compelling advertisement for arthritis medicine.
Masha Dmitri delivers an amazing performance, even though the wire she walks is neither tight nor high. Ten feet above the ring, she gives an amazing balancing act on a slack rope dangling from two poles.
Dmitri makes relaxing on the wire look easier than lying in a hammock, especially when she juggles a large parasol with her toes, spinning and balancing it with ease.
Egrova's family gives a stunning performance on what looks like a giant rubber band. Two men support the narrow strip's ends, while their sister uses it as a springboard. Launched far above the tent floor, the woman made the best of her air time, twirling , turning and twitching wildly.
One of the most spectacular performances is also the most sedate. Three "bathing beauties" quietly and casually balance on top of giant beach balls, an impressive feat in itself.
The act changes from interesting to incredible when they roll up a steep, crooked ramp, balancing on the balls all the while. The trio has planned "errors," during which they roll back down the ramp at full-speed (running backwards on the beach balls).
The show's few tamer acts do not fail to keep the audience amused. In one skit, ventriloquist Phil Stein's dummy explodes at the beginning of a radio show. His impromptu replacement is the notorious Grandma, who dupes Stein right and left.
Stein's attempts to prove his merit as a ventriloquist by drinking water while the dummy speaks. But Grandma remains mysteriously quiet while he drinks. Even though she remains quiet, Grandma manages to spill a few gallons of water on Stein.
The Big Apple Circus takes place through July 21 three miles from the Green on Route 10. Call the Hopkins Center box office for information.
