Circus vs. Cirque
Just got back from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s “Barnum 200” circus. Spectacle overload. Enter-chaos. A glorious mound of amazing.
We saw the show last year and this one tops it by a mile. The theme is celebrating the 200th (actually 201st by now) birthday of P. T. Barnum, and to that end the show is built around re-imagining classic circus elements, classic acts — including the sideshow and the carnival geeks.
Acrobats and contortionists… amazing, yes; but maybe too slow to keep the kiddies’ attention. So throw four different sets of performers onto the floor at once and suddenly your eyes can’t keep up.
Seen a horse run around a ring before? Ho-hum. So add Shetland ponies to the mix. And a horse-riding dog. Maybe a couple goats and donkeys. And a llama. (a llama?!) Hey, this is Ringling Bros.; throw in an elephant. Oh, and how about a longhorn steer for good measure.
The keyword here is “more”. Four motorcycles in s steel globe? Easy. Why not five? Sure! Can we top that? Six? No. Seven.
Now… having also seen Cirque du Soleil within six months (specifically, “La Nouba” in Orlando) and that also being an awesome show, it’s interesting to compare the two.
They are both spectacular, but very, very different. Tonight I sat with a huge smile on my face (matching my son’s!) and the usual reaction was a genuine, enthusiastic “Wow! … WOW!!”.
At Cirque du Soleil I mainly sat with eyes and mouth open, staring in awe. The reactions bounced between an awestruck “whoa.” and a startled “WHOA!”.
Cirque pushes the “circus” envelope. It redefines it and polishes it and reinvents it. Becomes the essence of Circus in its pure form but unlike anything you’ve seen before. Ringling specializes in stuffing the envelope as full as possible. Then, once you see how full it is, they show you that it was folded over the whole time… and look what else we can put in it!
Cirque is a dance. It’s acrobatics raised to performance art. It’s elegant and surreal and enthralling and stunning. It’s also funny and charming.
Ringling is, well… a circus. Actually it’s more like three circuses all happening at the same time. It’s flashy and bright and surprising and just plain fun. And then it has moments that completely surprise you just when you thought you knew what you were watching.
Ok. So you might be reading this, wondering when I’m going to get to the point. “Which one is better?” The big question. Having seen both, I should at least be able to offer an opinion, right?
Not going to try. No need. It’s a little like asking “Which is better: chocolate, or rock & roll?” Not only can’t you rank them, there’s no reason you should.
Just enjoy the show.
