I was fortunate enough to attend Ringling Brother's Greatest Show on Earth last night for the third consecutive year. I must say, the theme was weak, but the music was wonderful. The animal performances were far better than last year.
The ringmaster did a spectacular job of flipping his hat, twirling his cape, and bellowing into the microphone. My only complaint would be that the choreography often had him lost amidst the dancing girls, and tumbling clowns. I don't think adults had a hard time following him, but from my little nieces perspective, I bet looking at the three rings was often like staring at a Where's Waldo picture.
The animals stole the show this year, in my opinion. FIFTEEN tigers, all fat and sassy, took the spotlight right after intermission. When they sat up on their hind legs and showed their bellies, I almost died laughing, picturing my fat cat Kia sitting in a similar "fat old man" position the night before. The fact that the trainer is bilingual, and communicates with the cats in Spanish only adds to the allure of the act.
The elephants were also amazing. Anyone that criticizes Ringling Brothers should have seen the joy in these animals faces as they showed us what they could do. The ponies also did a much better job than in previous years, and the zebras were awesome to watch. I did not miss the puppies, given that last year they were more interested in chasing each other than doing what their trainer bid.
I loved the trapeze artists, as well. We were finally fortunate enough, on our third try, to pick seats on the right side of the stadium so that the trapeze act was literally right over our heads. I loved the enthusiasm of the performers. Even though I had seen all of the tricks before, they felt new to me because of the flair with which the moves were pulled off.
Sadly, the clowns were funny, but couldn't get the crowd into their antics for some reason. The side of the stadium that we were on seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day. At least the other side seemed to respond politely. I did miss my favorite clown, Bibi. But every clown needs a break, and I am sure whatever he is learning for next year will be worth the wait.
I also missed the screens and light effects from last year, and thought the glow-in-the-dark costumes were only moderately entertaining, having seen them at multiple other performances over the years. I would also like to see the band wheeled out some how to acknowledge the fact that most of the music is performed live. I know my husband was surprised to learn it was not being fed into the speakers electronically.
Overall, we had a grand time and cannot wait until the train pulls into town again.
