Revamped Ringling circus returns to Tampa: Here’s what to expect

Invented by P.T. Barnum in 1871 and named “The Greatest Show on Earth,” the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shut down in 2017, a victim of changing entertainment tastes and years of protests by animal-rights groups.

But now owner Feld Entertainment, based in a sprawling Ellenton headquarters in Manatee County, has resurrected and revamped the iconic show with a new animal-free tour that arrives at Tampa’s Amalie Arena for a three-day run Jan. 5-7.

It features aerial acts, a new take on clowns and no performing animals — except for a robot dog named Bailey.

“We’ve spent several years now thinking and imagining what could be possible,” CEO Juliette Feld Grossman announced at a preview of the new version of the circus this fall at the 600,000-square-foot Feld Entertainment complex. “The biggest thing that made a difference to us was a whole lot of soul-searching: What is the heart of this property?”

Directors Dan Shipton and Ross Nicholson spent three years assembling the show, which maintains a high level of energy with flashing lights, upbeat music, singers and dancers alongside the acrobats, jugglers and other typical circus performers.

Shipton and Nicholson were veterans of Feld Entertainment’s “Jurassic Live World” arena tour, one of the company’s properties along with titles such as Disney on Ice, Monster Jam and Marvel Universe Live.

“Coming from the U.K., we have a different cultural relationship with circus,” Nicholson said. “So we didn’t miss” animal acts, Shipton added. “I don’t think we’d know where to even fit in an elephant.”

Here’s what to expect in the reimagined Ringling show.

Human feats

Instead of lions and tigers and elephants, this show takes a page from Cirque du Soleil, featuring a parade of people performing feats meant to make the audience gasp.

There’s a Spanish troupe that specializes in the acrobatic teeterboard apparatus. There’s the Double Wheel of Destiny, two spinning spheres rotating side by side that performers jump between. And there’s a multinational team that flies through the air on criss-crossing trapeze bars. The big finale is vintage Ringling: The Human Cannonball gets launched at 65 miles per hour from one end of the arena to the other.

The circus cast includes 75 performers — Feld’s biggest touring show ever — who hail from 18 countries, including Brazil, France, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ukraine and Mongolia, which has a long tradition of circus arts. Many of the more than 150 costumes created for the show hide technology among the sequins to control things like spotlight tracking and sound.

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No ringmaster

The traditional ringmaster has been replaced by a trio of diverse show guides, including singer Lauren Irving, who belts out the opening number and covers like “Diamonds” by Rihanna. She is joined by Alex “Sticks” Stickels, a drummer who encourages audience participation. Jan Damm, who goes by Nick Nack in the show, is the comic relief.

Three rings

Inspired by the old three-ring layout of the circus, the arena floor features a lot of simultaneous action to swivel your attention. Three separate acrobatic troupes perform their stunts at separate sections of the arena, though one may be resetting while another is flying through the air. The new stage features LED rings that make it easier to see the whole show on screens that offer a magnified view of what is going on.

Send out the clowns

Creepy clowns have haunted us, especially since Stephen King upped the horror in 1986′s “It” and its two movie adaptations. So audiences will be spared the image of Pennywise lookalikes shooting around on a unicycle.

Instead of grease paint and red noses, a Ukrainian trio called Equivokee keeps the audience entertained between acts. Nick Nack often ends up involved in their fun, which also includes juggling and keeping a ginormous hula hoop spinning.

Story time

This is a narrative show, with a story line about a young performer who has just joined the Greatest Show on Earth. He’s helped through this colorful new world by the three main guides, who show him the variety and diversity of performers he’s about join — from Mongolian jump ropers to Cuban acrobats.

The directors felt this would appeal to modern audiences.

“Having a loose story helps you make sense of why you’re going from this act to this act to this act,” said Nicholson.

The young performer in the story starts out on a small unicycle that gets higher and higher as the show goes on and ends with his own big stunt — a Guinness World Record-breaking ride on the world’s tallest unicycle that towers 34 feet in the air.

Actually, one animal is there

The new Ringling show has famously eschewed its corps of performing pachyderms, but there is an animal act. It doesn’t have a pulse, though.

Bailey is the Nick Nack character’s robot puppy who can make dynamic movements and has a digital eye shield that allows it to express its emotions.

A robotic dog connects to Ringling’s past.

“Historically, the circus was a place where people came to see new things — the first light bulb was exhibited at the circus,” Nicholson said. “We wanted to incorporate future-forward technology into our show and give people the experience of seeing something for the first time.”

If you go

The Greatest Show on Earth: A new, animal-free version of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus makes a stop at Amalie Arena, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa.

When: 7 p.m. Friday (Jan. 5), 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 6) and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday (Jan. 7).

Cost: Tickets start at $20 at Ticketmaster.

Information from the Tribune News Service was used in this report.