The Greatest Show on Earth

It's been a tradition in our family to go to the circus every year for my birthday. It's one of my favorite things to do. You feel like a kid all over again and we always have such a good time. This year we decided to go to the show on the 27th. We had the best seats we've ever had (third row) which was so neat. This is the first year that Eadie has really gotten into it. It was so much fun to watch her be amazed by all the different things going on. Orin ended up asleep on the floor of the energy solutions arena, with my jacket as a pillow, towards the end of the show. All in all it was a great evening and one of the best shows we've seen to date.

The new Ringling Bros. circus is not the one loved by your mother; though she’d love daredevil comic Bello, he with the skyscraper orange do. Circus audiences certainly do. So much so that impresario Kenneth Feld and his producer/daughter Nicole titled the new edition Bellobration.

“We set out to outdo not only last year’s show but 136 years of shows,” says Nicole. “This show is like Bello: a force of nature brimming with high energy and spirit.”

Bello favors a tuxedo and bow tie, and doesn’t wear greasepaint, baggy pants, or a red, bulbous nose. Talented (he plays 12 instruments), irrepressible, hilarious, warm, mischievous, athletic, and physical are words used to describe him. If RBBB has been reimagined for the journey into the 21st century, Bello’s the perfect guide.

Recipient of Monte Carlo’s prestigious Silver Clown Award and named America’s Best Clown by Time, Bello’s a seventh-generation member of a Swiss circus dynasty. And, he reports, “[It’s] my real name and the hair is all mine…I wear it this way -- except when I come out of the shower -- with the help of a lot of hairspray.”

He’ll have you holding your breath with his gravity-defying acrobatics on a giant spinning wheel that, at full speed, splits in two. And he must love heights -- why else would he climb 68 feet into the arena stratosphere to dangle upside down (and by one hand) on swaying poles? “Any three-year-old can do what I do,” he laughs, adding, “with 30 years experience. So don’t do this at home!”

His partners in daredevilry are Erendira and Nikolas Wallenda, members of the family who first brought daredevil skills and thrills to Ringling Bros. and had audiences gasping as they performed human pyramids in their high-wire act.

But it seems everyone wants to be Bello, and in Bellobration there’s a moment when everyone -- including the animals -- put on Bello-like dos. But there’s more, as artists from 11 nations will either have you screaming with delight or have the hairs on the back of your neck standing as high as Bello’s do. There’s beauty, brawn, Alejandro Vargas and his elephants, Arabian stallions, the Olates’ hilarious canines, jaw-dropping stunts from the Flying Poemas, Chinese acrobats, the Aguilar brothers on the high wire, and extreme-sports high jinks.

Taba’s back with his tabbies, and not the ones that meow -- these are Siberian ones that snarl and growl. When he kisses one of them, you might ask, “How do you learn to do that?” The seventh-generation Chilean animal trainer will say, “Practice! It takes up to a year to gain a Bengal tiger’s trust. You keep testing, getting closer and closer. Then one day, she lets you kiss her.”

That blur soaring across the arena isn’t a bird or plane but super Brian and Tina Miser shot from not one, but two cannons as they reprise a stunt not attempted in more than 30 years. And have you seen an elephant paint? You will if you arrive one hour early to enjoy the interactive pre-show where you meet artists, try on costumes, learn circus skills, and get an up-close look at the animals.