Review: The Big Apple Circus Still Delivers

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/theater/big-apple-circus-review.html

Version 0 of 1.

During the first act — sitting beneath the blue tent, amid the light-up spinners and glowing cocktail cups, a few rows away from the dirt ring, which smelled promisingly of popcorn and horse — I wondered if I had come to the right place. This was the Big Apple Circus, yes? All the merchandise said so, but on a night in early November, a show I associate with derring-do appropriate for all ages, even after its sale to private equity, felt different.

Following the shivaree, set to the ringmaster Storm Marrero’s version of “Empire State of Mind,” the band played a heavy-metal number and two identical-looking platinum blondes in sparkling nude-illusion leotards (the costumes are by Emilio Sosa) writhed above the ring in a tangle of aerial straps. They spun, swirled and hair-tossed, pressing one crotch atop the other as each did the splits, a visual palindrome that skewed lewd.

Dynamic, charming and swift, with at least one act (the Wheel of Death) that dropped my jaw and another (the Savitsky Cats) that purloined my heart, this year’s circus, directed by Cecil MacKinnon and Jack Marsh, seemed to oscillate between family-friendly and adults-only. A few performances landed in the middle, like the juggler Kyle Driggs, natty and expert, performing to a sultry take on the Beatles ballad “Something.”

Even the clown, a peppy Amy Gordon, playing a mouthy pigeon, couldn’t fly free of innuendo. While she roller-skated and made poop jokes, Marrero, in a tight corset and top hat, sang “Uptown Funk”: “If you sexy then flaunt it/If you freaky then own it.” If you’re vaguely uncomfortable, own that, too. Perhaps the merch stand could sell me some light-up pearls to clutch.

But even some awkwardness couldn’t spoil the annual thrill of seeing a troupe so effortlessly diverse, international and adept — which goes for the four-legged members, too. Gone, sadly, is Jenny Vidbel, a beloved animal trainer, and her superlative pig. She has been replaced by the trick riders Caleb Carinci and Renny Spencer — the trick being how Carinci bestrides two stallions in such tight pants — and the Savitsky Cats. Wearing bow ties and expressions of withering disdain, these magnificent fluffballs jumped through hoops, played leap frog and scampered across a ladder upside down.

Acrobatics continued with Abel Driggs and Daniel Bridon Benitez darting squirrel-like up and down the Chinese pole, Driggs accenting his outfit with a circus-inspired dental grill. Dupla Mão na Roda is a strongman routine with a twist. One of the performers, Rafael Ferreira, born with congenital arthrogryposis, uses a wheelchair, which doesn’t prevent him from balancing atop his partner’s head or arcing his lower body into elegant contortions. The Lopez Troupe, a family blessed with exceptional equilibrium, seem to get along better than any siblings have a right to, with brothers Johan and Jonatan riding bicycles along the high-wire as they balanced their sister Zuliedy seated on a pole between them.

The first-act finale, Jayson Dominguez, on the Wheel of Death, may not have actually taken my breath away, but it was a while before I got it back. (What is a Wheel of Death? Think of a hamster wheel, but terrifying.) Dominguez ran inside of it, then outside of it, then he jumped rope, then he did somersaults, 20 feet above the crowd, while many of us screamed. By the time he put on a blindfold, my 3-year-old and I both averted our eyes. The show closed with the Aliev Troupe, a Russian band who put an innovative spin on the trapeze act. How innovative? They don’t use trapezes. Though there is a bouncy balance beam.

The aim of Big Apple felt shakier this year, and its sense of audience more wobbly. But it’s still a pleasure and a thrill, and the sexy stuff likely flies over most children’s heads — in the case of the blond aerialists, quite literally. “They seemed strong,” my 6-year-old said approvingly, so that’s one conversation we don’t have to have at home.

Big Apple Circus

Through Feb. 2, 2020, at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, Manhattan; bigapplecircus.com. Running time: 2 hours.