PALMETTO, Fla. — The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is giving audiences a preview of its revamped image — a high-flying family show reimagined without animals.
Feld Entertainment, the Palmetto-based company that owns and operates the “Greatest Show on Earth,” revealed to The Associated Press what audiences can expect during the show's upcoming 2023 North American tour kicking off this fall.
The preview shows a modern and thrilling takeoff from the lions, tigers and balancing elephants that you may typically associate with the circus.
Instead, 75 performers from 18 countries will wow audiences with a triangular high wire act 25 feet off the ground, a crisscrossing flying trapeze display, a spinning double wheel powered by BMX trail bikes, and acrobatic unicycle and skateboard tricks.
The new production design also includes moveable staircases and two main stages, giving audiences a 360-degree view with live camera feeds, virtual reality, and lighting and sound design that track the performer.
The circus tour will start in Louisiana this fall and stop in several U.S. cities before kicking off a run of Florida shows on Jan. 5, 2024, at Amalie Arena.
Other Florida stops include Orlando, Jacksonville and Sunrise. Tickets are on sale now.
“The technology in the show is about enhancing experience, not just technology,” Juliette Feld Grossman, chief operating officer of Feld Entertainment, said in a statement. “We have so much activity and action so we want to make sure that we never miss the biggest moments in the show.”
Grossman said that when she and her team were rethinking what the circus could be, they landed on the concept of fun and a sense of play being critical. She promises to “give the audience something that they haven’t seen or that they didn’t even know to anticipate.”
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed its curtains in 2017 after entertaining audiences across the world for 146 years. The decision came amid struggles with declining attendance, shrinking attention spans and shifting social pressure brought to bear by activists who argued the animals were poorly treated.