CAN YOU TOP THIS? LITTLE SHOW RETURNS WITH MORE DERRING-DO!
- The New York Times
- Lawrence Van Gelder
- 31 Oct 2007
It’s autumn. The little big top has been pitched in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center. The Big Apple Circus is inside. And through Jan. 13, the attraction is its 30th-anniversary show, “Celebrate!”
Under the artistic direction of Paul Binder, the Big Apple has assembled a first-rate combination of clowning, wire-walking, juggling, acrobatics, animal antics and other feats calculated to boggle the eye and tickle the funny bone of young and old. And all the entertainment is enhanced by colorful costumes and bright music in the intimate setting that is the Big Apple’s trademark.
The highlights? Plenty. The delightful Fumagalli and Daris, the brothers whose lunacy reaches a pinnacle in “Little Bee, Little Bee,” a honey of a clown act. Irina Markova, whose capering canines in Christmas dress vault hurdles, negotiate hoops and walk on fore- and hind legs. The strong man Virgile Peyramaure, with Andrey Mantchev and Sarah Schwarz, resembling golden statues that have come alive in their exquisite balancing act. Kris Kremo, fast and funny as he juggles top hats, bowlers, balls and boxes in patterns and speeds that sometimes reduce his arms to blurs. Cong Tian, who not only walks the slack wire (a feat comparable to strolling a rubber band) but also rides it on a unicycle, while juggling.
Not to be overlooked are the exotic Yelena Larkina, doing wonders with hula hoops; Yasmine Smart and her handsome horses; the Huescas, with one brother using his feet to juggle the other head over heels and spinning; last, but by no means least, the Kovgar Troupe, twisting and somersaulting through the air from teeterboards with the greatest of ease, sometimes while wearing stilts and aiming for seat in a chair that nearly scrapes the tent roof. And, for Big Apple regulars, yes, Grandma is back, as mischievous as ever.
Cheers, whistles and applause, along with a healthy helping of laughter, greet the efforts of these gifted performers. And rightly so.
The Big Apple’s 30th anniversary show is good circus, a good time and, as it says, an occasion to celebrate.
The Big Apple Circus is at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, through Jan. 13; (212) 721-6500.
The founders of the Big Apple Circus, Paul Binder and Michael Christensen, met while performing with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. They traveled through Europe together, juggling on street corners, before deciding to create an intimate circus for New York. Adults and children alike showed their appreciation at the gala, which raised $1.2 million. The show will be in town — at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park — until January 13, and will then embark on a tour through the summer.