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By FREIDA FRISARO
MIAMI (AP) — “The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback that includes extraordinary people and no animal acts 5 years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey introduced Wednesday.
Talent groups have already carried out auditions in Argentina, Mongolia, Ethiopia, France and the United States, with greater than 1,000 performers making use of to affix a 50-city North American tour beginning in September 2023, and worldwide dates to observe, in line with the proprietor of the historic circus, Feld Entertainment.
“For us, Ringling is about bringing the world’s talents to people’s hometowns,” the chief working officer, Juliette Feld Grossman, advised The Associated Press in an interview. “We are entertainment for everyone and it’s important that everyone who comes to the show finds something and someone that they can really connect and relate to.”
The firm heard from many followers after ending its 146-year run 5 years in the past following intense criticism over its use of circus animals, and has thought of their feedback whereas re-imagining learn how to “keep the franchise fresh and alive,” she mentioned.
In the brand new manufacturing, audiences will turn into “co-collaborators” with the performers, bringing them nearer to the motion and creating a special expertise with each present, she mentioned.
Ringling additionally desires to “tell the personal stories of the performers,” she mentioned.
“Our performers dedicate their lives to doing oftentimes risky, very technically challenging and athletic performances, and they do it because they are passionate about it,” she mentioned. “And we want our audience to know more about them to understand how they trained, where they came from, what inspired them to create and develop this particular skill.”
The circus took down its tents after years of declining ticket gross sales as clients grew to become conflicted about its remedy of circus animals. Costly courtroom battles led to the top of elephant acts in 2016. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals praised the “animal-free revamp” in an announcement Wednesday.
Since the closure, it grew to become clear that the circus nonetheless “holds a special place in people’s hearts,” Feld Grossman mentioned.
“Any time I meet someone and I tell them something about what I do, they tell me their personal story about Ringling and the first time they went, or the most memorable time that they went. That’s something that confirms to us, that validates that we have something special here,” she mentioned.
“It’s going to be really special for parents to bring their children and to bring the grandparents as well, and to have that continuity across generations of enjoying a kind of entertainment that has been around for so long but still speaks to today.”
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