It started back up in 2023, and apparently it is sans animal acts, clowns or ringmaster. What does it have, and is it any good?
Also, are you thinking about attending? Their schedule is on this website: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey | Get ready to have the most amazing time at The Greatest Show On Earth®!
I am assuming, of course, that they have registered that whole phrase, and not just the word “Earth”. ![]()
I’ve not seen the current incarnation but, AIUI, it’s in direct competition with Cirque du Soleil.
“It’s not much of a circus, is it?”
”Finest in the district!”
”Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.”
”Well, it’s so clean, sir!”
I hadn’t thought of going until I saw your thread. It’s been many years since I last went and it might be fun to go. They’ll be in Sacramento in September. Maybe we’ll go.
Circuses only exist to remind us how much better entertainment is now than it was in the 19th Century.
True, if you define entertainment as staring at screens.
But when people had time off work for leisure activities in the 19th century, they could find plenty of mass entertainment. Attending live concerts and theater performances, going to amusement parks, arcades, circuses, museums or getting together at their homes for cards or home musical activities were part of the scene.
I’m not sure I would’ve been hot on the idea of Chautauquas though. “Let’s go hear William Jennings Bryan give a speech!” Uh no, I’ll pass.