When audiences first sit down in their seats this month to watch Out Of This World, the newest circus from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey, they will be greeted with about 12 minutes of serene quiet and the relative darkness of outer space.
It’s a daring decision for a big budget circus show, one that for the remaining 2+ hours is all lights, camera and a whole lotta action, to begin with a dazzling intergalactic opening act which borders on modern performance art, but it is an opening act that’s utterly breathtaking.
I simply adore that Ringling is making the contrarian move of presenting a delicate balancing act (literally) to modern audiences who are expecting (and will eventually receive) a whirlwind of a circus act.
I was fortunate enough to watch the cold open of Out Of This World at Feld Entertainment Studios practice space in Bradenton, FL last month and sat transfixed by what was happening on stage to start this show. I had, for the first time in a long while, absolutely no desire to check my phone or think about bills back at home or anything but for what was presented high above the ground some 100 yards out before my eyes and to bask in the ethereal music being performed by a live band on stage. I was so taken by this opening act that I kept forgetting to pick up my camera to photograph the scenes of acrobats dressed as astronauts moving like they were really in a zero gravity environment, with big slow steps and motions. I was mesmerized by the beauty and artistry of it all.
Of course, once the show kicked into high gear I was still mesmerized but for a radically different reason: THERE WAS SO MUCH GOING ON! It was a bit of sensory overload for me, to be honest, maybe because it all came on the heels of such starkness, but I resolved to see the full show more than once when it comes to Philly because I don’t think I’ll be able to take it all in during a single viewing.
For example, the contortionists in illuminated spheres high above the stage drew my eyes north while unicycles paraded down below on ice (ON ICE!) and horses galloped the circumference of the performance space. There was even more than that — much more — but I couldn’t process it all, partially because there was a lot going on but mainly because those contortionists, their colorful costumes, and their lit-up containers were magnificent to look at (although I’d have killed for the chance to go at the heavy plastic speheres with some Windex and a roll of paper towels!)
Out Of This World begins this month in Los Angeles (the first time a Ringling Brothers circus will debut on the west coast) and will run for years, visiting hundreds of cities and towns across the country. Based on what I saw in rehearsal, I can’t recommend it enough. Check out when Out Of This World will come near you on the Ringling Out Of This World site.
*OWTK was flown to Florida for a sneak peek of Out Of The World. All opinions expressed above are honest and unbiased, as always.
