Imaginative one-ring circus reinventing the experience

For its 136th edition, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has some major changes in store — probably the biggest since moving from the big top into enclosed sports arenas nearly a half-century ago.

Tim Holst, who has several Utah connections, is the company's vice president of talent and production, traveling all over the globe as a talent scout to help put new productions together.

Holst made a quick trip to Salt Lake City recently and told the Deseret Morning News about this year's new "Circus of Dreams." "We're reinventing and re-imagining the circus," he said.

Audiences at this year's performances of the "Blue Unit" — one of three traveling companies that Feld Entertainment has crisscrossing the country — may be surprised to see something missing. Instead of the traditional three rings spread out across the arena floor, there will be one, 120- by 80-foot oval-shaped ring.

Holst likens the concept to the old Hippodrome entertainment back in the late 1800s. The change was motivated by feedback from focus groups and exit polls. "Audiences told us there was too much activity going on at the same time. There's a new generation that's grown up being focused on one thing at a time — the TV screen or the computer."

Instead of having to constantly look back and forth, like patrons at a tennis match, it will be easier to focus on the action in just one large ring.

Meanwhile, the current "Red Unit" show, which Utahns saw last year, is still a traditional three-ring experience — but that, too, may be modified. (Feld Entertainment mounts one new show every year, then lets it run for two years, so both units are constantly alternating.)

Holst said Feld has also implemented a new "Gold Unit" production — a smaller one-ring circus that can fit comfortably into smaller arenas in mid-size towns, such as Missoula, Mont., or Boise, Idaho, in arenas that might seat 5,000 or fewer. Right now that concept is being tested along the East Coast, but it could come west at some point.

Another major change in the old format is the introduction of a storyline to the action.

Chuck Wagner, who is the new ringmaster for the 136th edition of the circus, said by phone from San Jose, Calif., "It's not Shakespeare by any means, but there's a through-line that ties the story together and makes the circus more accessible, partly for young children."