Founded in 1977, and based in NYC, the Big Apple Circus has returned to Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park for the holiday season with its all-new one-ring Hometown Playground, paying homage to the City, its five boroughs, diverse neighborhoods, and world-famous landmarks, with hilarious clowning, lively dancing, dexterous juggling, graceful acrobatics, high-flying aerial acts, adorable performing poodles from rescue shelters, audience participation, and other comical, dazzling, and daring feats under the big top, with reasonably priced concessions and a VIP lounge in adjoining tents. It’s a thrill for all ages and the perfect family outing, presented up close in a more intimate space than the larger traditional three-ring circus, so every seat is a good one.
Instead of the usual ringmaster, the current show, directed by Shanda Sawyer, is led by clowns in the guise of NYC’s infamous pizza rats, with over-the-top New York accents, who appear between acts to pump up the crowd with their silly antics. There are also The Human Fountains spewing water (as seen on NBC TV’s America’s Got Talent), a comedy pickpocket, who does his magic on a volunteer from the audience, an upside-down walker, cleaning windows on a skyscraper and defying gravity from a beam high above the stage, a stilt walker, and masters of balance on the slack wire and an enormous rotating wheel of destiny. Also numbering among the most show-stopping acts of derring-do are the consummately skilled artists launching themselves from a giant swing into a wall of fabric and flying through the air on trapezes, while doing flips, somersaults, and other acrobatic stunners at breathtaking heights.
The excitement of the circus arts is enhanced by an eye-popping production design by David Gallo, dramatic colorful lighting by David Rees, sound by Ben Selke, an array of funny costumes and sparkling attire by Cynthia Nordstrom, and props by Faye Armon-Troncoso and Lauren Helpern that are perfectly suited to the individual acts, accompanied by a live orchestra conducted by Wages Argott and playing such classics as “New York, New York” and new music by composers Ron Aniello, Peter Bufano, and David Bandman, with arrangements by Bandman and vibrant choreography by Theresa Stone. And of special note are the huge-scale projections by Shawn Duan on a rising circular scrim around the ring that capture the various locales, sights, and activities of the Big Apple and complement the theme of Hometown Playground.
In addition to the spectacular regularly scheduled shows, Big Apple Circus is presenting a special Pride Night performance on Friday, November 22, at 7 pm, featuring Tony Award-winner J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot) as ringmaster, with face-painting, pre-show activities, a DJ, and rainbow-themed food and surprises, to benefit Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS.
Running Time: Approximately two hours, including an intermission.
Hometown Playground plays through Sunday, January 5, 2025, at Big Apple Circus, performing at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, Amsterdam Avenue and 62nd Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $44.80-455.10, including fees), go online.