‘Dream Big’ at this imaginative circus

By Jane Horwitz
Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011

There's a lived-in feel to Big Apple Circus, and that's a good thing. Its newest show, "Dream Big," unfolds as a human-size entertainment and not a shiny-perfect extravaganza a la Cirque du Soleil.

It's an ideal, non-threatening way to introduce the littlest kids to the circus, yet designed to please parents and older kids as well.

Big Apple has launched "Dream Big" at Dulles Town Center, where its run continues through Oct. 10. Then the company will head to its fall-winter venue at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park.

The large, painted set piece at the back of the ring has a picture-book look that's totally kid-friendly. Performers enter and exit through it, and above, there's a giant, red-lipped mouth that provides a hideout for the band, led by music director Rob Slowik.

Amiable ringmistress Jenna Robinson, sporting a turret of flaming hair and rhinestone glasses, is a welcoming rather than an imposing presence.

Big Apple's tent seats 1,723, and it advertises that no one is more than 50 feet from the ring. It does feel like an intimate space. At the 4:30 performance on Sunday, kids as young as 2 and 3 seemed transfixed by the acrobats, jugglers, trapeze artists and animals, and amused, if not convulsed with laughter, at the clowning.

Which brings us to Barry Lubin as the deliciously anarchic Grandma - a Big Apple Circus icon - in red dress, clown makeup, pearls and wig. Grandma enlists audience members in water-spitting contests (doing a pinwheel spit looks hard) and uses a giant wrench to repair a Rube Goldberg-esque machine, out of which pops a terrific juggler (Dmitry Chernov). She engages in a rodeo routine with fellow clowns Scott Nelson and Muriel Brugman as an apologetically inept magician and his nutty assistant.

Lubin's grandmotherly presence - he's never gone for long - lends the whole show a benign blessing. This is Lubin's farewell tour after 25 seasons with Big Apple. He's not retiring but will be based in Europe, where he'll keep clowning. He'll also teach.

The most spine-chilling act must be the Flying Cortes troupe, whose trapeze act, even above a net, literally takes your breath away. The 10-year-old Ysabella Wallenda-Cortes proves her mettle astonishingly well and is billed as the world's youngest professional flying trapeze artist. She is indeed descended on both sides from circus greats.

Scenic and costume designer Andre Barbe has created a wild array of costumes in candy colors. The impressive Shandong acrobats from China perform in a succession of unitards that blend the styles of "Teletubbies" with various aliens on "Dr. Who."

The animal species range from the sublime to the funky. A gorgeous trio of black Arabian horses canter and sidestep for treats under the guidance of Jenny Vidbel, who also works with a couple of "sheep-a-doodles" (sheepdog/poodle mixes) and a Great Dane. Then there's a mini-parade of creatures kids will love - an African crested porcupine, a Vietnamese potbellied pig and "the world's largest rodent," a capybara from South America. Even ringmistress Robinson's plucky terrier mix Daisy has time on her hindlegs in the spotlight.

The central idea behind "Dream Big" hinges on the thrill of using one's imagination. Part of the gimmick involves large, helmety things out of "Bride of Frankenstein" under which performers, and occasionally audience volunteers, sit. These contraptions then transform images from one's imagination into live performances. At least that's the idea.

As ringmistress, Robinson is supposed to set all those ideas up in her opening speech and song. But at Sunday's 4:30 show, from this reviewer's second-row seat, she was nearly unintelligible thanks to over-amplification of her microphone. So the animating idea behind the production didn't come across in the opening moments as it should have. It does, however grow clear as the show continues.

Lighting designer Guy Simard deserves a nod for his elegant illumination of the show, as does composer Mathias Ruegg for his jaunty score.

Despite its few glitches, Big Apple Circus's new "Dream Big" comes up a family-friendly treat.