How the Big Apple Circus Clawed Its Way Back From Bankruptcy
In 2016, New York City’s biggest circus went bankrupt. Here’s how the new owners are bringing it back.
As the lights flashed and the music pulsated, I took a swig of Irish whiskey from my plastic balloon-animal dog tumbler and said to my wife, “There is nooooooooo way Doogie Howser is going to take a run at the Wheel of Death.”
I was wrong. Neil Patrick Harris himself banged out a couple spins before daredevil Jayson Dominguez got inside and performed breathtaking feats like rope-jumping on top of the ever-spinning-while-also-rotating human hamster cage above a packed tent of wide-eyed audience members.
It’s just another day at the Big Apple Circus, now in its 42nd season at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, its home since 1981. Well, that evening wasn’t just any other. It was opening night, hence Harris’ guest-hosting gig, attended by other Gotham celebrities such as Jane Krakowski, Mariska Hargitay, and, as my nine-year-old daughter rushed to tell me before she and her mom went to pay their Hamilton-ian respects, Lin. Manuel. Miranda.
Ringmaster Storm Marrero, a singer making her debut after being plucked from the burlesque supper club Duane Park, introduced a cavalcade of killer acts: high-wire…
