Actor Goes From Ringmaster to ‘Barnum’ Musical

Our guess is that you would buy a used car from this man.

“Oh, I’m a hustler all right,” admits Kristopher Antekeier, currently playing the lead in “Barnum,” a musical based on the life of P. T. Barnum, at Anaheim’s Grand Dinner Theatre through Sept. 2. “I could sell anything. An actor is a salesman. You walk into an audition, you open your suitcase and say, ‘Are you buying today?’ There’s no feeling of rejection for me in auditions--they’re either buying or they’re not.”

They were certainly buying in 1985, when the producers of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus picked Antekeier (that’s An-te-kire), then 27, to be the youngest ringmaster in the history of “The Greatest Show on Earth.” E. P. Dutton, the book-publishing company, bit when Antekeier offered to write a behind-the-scenes look at the circus after his year in the center ring. And all this experience was a great selling point when he auditioned for “Barnum.”

“But I don’t want to be pigeonholed as a ringmaster, you know?” says the tall, affable Antekeier, who describes himself as “larger than life.” “I don’t walk around like this”--he affects a smooth baritone--” ’Ladeez and gentlemen, children of all ages. . . .’ I’m a character actor.”

A character actor, it seems, with a sense of adventure. Antekeier went out for the circus job after reading an ad in Backstage, the New York trade paper for actors. “I do a lot of Plimptonesque things in show business. I love that I did it.”

“But there wasn’t anything romantic about it,” he says. “You only read and see the fantasy end of it. You never get to see reality.”

In his role as P. T. Barnum, there are moments that are “very real,” Antekeier says. And those truly curious about what it’s like to run away with the circus can pick up his autobiography / expose, “Ringmaster!”

It’s on sale in the lobby, of course.

“Barnum” continues through Sept. 2 at the Grand Dinner Theatre, 1 Hotel Way, Anaheim. Seating times: Tuesdays through Thursdays, 6 p.m.; Fridays, 6:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.; Sundays, 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Admission: $25 to $42, includes meal. Information: (714) 772-7710.