CIRCUS NEWS

Folding Up the Tent: The Great Circus Bim Bom headed home Thursday to the Soviet Union after being stranded in the United States since April. The troupe was unsuccessful in trying to refinance its two-year American tour, which collapsed when Kuwaiti investors abandoned the circus and transportation companies seized its lions, bears, monkeys and horses. “It’s ended,” said Boris Rivchun, music director for the troupe. “All our hopes are broken.” Steven E. Leber of New York, producer of the state-sponsored Moscow Circus, paid for the group’s trip home as a “gesture of good will.” The Bim Bom troupe, founded 100 years ago and featuring performers from 60 Soviet circuses, had hopes for 550 shows in two years, but the 12 shows that actually went on drew tiny audiences.