CIRCUS REVIEW : Newfangled, Old-Fashioned Thrills

Maybe it’s that I haven’t seen the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for a quarter-century or so, but some things sure seem different over at the Greatest Show on Earth.

When I was 10, the dashing ringmaster with his booming voice had all the charisma anybody needed. Now, we also get N/Motion, three randy white guys who wear tank tops and sing derivative pop songs. Look, boys and girls! It’s hormones on parade!

Politics have entered into the picture too. By the time most patrons found seats Tuesday--the first of the circus’s eight nights at the Anaheim Convention Center--they’d been handed two pieces of literature: one from a group opposing animal-rights activists who have targeted the circus, and another from circus management, insisting that the Ringlings are leaders in animal welfare.

So much for the good old innocent days. Still, the moment when the lights went low and then came up on the first attraction--high-wire artists, tall, sleek and insouciant in their glittery body suits--I knew not that much had changed. Indeed, Ringling Bros.’ 122nd edition still offers many of the old-fashioned, three-ring thrills of the pre-MTV age.

I have, however, seen more spellbinding aerialists. Nobody, not one person, let go with both hands to fly from swinging bar to swinging bar. But the three Mednikovs--who walked the slant wire like a living totem pole: one man stood ramrod straight atop another’s shoulders, while a woman stood atop his--had the audience gasping.

And the Ninjas were electrifying. Thirteen men and women from Shanghai, they performed the Chinese martial art of Wushu with unbridled energy and astonishing speed. As if executing tai chi in quadruple time, they knifed the air with precise, quick kicks and arm jabs, fought mock battles, brandished lethal-looking sabers, and hurled themselves horizontally through space, twirling madly like ballet dancers after too much morning java.

With similar velocity, the much-touted (or is it much-advertised?), fur-capped, bare-legged Mongolians rode their handsome steeds at up to 40 m.p.h., leaping on and off or hanging upside-down from their saddles without missing a step. (One horse, not so fortunate, seemed to trip over the ring and fell at one point, but finished the act and was unharmed, a circus spokeswoman said.)

These 40 performers from the heart of Eastern Asia (or the “mysterious land” of Genghis Khan, as the ringmaster put it) also included three contortionists who bent themselves gracefully into impossible pretzel positions, like Gumby dolls. Then, lying on his back with massive arms and legs outstretched, the “Amazing Armarjargal” supported 1,559 pounds worth of smiling attendants and dumbbells. (Merely double that weight, and you’ve got a Toyota compact.)

As for animal entertainments, fluffy poodles, snarling Bengal tigers and baggy-eyed elephants all obediently sat, walked, hopped or turned pirouettes on their haunches, their front legs waving adorably in the air.

Despite those assurances that these creatures get the best of care, one wonders if they really like their jobs. But none looked ready to quit, and I was pretty much won over, certainly by Erik Adams’ dogs. Adams balanced a white poodle, standing on one foot, on the tip of his nose. That was as good as when two of Wade Burck’s tigers held a flaming pole in their mouths for a third tiger to leap over.

Acrobats executing handstands deftly atop lumbering elephants, raucous clowns slipping and sliding in a mess of milk and flour, and more appearances by N/Motion rounded out the evening. I easily could have skipped the latter, but the singers do seem good for box office. I’m sure I heard teen-agers and even others scream when they came out. Keep those hormones marching.

* The 122nd Edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus continues through Tuesday at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Show times: 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. today, Monday and Tuesday; 1:30 and 8 p.m. Friday; 11:30 a.m., 3:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 11:30 a.m., 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $8.50 to $13.50. Information: (714) 999-8900.