Reimagining Ringling for Shorter Attention Spans (and No Elephants)

The following is a condensed and edited interview with Alana Feld, executive vice president, Feld Entertainment.

What made you decide to take elephants out of the show?
We had to think of what was best for everyone—the elephants, the business, our family, our audiences. It was bittersweet, but we said, “Let’s use it as an opportunity to reimagine Ringling.”

What did that mean?
We redefined the performance space, changing what used to be just a black rubber floor to an ice surface and a dry surface. You get a fast-paced energy that you can only get from skating.

The second big change was we added a story line. We have a character named Paulo, the star seeker, who has a magical telescope. We have the evil Queen Tatiana, queen of the circus of fire, who banishes all of the circus stars to distant planets. And now it’s up to Paulo and Jonathan Iverson, the ringmaster, to find them and bring them back to earth. Our third big change is the technology we’ve infused the show with. We’re able to use video projection all across the arena floor.

How much of that is because kids are tech-savvy?
There’s no substitute for live entertainment, but you have to create a show that’s appealing to them. The show is much more fast-paced than it used to be. Kids today, they don’t want to sit through a 15-minute act on the trapeze. We’ve created an app. It’s free. You can download it. We have circus selfies, so you can be the ringmaster. You can look like you’re juggling.