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New Ringling Bros. show opening Friday in Cleveland is all about poplar clown, acrobat
By Ivan M. Lincoln
Deseret (Utah) Morning News
Published on Thursday, Oct 18, 2007
For the first time in its 137 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is producing a show that is named after its star performer.
This year's ''red-unit'' company of ''the greatest show on earth'' is being touted as ''a Bellobration'' after comic daredevil Bello Nock, now on his fourth consecutive tour with the circus.
But Nock, who is the seventh-generation member of a Swiss circus dynasty, said during a telephone interview from Stockton, Calif., that there are other changes from longtime circus tradition.
Like last year's alternating ''blue-unit'' company, this edition will have a story line, albeit a more whimsical one that is integrated into Bello's mischievous actions.
And the traditional ''three rings'' have been replaced by structures that are continually being reconfigured into different shapes.
The show will stop at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Friday and stay through Oct. 28.
According to ringmaster Tyron ''Ty'' McFarlan, the arena floor is still divided into three sections part of the time, but it can also become one big open floor.
Nock, who readily admits that ''I am never sitting still,'' has attention-deficit disorder and dyslexia, which is probably why he is adept at so many facets of circus life clowning, wire-walking, the sway-pole, acrobatics and such daredevil pursuits as the swirling ''wheel of death.''
Maybe Nock could be labeled a mirthful multitasker.
''People who have seen me perform in the past will see some absolutely all-new material and some jaw-dropping moments,'' he said. ''I like to scare people silly. I'm a mixture of Jackie Chan and Charlie Chaplin. I have always been very involved with the show, trying to be anywhere and everywhere.''
In Florida, Nock and his family have a 10-acre ''stunt ranch'' with nine trampolines, a motocross dirt track, a high-diving platform and his own freestyle training facility.
''It's not open to the public,'' he said. ''I love my toys!''
Instead of traveling all season long on the circus train, Nock and his family his wife and three children travel about half the year in a custom-made RV coach.
Nock's trademark is his unusual image iconic tall orange hair and an oversized tuxedo.
''I've worn my hair like that all my life.''
McFarlan added that Bello's hair is ''100 percent his own,'' augmented by lots of hair spray.
Now in his second season with the ''red unit,'' McFarlan said he is more comfortable in his role as ringmaster than the first time he stepped into the center ring.
''That was a little unnerving. It was far different from anything I'd done in the past in theater, where you mostly just play downstage to the audience,'' he said. ''In the circus, I'm playing to thousands of people in a 360-degree arena setting.''
He's also learned that in addition to his fundamental role of directing traffic in the arena, ''the circus is a living, organic thing, and I am the voice of that body. The more energy I have before the show starts, the more energy the performance will have, and so will the fans.
''My job is to set the pace for the show, and this is a production that is easy to get excited about.''
Unlike last year's, European-style one-ring circus, this year's 137th edition will feature a cageful of Bengal tigers, presented by Chilean-born Tabayara Antonio Maluenda (''Taba''). Other acts in this year's circus include brothers Alberto and Mauricio Aguilar, high-wire walkers; husband-and-wife human cannonballs Brian and Tina Miser; and trapeze artists, Asian elephants and dozens of clowns.
For the first time in its 137 years, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is producing a show that is named after its star performer.
Get the full article here.
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