Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s The Greatest Show on Earth is back on tour with a new, revamped show that highlights incredible feats by humans rather than animals. The circus hit the road last year for the first time since 2017 when the historic big top went dark amid declining ticket sales and increasing pressure from animal rights groups.
The Greatest Show on Earth makes a local appearance at the Denver Coliseum on Oct. 11-14 , and when it does, attendees can expect to see gravity-defying tricks and stunts. The circus cast includes 75 performers from 18 countries who aim to wow on the 25-foot-tall triangular highwire, a criss-cross trapeze, and a human rocket launcher.
Other focal points of the show include live music, World Record unicycling, and awe-inspiring acrobatics that longtime fans have come to expect. Production company Feld Entertainment retooled some classic acts to make them more suited to current audiences. For example, the laugh-inducing Nick Nack and the Equivokee trio offers a “modern take on clowning that leaves the makeup behind,” per a statement.
Local ties to the circus abound in Denver, perhaps the most noteworthy of which is the neighborhood Barnum. It’s named for the entertainment mogul Phineas T. Barnum, who bought 760 acres of land west of the urban center in 1878.
Barnum was rumored to have purchased the land to house his circus animals in the winter, but that never happened , according to the Denver Public Library. Instead, Barnum s.