By:Susan Lin
The Big Apple Circus
Thursday, May 31, to Sunday, June 10
Circus Touring Tent, at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, C.W. Post Campus, Route 25A, Brookville, www.tillescenter.org.
Tickets: $20-$32
For showtimes and tickets, call (516) 299-3100.
The spectators sitting in the front, ringside rows wear striped tank tops, shorts and T-shirts with sports logos, rather than suits or dresses. There are no teenagers in the crowd, only parents and very young children. The kids are on laps or in their own seats, and the shorter ones are standing.
What else is this but the audience of The Big Apple Circus. Catch this year's show, called "Clown Around Town," at the Tilles Center in Brookville May 31 through June 10.
The 23rd Big Apple circus is, as usual, more than two hours long. And all the daring feats and animal tricks take place right in front of you, unlike for most people attending a typical Ringling Brothers circus. With a one-ring circus, and with only about 20 rows of seats, it's hard to end up with bad seats.
This year, there's a Russian woman named Dania Kaseeva who twirls a hundred Hula Hoops at once. Kaseeva appears again later in the second act to dance a tango with husband and fellow performer David Maas. Amid dancing and without leaving the ring, she changes into a different ball gown about five times. But she's only obscured behind a blanket or a shower of ticker tape for one second each time.
Then there's an American trapeze troupe, Flying Pages, who pull off a triple somersault in the air. And on a different note is "tennis player" Serge Percelly, who does a solo juggling routine with tennis rackets and yellow balls.
As a necessary part of this multifaceted show, Orville and Gordoon, the only two clowns in the show, appear between acts to tie everything together.
At the beginning of the circus, Orville stands in the center of the ring carrying a suitcase. Meanwhile, house musicians from an overhead stage bang out a Ragtime-style piano tune. Just in from the country, Orville is attempting to find his cousin, Gordoon, who lives here in the Big Apple.
"[The theme of] the whole show is about us trying to fit in to the big city," said Tom Dougherty, who plays Orville. According to the show program, this year's performance is a "circus version" of the popular folktale "Country Mouse, City Mouse."
In their escapades, Orville and Gordoon show up at an assortment of famous New York City landmarks, including Yankee or Shea Stadium (the audience picks), the U.S. Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, Wall Street, an audition for a Broadway production, a barrio and Grand Central station.
These vignettes "serve a purpose for the show, because they're clearing props or getting things ready for the next act," said Dougherty.
But Dougherty believes that clowns serve other purposes, too. "I feel that clowns are in conspiracy with the audience. We're not just presenting our act for you to voyeuristically watch. We're going to get you involved," he said.
One way Dougherty engages the audience is by bringing a representative into the ring. During the second act of "Clown Around Town," Dougherty invites a young kid from the audience to the ring and dresses him up to look just like him. Then he teaches the young volunteer a trick to perform.
"You have to be careful choosing the kids, and even then you never know, because once they get into the ring and they're away from their mommy and the lights are in their eyes, they get scared," Dougherty said.
One of the skills circus clowns acquire on the job is picking the right kid to go in the ring with them. "Well, you don't want one whose mother is raising their hands for them. Then you know that this isn't really their choice.
"I just sort of look in their eye and make sure that they, in their heart, really want to come out and play," said Dougherty.
Though he said he rarely has any leisure time, Dougherty, 45, enjoys golf and a little motorcycling. When on the road and not performing, Dougherty is set up in a two-bedroom trailer, which includes a kitchen. "I love it when it rains. The gentle sound of rain on the tin roof. We had that this morning," he said.
