Monday, May 11, 2009

From Henry Penndorf


Italia 2009, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Hi Bill,

Had you heard about this? According to a news item on the "Circus Fans Italia" website, Ringling Brothers' Gold Unit, Boom-A-Ring, will make a three city tour of Italy this Fall, following its engagement in Coney Island. Boom-A-Ring will appear in Milan, Rome, and Turin beginning in October until November 2009.

The news item was originally posted on May 8. It was also posted on the BurgusCircus web site. Here is a link to the "Circus Fans Italia" story,,,http://www.circusfans.net/news/?view=6472

This is a computer generated translation from the Italian of the story...

RINGLING-BARNUM IN ITALY (BUT NOT IN TURIN ...)

On December 22 we announced the intention to preview the American colossus Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Feld Group Inc. to bring its performance in Europe with 3 stages in Italy: Turin, Milan and Rome.

Arrives in Italy for the first time in its history, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey "The Greatest Show on Earth" which was defined by the International Press "The Circus", the most important and extraordinary circus of America.

"Ringling Bros", since 1884, has entertained and fascinated millions of spettattori and entire generations, produced by Feld Entertainment Inc., also producer of "Disney Live" and "Disney on Ice" that was so popular in our country with the most big and beautiful performances for the whole family, will be on tour by "Applause" and will deal exclusively with Rome and Milan starting from 14 October 2009. This show fun and exciting and suitable for everyone from children to grandparents

For those who do not know, this is the "Gold Unit", which is the show to a runway in the U.S. does Tourn? And location? children. The show provides some attractions from the U.S. and other records in Europe.

Hope all is well.

Henry

Posted by Buckles at 5/11/2009 06:35:00 AM

7 comments:

Buckles said...

I wonder what the rate of exchange for $12 floss might be?

11 May, 2009 06:46
Raffaele De Ritis said...

According the Italian promoters, the tour is not confirmed yet.
This deal is going on by last fall and it will included cities in Italy, Spain, Germany in arenas of the same circuit and promoters that in the last few years regularly hosted the ice shows and the Disney Live units in Europe. The Gold show will eventually fit into this same circuit next fall. Animals will be booked in Europe. As far as is known already, Errani elephants have been optioned.
Beside this artwork from the site of "Applauso" (italian promoter), advertising and marketing are not started yet in any form, dates are not announced and ticket booking not started.

11 May, 2009 16:50
Henry Penndorf said...

Hi Bill,

I wonder how Ringling Brothers Gold Unit will be received in Europe. It is after all a European style one ring circus. A format that the Italians are familiar with. There is no novelty there. Will the Italians be expecting to see the giant three ring extravaganza that Ringling Brothers became so famous for, and earned them the name of "The Greatest Show On Earth"?

Do you think that Ringling Brothers will make any changes, additions, to the Gold Unit for its European tour?

The current rate of exchange is 0.736 Euro for each American dollar. That would make the $12.00 floss approximately 9 Euro.

Stay well,

Henry

11 May, 2009 17:12
Mike Naughton said...

Trivia-
The clown with the straw hat and cane is SCOTT O'DONNELL, who spent time on Ringling Blue as Boss Clown and pre-show dog act. His career included a stint as Talent Manager before moving to the Big Apple Circus as Vice-President and General Manager.
As far as I know, Scott will be in New York City with Big Apple and not in Italy with the Gold. Show business can take unexpected turns, so stay tuned to the BLOG for developing details.
Video at 11.

11 May, 2009 23:08
Raffaele De Ritis said...

Henry,
I don't think Europeans have any expectation about the three-ring extravaganza, because RBBB is not famous at all there. The only reference they have about American Circus is the magnitude of Togni's "Circo Americano", a show that Italian, French, Germans and Dutch audiences believed to be genuinely american for 50 years.
No special changes seems to be planned in the Gold show for the eventual European tour. The only "novelty" can be the production value of the Feld show, as for the Ice or Disney ones.
It must be considered that the target is not really the traditional circus-goers audience, but more precisely the circuit of families that use to attend the other Feld productions in Europe every year in arenas.

12 May, 2009 04:27
Anonymous said...

$10 floss

12 May, 2009 21:20
Frank Ferrante said...

Can we do an International exchange and bring the Togni's "Circo Americano" over here and send the Ringless show over there? ~frank

13 May, 2009 00:11

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