Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ticket Information & Schedule
Thursday March 23 thru Monday April
17 2006
Madison
Square Garden | 7th Avenue between 32nd & 33rd Streets
Info Ringling
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Tickets Peak $12.50 to $154.50 Prices do not include any taxes,
service charges or other charges
Box Office Madison
Square Garden Box Office
Online & Phone Orders TicketMaster.com
212-307-7171
Ringling Brothers and Barnum
& Bailey Circus It was way back in 1872 that Phineas T
Barnum first used the phrase "the greatest show on
earth" to describe his entertainment enterprise playing in
the New York Hippodrome, soon to be known as the original Madison
Square Garden. P T Barnum already had a long history as a New York
City showman, starting with his American Museum -- mostly of
nature's oddities and curiosities -- across from City Hall. The
history continued when, after an 1881 merger, Barnum &
Bailey's Circus continued performances at the old Garden. Then, on
March 29, 1919, the first performance of the newly combined
Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus® was held in New
York City's second Madison Square Garden, on the same site of the
first. All told, the ringmaster's cry of "Ladies and
gentlemen, children of all ages," introduced expectant chills
of excitement in four Madison Square Gardens, from Madison Square
to 8th Avenue and 50th Street to today's location above Penn
Station
Ladies and gentlemen, children
of all ages still resounds in the new Garden as Ringling Bros
and Barnum & Bailey® presents the all new 136th edition of The
Greatest Show On Earth®. The show is titled The Circus of
Dreams and this year it's going to be
different, very different. Breaking with it's
long-standing tradition of a performance in rings, specifically
three rings, the all new Blue Tour for 2006 will be one
arena-filled extravaganza that tells a story. Details as of
mid-February are still very sketchy, but the storyline is said to
revolve around a family of four in the audience being chosen to fulfill
their circus dreams and go on to perform daring feats. (Yep,
these ain't no ordinary folks who just happened to have tickets
to the circus and got lucky.) In a press release issued in early December
2005 that introduced the creative team putting together the new
concept, the folks at Ringling hinted at, for want of better
words, a "the Big top meets MTV" type of show, one more keeping
with the way we get our entertainment today
In another break with tradition,
21-years young Jennifer Fuentes will be handling the traditional
duties of the ringmaster, though as there aren't any rings,
we're not quite sure what her title is. We have learned that all
of the circus costumes have been updated, and Ms Fuentes will be
dressed in a gown more suited to her appearances on American
Idol
In the mix for the show are such
circus favorites as acrobats, equestrian acts, jugglers, the
daring folks on the flying trapeze, the motorcycle Globe of
Death and, of course, the elephants and clowns for which
Ringling is famous. As for lions, tigers and bears? Not really
sure as yet, though I've seen reports that the tigers at least
have stayed back home in sunny Florida
Hint Just how up-close and
personal can you get with the circus stars? Find out by starting your circus
adventure early by arriving one hour before performance to take
part in Ringling's All-Access Pre-Show. You don't watch from your
seat -- you're on the circus floor --
with the show's famous elephants, clowns and other performers. And the
great thing is that it's at no extra charge -- it's
already included in the price of the ticket!
Note I was in the process of
ordering tickets for the April 1st evening performance when I
got very, very frustrated with Ticketmaster. I found what looked
to be halfway decent orchestra seats, but the very poor,
unreadable seating chart made it impossible to be sure. I'm not
one to plop down big bucks for a pig in a poke, so I first went
to the
Madison Square Garden site to see if they had a better
chart. Great charts overall, but none for the circus. So I had
to download the Ticketmaster chart picture, open it in Photoshop
and enlarge it in order to read it. By the time I got back to
Tickemaster, you guessed it, the seats were gone
Schedule
Thursday March 23 7:30P
Friday March 24 10:30A
Saturday March 25 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Sunday March 26 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Monday March 27 10:30A
Saturday April 1 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Sunday April 2 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Monday April 3 3:00P
7:30P
Tuesday April 4 10:30A
Saturday April 8 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Sunday April 9 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Monday April 10 3:00P
7:30P
Wednesday April 12 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Thursday April 13 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Friday April 14 11:00A
Saturday April 15 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Sunday April 16 10:30A
3:00P
7:30P
Monday April 17 11:00A
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