NEW YORK (AP) – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus may have retired their iconic elephants but there’s still a way to see the huge beasts onstage.
The new touring show “Circus 1903,” which makes its American debut next year, features two life-size elephants – one baby, one massive mamma – created by the puppeteers and model makers of Significant Object, who made the lifelike horse featured in the hit play “War Horse.”
“These puppets feel real. They’ve been built in a way, even when they’re just standing there doing nothing, they’re just breathing, they absolutely feel real. That’s what we wanted to capture,” said creative and executive producer Simon Painter.
The pachyderms will be part of a show that attempts to capture the magic of circuses at the dawn of the last century, with strong men, foot jugglers, contortionists, acrobats, knife throwers, teeterboarders, high-wire performers and a bicycle stuntman.
The show makes its U.S. bow in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theater on Feb. 14 and then makes stops in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Denver and New York City. Tickets go on sale Monday.