COLE BROS CIRCUS OF THE STARS IN WILKES BARRE

By Mike McGinley mmcginley@timesleader.comFeatures Writer
Home // Features Friday, May 21, 2010
At times, Chris Connors’ boss will ask him why he’s just standing around.
Ringmaster Chris Connors of the Cole Brothers Circus of the Stars will introduce the performers at PNC Field in Moosic this weekend.
Connors, a 43-year-old ringmaster with the Cole Brothers Circus of the Stars, always gives the same response.
“I say I’m watching the people,” he explained. “The audience is my main concern.”
Maybe that’s because he remembers being in the audience year after year, as a young child and while working in corporate America, before he decided to join the circus full time.
“This was my childhood dream: to run away and join the circus,” the New York native said.
Connors and his colleagues, who include trapeze performers, clowns, elephants, tigers and zebras, will put on shows at PNC Field on Montage Mountain today through Sunday.
As ringmaster, Connors has the pleasure of opening the circus with the familiar line: “Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages …”
“I’ve had people say they get so excited for that,” Connors said.
It’s his job to introduce the acts, some of which are dangerous and others that are meant to make children laugh.
“I think the young people are just thrilled to see the elephants, zebras and tigers,” he said.
The tigers, which haven’t performed in the circus since 2004, returned this year, much to the delight of Connors, who considers their part of the performance his favorite.
Two tigers jump through two hoops of fire at the same time and do a “bottle walk” in which they perform a special tiger act with lights.
“It’s done in the dark, and it’s really impressive,” Connors said, noting he doesn’t think any other circus does such a performance.
While Connors favors the tiger acts, he also has great affection for the clowns.
“I actually was a clown at one time,” he said.
“It’s funny because years ago ringmasters always told me you always get a break when the clowns are on,” he said. “For some reason I don’t get a break.”
Instead, he spends their stage time interacting with them.
“They’re quite funny,” he said.
Their big moment comes when clown Kaellan and his wife take a taxi cab to their honeymoon but never make it.
“The car splits in half,” Connors said.
The doors come off, too, and the clowns are left to entertain the audience.
In another instance, the husband and wife, both in real life and on the clown circuit, do a “revolving-ladder comedy up in the air on a big ladder,” Connors said.
In addition to the clowns’ antics and the tigers’ bravery, guests can see a free-style motor show, a human cannonball and an aerial ballet.
Connors said the lineup and acts change almost every year.
“I always tell people don’t expect the same style show you’ve seen in the past,” he said.