THE BALLOON MAN

Heinz Kluetmeier/Feld Entertainment

Young magician adds zing to circus tradition, 4/29/10
FAIRBORN — Many things about the 139th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus are typical of the attraction.
There are Asian elephants, Bengal tigers, Arabian and Friesian horses, clowns, acrobats, people fired from cannons, music and about 300 circus people who still travel the country by train.
Enter Alex Ramon to transform the atmosphere a bit.
An illusionist of considerable renown for being just 23 — his birthday was Sunday, April 25 — he is the ringmaster.
Make that the “Zingmaster” in a touring presentation Ringling calls “Zing Zang Zoom.”
It opens Thursday, April 29, for seven performances at Wright State University’s Ervin J. Nutter Center.
Ramon is the first magician and the second youngest person to serve as a Ringling ringmaster, no matter what you call it.
Such distinctions surprise even him because he never went to see a circus while growing up.
Now he’s a veteran, because Zing Zang Zoom has been on the road for 18 months.
“But it’s different every time because every audience is different. People react to different parts of the circus in different parts of the country. We adjust to that,” said Ramon, who grew up in California and began doing magic for family and friends.
That led to working at a local restaurant and then, at 16, success in a San Francisco area magic competition. In 2005, he was cast in “Mickey’s Magic Show,” produced by Walt Disney in Las Vegas.
All of that helped pave the way for hosting the circus, an experience that is also like nothing he had done before.
“I was already comfortable with speaking and acting as a host, but not with 11 elephants circling around, in the midst of tigers and performers from around the world,” he said. “In an arena, you have to do the magic in 360 degrees and it’s rarely done that way. We had to develop illusions that would still mystify audiences in that setting.”
He makes a four-ton elephant disappear, saws clowns in half and makes some kids very happy. He takes three of them from the audience and teaches them to levitate their parents.
“We give kids what they always want — a way to make their parents go away,” Ramon said.
“And they are real people chosen at random from the audience,” he emphasized. “They aren’t part of the circus.”
“The circus is like every other part of the entertainment world. We need to keep pushing and come up with new forms. This circus has been around almost 140 years. This is the first time it has had a magic and illusion theme.”
“Zing Zang Zoom” also features characters named Levitytia, Mr. Gravity and his “Heavies,” who are a bit like the Three Stooges; a duo of female human cannonballs, live music and songs.
It is designed for all ages.
from THE DAYTON DAILY NEWS