BIG APPLE WOWS 'EM IN QUEENS, NY

Grandma the Clown interacting with the Circus's ringmaster.

Premier Circus Show Wows Packed Crowd

By Barbara Arnstein, Queens Tribune.com, May 27th, 2010

Gravity can't stop him and neither can anyone earthbound! He bungee-bounces down into the ring, snatching a hat from an unsuspecting performer's head, rebounds high above and then, savoring the moment like a child gone wild, he boings back below and - wheeee! - unexpectedly lifts an entire clown off the ground.
He's Bello, star of the new Big Apple Circus show, "Bello is Back!," now at Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows, offering various morning, afternoon and evening shows until June 6.
As he performs his many breath-taking feats and hilarious audience-interactive antics, Bello Nock not only laughs in the face of danger but could surely make danger laugh. As he cavorts on a whirling girder, he seems to always be just one single step from disaster, while his solo clowning scene in the ring, featuring an audience member, is a masterpiece of mirth and timing. In the first show of the Queens season, the woman he chose inspired laughs on her own when he gestured to her to turn around the prop she was holding and she, instead, turned to face the audience.

Bello Nock bungee-bounces in his return to the Big Apple Circus.

Grandma the Clown (Barry Lubin) intersperses the acts with fresh and funny, modern and traditional gags and audience-interactive bits and has a solo scene as "Daredevil Grandma," which cleverly parodies the acrobats' actions. Picaso Jr. does his incredible plate-juggling all around the tent, bringing extreme but safe excitement all around the rows.
Unlike Bello, Regina Dobrovitskaya defies gravity in a different way, gracefully winding and unwinding herself in silken fabric in mid-air. Like Bello, she displays surprising versatility, appearing later on in the show to help present the dog act. Annaliese Nock, 13, Bello's daughter, shares his circus spotlight at the show's beginning, gracefully striking precarious poses inside a high-up hoop during the introduction of the cast.
Trapeze artists the Aniskin Troupe offer the eternal elegance and daring of "the man on the flying trapeze" (though nowadays, it's "the people"), plus the novelty of the various unique and amazing ways each athlete descends to the net.
To see all these great performers and more, buy tickets online at BigAppleCircus.org or call (888) 541-3750.
A practical tip: If you would prefer an alternative to the portable toilets just outside the tent, at intermission you can saunter over to the nearby, permanent Cunningham Park restrooms.