THE FELD SISTERS

Circus, act three
Ringling Bros. returns to NY for the first time in three years as third-gen owners the Felds try to keep show fresh and relevant.

 

Nicole (left) and Alana Feld are carrying on the family tradition of running the circus.
Photo by Buck Ennis.
from: crainsnewyork.com
By Miriam Kreinin Souccar
March 3, 2013
When the circus parades into the Barclays Center later this month, elephants will dance to the pop tune "Gangnam Style." The lighting will make it look like a rock show. A basketball team will take it to the hoop while perched on unicycles. And all the excitement will be staged closer to the audience than ever before.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—now in its 143rd year—is trying to stay exciting and relevant in order to compete with today's overstimulated generation.
"We spend a lot of time trying to understand what kids' attention spans are like today," said Nicole Feld, executive vice president and producer of Feld Entertainment Inc., the Vienna, Va.-based company that bought the circus in 1967.
This year's circus, whose theme is "Built to Amaze!," runs from March 20 through April 1. It marks the first time Ringling Bros. has staged a major show in Brooklyn since the late 1930s. Though Ms. Feld declined to say how many tickets have been sold so far, she is expecting big crowds. The circus has not played the past couple of years in New York City because its usual home, Madison Square Garden, has been under renovation. The company expects to sell about 250,000 tickets during its Brooklyn run, hoping to benefit from the borough's image as a destination for the young and hip—many of whom now have children.
"Barclays is new and generating lots of buzz, so [Ringling Bros.] wants to be there," said Ernest Albrecht, editor of Spectacle magazine, a circus trade journal.
The circus, and all the other properties that Feld Entertainment produces—such as Disney on Ice, Disney Live! and Monster Jam—are now in the hands of the three Feld daughters, the third generation of Felds to run the company. Nicole, 35, and her sister Alana, 32, are in charge of the circus. The third Feld daughter, 29-year-old Juliette, produces Disney on Ice. Though Nicole and Alana are based in New York, they grew up traveling with the circus, so the world of clowns and animal trainers is in their DNA.
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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130303/MEDIA_ENTERTAINMENT/303039987