THE SECRET LIFE OF CLOWNS Former Cirque du Soleil clown (and Clown Conservatory director) Jeff Raz has written a great new book The Secret Life of Clowns that marries two jobs that he put his heart and soul into. For a brief time, Raz was doing both of these demanding jobs at the same time, and now, about 10 years […]
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Just discovered (thanks to Jim Moore’s Vaudevisual site) this documentary about American theatre clowning from the American Theatre Wing. It Features Slava Polunin, David Shiner, Joel Jeske, and Brent McBeth talking about the clown, what works, what doesn’t and the work of being a theatrical clown. So what’s great about this video? Well, clearly, one of the things I love […]
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THE DEMISE OF RINGLING I have been gobsmacked like many by the news that Ringling Brothers Circus will close down after 146 years of solid operation. Â Mr. Feld, owner of the circus, is losing too much money, and has to call it quits. Friends are losing jobs, houses, lives, and for some, they may well feel that the meaning of […]
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We saw the opening night of Cirque du Soleil last night.  As I wrote in my preview article, the show is not a tent show, it’s an arena show, full of puppets, projections, and acrobatics, based on the movie Avatar by James Cameron.  Here’s the plot summary I wrote in my previous article: When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy […]
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I’m feeling very down. My friend Pat Cashin unexpectedly died yesterday. He hadn’t been feeling well for about 10 days, doctors thought it was a viral infection of some sort but couldn’t find anything definitely wrong, his wife and kids went out to get groceries and when they came back he had passed away. He was a very funny clown, an […]
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The new Cirque du Soleil touring show TORUK – The First Flight will be at the United Center in Chicago August 3-7, 2016. And you can win a 4 pack of tickets to Opening night on August 3! Scroll down to see how! Inspired by James Cameron’s record-breaking movie AVATAR, TORUK – The First Flight transports the audience to a far away […]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST, POST, AND DISSEMINATE KILL DATE AUGUST 12, 2016 Tiny Performers To Entertain in Chicago Parks The Acme Miniature Flea Circus featuring Midge and Madge, Trained Fleas, will perform in four Chicago Parks this summer. All performances are free in association with the Night Out in the Parks Program. Chicago IL July 12, 2016 This summer, […]
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My good friend (and noted beloved curmudgeon) Trav S.D. has gotten up in arms about the short shrift that Harold Lloyd has received among silent film comedians. Â He waxed(Â hmmm… what’s the opposite of rhapsodic? Â ( I think it might be philippic) ) on Facebook about the lack of love for Harold Lloyd. Apparently Keaton and Chaplin outnumber his google search […]
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Julie Goell is a well-known performer and teacher of comedy and physical theatre, (and the wife of renowned Eccentric Avner.) Â She has written a book about clowning and performing. Â The book, entitled Life In A Clownhouse is part teaching manual, part memoir, Â and all about her and Avner’s theories of performance and clowning. I have taken a couple of classes […]
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I’ve been watching Danny Kaye on Youtube for the last couple of hours, and thought this would be a great thing to post on here (where the postings have come few and far between, I’m afraid.) He is such a wonderful performer. Â There’s something so effortless about everything he does, even though it’s clear he’s got so much virtuosity. Below […]
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A friend of mine on facebook suggested that she would love to have a light up version of the Marx Brothers as the Three Wise Men, and she’d be happy to put it up on her lawn. I detect a market opportunity! I went looking for images, and couldn’t find that as an image (which is strange, it seems like […]
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