Ringling Bros. is returning to the national landscape − the first show in its two-year run is Sept. 29 in Bossier City, Louisiana − with a totally revamped circus that replaces its controversy-generating menagerie of performing animals with 75 wildly talented humans from 18 countries.
So, families will no longer gasp when a man puts his head into a lion’s mouth, or cheer as an elephant dunks a basketball.
Instead, they’ll be asked to react to a family of Mexican tightrope walkers who are pushing the limits of their craft; to applaud a circus-obsessed kid who keeps breaking his own record for riding the tallest unicycle; and to cheer on teen Skyler Miser, a human rocket newbie whose parents Tina and Brian also were Ringling human rockets.