Big Apple Circus delivers in an intimate big top experience

Go big or go home? Not necessarily when you go to the Big Apple Circus. The Big Apple Circus is a more intimate version of Cirque de Soleil crossed with Barnum and Bailey Circus. I took my sons, ages 4 and 2, to see the circus with my 11 year-old niece who came to help. But between the clowns, the acrobats and the animals, they had us covered.

The acrobats were shockingly good. From the tightrope walker to the ladder climber and the flyers, these athletes had us on the edge of our seats. That’s saying a lot since I had both of my sons, but lots of snacks certainly helped them enjoy the fun without my getting up every five seconds. So while my four year old loved the flyers and the two year old loved the cherry Garcia ice cream bar he was eating during the performance.

My son is a nut for animals – particularly horses. Not only did they have some beautiful horses, they were incredibly well trained. They also had a dog act, where you got to see many different types of dogs…and I’m a sucker for dogs.

Even now I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what made their clowns so entertaining. It really comes down to audience participation. These clowns involved the audience at every available opportunity, either through crawling through crowds or isolating them on stage, they made the audience front and center at every available opportunity. That’s how they captured my attention.