Juliette Feld Grossman
Chief Operating Officer | Feld Entertainment
September is a landmark month for Feld Entertainment, with the opening of a new Disney On Ice production, the launch of the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship and a return of one of the most storied brands in American entertainment – the Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.
“Ringling has a cherished place in American culture, so it’s a true honor to create a production for today’s audience,” says Feld Grossman, daughter of CEO Kenneth Feld. I am so proud of the team that has developed a joyful, energetic production that brings the world’s best talent together in a stunning environment with state of the art show tech. We started with a blank slate and looked at every possibility to bring out a tour that was operationally sustainable and earned its name as The Greatest Show on Earth.”
Getting the circus back to this point hasn’t gone to plan, exactly, with the COVID shutdown moving the Ringling Brothers launch from 2021 to 2023.
“We did need to begin our global talent search while travel was just re-opening worldwide, which was a challenge,” she says. “Our team took enormous strides in traveling the globe to reach the best talent as well as overcoming production obstacles in sourcing materials and meeting as an Internationally based creative team, initially, mostly on video chat. Despite these structural challenges, we are so proud of the incredible tour and team.”
Feld Grossman shares that the production behind what has long been known as “The Greatest Show On Earth” is grand to match.
“This is a large production!” she said. “We fill the entire floor inside the hockey dashers and we are seating the audience all around the performance space. We created a VR model of the set before we started fabrication to assess sightlines and ensure that audience members would have a fantastic view of the production from all different angles within the seating area.”
Returning after its official last run in 2017, Feld Grossman says the Ringling Brothers brand remains a hit with younger audiences — and she’s seen it first hand.
“I love sharing Ringling with my own children and experiencing the joy of seeing their faces light up when they watch the criss-cross trapeze or laugh at our comedy trio,” she says. “Every day we are turning the experience of coming to The Greatest Show on Earth into memories that will last a lifetime for our fans.” — Ryan Borba
