10/15/16: Circus Extreme Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey

We have been going to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus for years.  This year we were able to go to Circus Extreme at the TD Garden and got to take a VIP Backstage Tour which was awesome!  The kids loved it and were pointing out what they saw during the show.  Here they are with a beautiful horse from the show backstage.

We started on the Pre-Show floor.  At every circus there is an hour long pre-show where you can see some of the acts up close.  We always enjoy the pre-show.  This is free with the purchase of your ticket and I suggest you take advantage of it.

First stop on our backstage tour was costuming.  The show has over 400 costumes that they use.  Many of the costumes have a lot of weight to them.

For example this jacket that Lauren is wearing weighs 16 pounds!  We also found out that the Ringmaster's outfit costs about $15,000!

The kids especially liked this amazing mermaid costume.  It was totally gorgeous and so detailed.

They especially liked getting in to some of the vehicles used in the show.  Here is Lauren in the vehicle that rides around with the Ringmaster on top of it.

They were also in this cool motorcycle.

Here we are in another one of the vehicles from the show.

We also got to see the sound board.  Evan even got to control the music for a little bit during the pre-show. 

Here is Evan controlling the music.

Then we got to go to the show.

Here is Lauren clowning around.

I find these shows always amazing.  There are so many fantastic acts with such talented performers.

The production value is always high and I see how much goes in to it now based off the backstage tour.

Here is the vehicle we were in backstage.

The camels were pretty cool and the performers did all kinds of flips on them.

I love the high wire act.  We learned that they practice backstage on a wire close to the ground to determine if they can do the high wire in the show.  They were fantastic.

The person flying out of the cannon always amazes me.

Here are the mermaid costumes.  They were up in the rings.

The tigers are always amazing.  The guy that leads them always cracks me up.

What a fantastic show and it is still in town.  You can see the full schedule here.  https://www.ringling.com/tickets-schedules/

Disclosure:  I was provided with four tickets to Circus Extreme including the backstage tour.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.