Nov. 13--As an annoying pooch jumped over a llama Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena, as annoying pooches are wont to do, the llama shot its fellow llama a knowing look that truly said it all in that minimalist llama way: What the heck are we both doing here, night after night, surrounded by dogs, goats and a pair of Australian kangaroos named, we kid you not, Sydney and Melbourne? They call this a circus? It's more like some camelid version of "Waiting for Godot."
That bit of palpable llama cynicism -- not a phrase I've ever been able to sneak into a circus review before -- had me rolling around on the popcorn- and ice-tainted floor of that august venue Wednesday, making a mental note that in all of my years of Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey circus going, The Greatest Show on Earth still usually manages to deliver something I've not seen before. (Max, the 4ish-year-old behind me, shared his similar, if more numerous, discoveries loudly in my right ear when he wasn't smashing me on the head with his $16 plastic weapon).
I won't speak for Max, who spoke plenty for himself, but my other personal first in "Legends" is the presence of a genuinely talented performing pig, part of the same killer act as the llamas, run by Vicki Zsilak and Alex Petrov.
I suspect the circus knew what it had there. The legendary Torres family, who've held down the Globe of Steel (sometimes called the Globe of Death) franchise for Ringling for years, shoving eight cyclists in there at once with the UV lights blazing, are now relegated to early in Act One. Five bikes used to be more than enough for Rosemont on a Wednesday. And as recently as 2008, the family Torres (which has seen more than its share of the insides of emergency rooms) had never tried eight riders anywhere. Now it's de rigueur, like 10 times a week. Tough way to make a living.
Also prowling around early in the show are the big (mixed-up) cats, trained by the ever-chatty Alexander Lacey, a fellow rather more approachable than his peers, not that you would ever want to approach him at work.
Whatever your views on the morality of performing animals, there really is not much argument against putting a pig in the circus (or indeed a llama), given that the usual alternative for porkers means pulling off a few tricks each night ain't such a bad feedlot as feedlots go. Pigs, it is widely observed, are intelligent animals and, indeed, this pig who went to the circus can do quite a few tricks, when the discoveries of his nose do not detract. He (and sorry if I have that wrong, madam) is quite the star of the night.
The pigs and llamas did have some competition from the Flying Neves family, long one of my favorite trapeze acts, who executed a backward triple on Wednesday without anyone hitting the net (and, for the record, what the Neves family does is far more complex than any Nik Wallenda wire walk, no disrespect to that brave fellow intended). The China National Acrobatic Troupe, going for a 10-foot-high ring drive, did not manage that feat, although it is a fine group this year.
As editions of the long-running circus go, "Legends" is one of the smaller shows. One act, a hair-hanging "human chandelier," had to be replaced after a terrible accident in Providence, R.I., earlier this year. That wrenching event must still be on these fellow performers' minds; the act is still in the souvenir brochure.
The elephants are smaller in number than usual. The clowning, currently in the middle of a long fallow period at this particular circus, is so minimal as to be barely perceptible. But there are many compensations in a well-stocked and likable show that has gone on in the grand tradition since that tough night in Providence.
Certainly, you'll see the best Diabolo act that money can buy. That ancient and singularly thrilling prop -- derived from the Chinese yo-yo -- is made to fly through the air here in high-spinnin' style by the Chinese acrobats. Not that the llama looked even remotely impressed.
cjones5@tribune.com
Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib
3 STARS
Rosemont: Through Sunday at the Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim Road, Rosemont; $10-$50 at 800-745-3000 and ticketmaster.com
Chicago: Nov. 19-30 at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St.; $10-$60 at 800-745-3000 and ticketmaster.com
