Big Apple Circus at NYCB Theatre at Westbury

The most important element of any circus is the ability to instill feelings of joy and amazement in its audience. Something Big Apple Circus, now beginning its 42nd season, repeatedly provides. The audience responding with continual and enthusiastic applause as they witness attractions guaranteed to make one cry out in delight or gasp in wonder. The fun starts the moment one enters the circus grounds. As ticket holders get to walk through a sort of midway that offers everything from cotton candy and snow cones to ice cream and pretzels. There is also an area for adult beverages, should those of a certain age so desire. And of course, there is popcorn. Once the circus proper begins, the show's thrill factor makes an appearance rather quickly. Thanks to, among others, Maryna Tkachenko and Tetyana Yudina, two Ukrainian aerial acrobats. Particularly heart-stopping is a sequence where one of the two supports the other via a strap in her teeth while being suspended by a wire from the ceiling. Did I mention this takes place as they are twirling around in mid-air without a net? Other acts that fall into the “don’t try this at home” category involve a performer (Jayson Dominguez) jumping rope atop a continually moving Wheel of Death. As well as a sequence featuring a person doing a handstand on the handlebars of a bicycle, on a tightrope, more than 30 feet above the floor. – Judd Hollander, StageBuzz