‘We’ve literally re-imagined Ringling Bros.’

Alana Feld, producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, spoke with the Tribune about the premiere of its new show in Fresno this weekend. “Feld Entertainment is a family-owned and operated business. So I’m third generation in this business with my dad and two sisters. But I’ve been working at the company for about 13 years now. And I’ve been working on Ringling Bros. for about eight years.” How is it being in the Valley?

“It’s great. I’m so thrilled to be here. But most of all I’m excited because this is where the show is. We’re having our first audience in tonight and we’re really really excited. We’ve been rehearsing Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents ‘Out of this World’ for six weeks, and we’ve been working on this show for about two years. So it’s a long time coming. So many incredible plans have been going into this and we’re just really excited to see it in front of the audience tonight.” How have ticket sales been?

“Things are great. I think there’s just been so much excitement about this brand new show. It’s such a different show for us. We have literally re-imagined Ringling Bros., taking it out of this world. The show is in outer space. We’ve incorporated a storyline. We have a whole new performance space with the inclusion of ice, and so many new technological aspects to the show as well. So it’s really exciting and I think we’re seeing really exciting results.” How is the pre-show different than in the past?

“We have the Starseeker’s Early Access, which is an hour before the show. What’s great is, for the first time ever, we are launching a Ringling Bros. app and fans can come and they can engage with the act and our performers in ways they’d never been able to do before. We have a social wall so when you tweet or you post you’ll actually get to see it upon the big screen. We’re also able to show more behind the scenes warm ups and training to the audience as well, which is a whole new element to the pre-show … Come to Ringling Bros., download the (iOS) app, and check out ‘Out of this World.’”