By The show started before the doors even opened. A man stood, telling a rapt audience the story of the circus outside the big tent while children did acrobatics during opening night on Friday.
Once the doors opened, the real show began. Circus Zoppé, an old-world Italian family circus that goes back to 1842, set up shop in the event park of the Queen Mary in Long Beach for one weekend.
“There’s no bad seat in the house!” a circus worker shouted as everyone flooded in. And really, there wasn’t. The 500-seat tent with the center ring stage felt very intimate as the audience munched on their popcorn and cotton candy in eager anticipation.
The show started with a dance number with the whole Zoppé family. Nino, the hapless, talentless clown and the mascot of the circus, transitioned the show from act to act while mischievously pranking the ringmaster and his failed attempts to have a talent to perform in the circus. At one point, Nino is so sad that the ringmaster won’t let him play his trumpet that he rains tears on the entire first row.
Zoppé is truly a family business. Grandmother Zoppé opened the circus and even the littlest Zoppés, who couldn’t have been more than eight years old, did headstands on top of a pole that was being balanced on top of the head of a man.
While there were no elephants or tigers to be had in this circus, there was a small band of dogs that jumped through hoops and even danced together in little costumes.
A miniature pony, which was introduced as the newest member of the clan, jumped over hurdles and then took pictures with all the children at the circus.
The show featured several impressive aerial acts. One girl danced on the Spanish web, a long rope with a loop at the top for her hand to hang on to. A clown spun the rope from below as she gracefully transitioned from pose to pose while beautiful Italian opera played in the background.
“Nathaniel the Magnificent” performed on the aerial straps. He wrapped his arms around two pieces of nylon webbing that were rigged to the ceiling and then flipped backwards, propelling himself higher before unwrapping one arm, so that he was hanging by one hand, while suspended more than 30 feet up in the air.
Nathaniel also played the drums with his brother before they each lit two ropes on fire and danced until the flames died out.
Nino even got in on the aerial action at one point, escaping from the ringmaster and doing a series of flips on the flying trapeze.
A beautiful ballerina walked, danced and jumped across the tightrope in pointe shoes, ending with an impressive split.
For the final act, a girl balanced and did a series of jumps on top of a horse that was galloping around the ring. She was attached to a wire for safety, but she kept falling off either because she lost her balance or the horse was going too fast.
The rest of the evening’s acts were seamless or at least appeared to be. The girl on the horse, though, kept messing up and grew increasingly frustrated, which was awkward to watch.
She turned to the audience after her last failed attempt and said, “I’m sorry,” before taking her bows. It made the evening end on a sad note.
At the end of the night, the performers personally shook hands with members of the audience as they were leaving and thanked them for coming. The Zoppés’ show was never boring. It was a charming show that can surely delight the whole family.
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