Spectacle: An Online Journal of the Circus Arts

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Ernest Albrecht, author of The New American Circus, has been getting the circus magazine Spectacle into print for the past fourteen years. In addition to publishing and editing duties, he has done much of the reporting for the magazine. It will not come as news to you that the circus does not get nearly the same respect in the United States as it does in Europe, so Mr. Albrecht's labor of love serves an important cultural function.

The bad news is that it is incredibly difficult sustaining a print journal aimed at a small target audience; I suspect it's not a question of not making enough money, but rather of not losing too much. The good news is that Spectacle is now an online magazine, and already has ad support from Ringing and Cirque du Soleil. The first issue is out, and you can read it here.

Grandma & Barry Lubin

Here are the contents of the first online issue:

• The Big Apple Circus’s Dream On
• The Big E. Super Circus with Bello Nock
• Disney On Ice. Dare to Dream
• Cirque Shanghai at NYC’s New Victory Theatre
• Traces in NYC
• Zarkana reconsidered.
• The Great American Circus at Atlantic City
• A Celebration at Circus Center
• Natalie Agee’s She Recognized My Magic
Feature: Barry Lubin and Grandma bid farewell to the Big Apple Circus
Book Review: Private Acts, The Acrobat Sublime by Harriet Heyman and photography by Acey Harper.

Scott & Muriel in the Big Apple Circus

And here's what's coming next:  "Within the next several weeks I will be traveling to Monte Carlo to review the festival there, after which I will go on to Paris to catch the Cirque de Demain festival and see the new productions of the Gruss and Bouglione families.  I will also be reviewing the spectacular Broadway musical Spider Man—Turn off the Dark and offering insights into the circus rigging that helps make it so spectacular.  In February, it will be time for Circus Sarasota. March brings The Greatest Show on Earth to my area of the country; I look forward to writing about its new production."

Current plans are to publish Spectacle monthly, which may seem ambitious but is clearly easier to do online than in print. I for one am already looking forward to future issues and I hope you will join me in wishing Ernest Albrecht the best of luck in this endeavor and a hearty thanks for all his hard work.