Music circus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Music Circus was a theatre form begun in Lambertville, N.J., by St. John Terrell[1] in 1949. Established as summer stock, the new theatre venues primarily housed light operas and operettas, produced in the round, under a circus-style big top.
[edit] Overview
250px|left|thumb|View of the inside of the Wells Fargo Pavilion from Aisle 14 St. John Terrell's Music Circus was an instant success, and launched a wide variety of copycats, with 40 "tune tents" scattered around the country, including Cape Cod, MA, Miami, FL, and Sacramento, CA.. While the modern musical theatre genre was being developed on Broadway by the likes of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe, the product being produced by most summer stocks remained primarily older works. The first Lambertville season included "The Merry Widow," "The Desert Song" and "The Chocolate Soldier"[2], but nothing from the contemporary Broadway canon. As modern musical theatre works became more popular, music circus producers incorporated more of the contemporary works and fewer light operas.
[edit] Other Venues
Sacramento Music Circus's 10-show season in 1951 included newer works "Brigadoon," "Annie Get Your Gun," and the seminal "Show Boat". Slowly, the population of music circus theatres around the country diminished, with Terrell's big top folding in 1970. As of 2001 only three theatres of the original design still remained: Sacramento Music Circus, Southshore Music Circus (Cohasset, MA), and the Melody Tent (Hyannis, MA, on Cape Cod), the latter two venues no longer producing musical theatre, but serving as concert sites. In 2002, Terrell's open air music circus model ceased to exist as Sacramento Music Circus lowered its canvas tent for the last time to make way for a new enclosed theatre-in-the-round - the Wells Fargo Pavilion. As a nod to history, the new arena theatre was still topped by fabric -- a Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric manufactured by BirdAir.
