Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Three Rings in Two Acts

P.T. Barnum was his own best act — magically transforming a sideshow startup into the Greatest Show on Earth. But the legendary producer always took backstage to his performers, until Broadway turned Barnum into a star. Saint Michael’s Playhouse brings Phineas Taylor Barnum’s three-ring history to its center stage with an all-Broadway cast, featuring Stephen Hope in the lead role. High-flying high jinks come courtesy of aerial expert Bobby Hedglin-Taylor, who trained the actors in this and 18 other Barnum productions at his Espana Streb Trapeze Academy in Brooklyn. Chuck Tobin, Saint Michael’s artistic director, says the actors will perform gravity-defying feats “right out over the audience.” The Tony-Award-winning musical has been sweeping families off their feet since its Broadway debut in 1980 — 99 years after Barnum was laid to rest.