Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Michael Stewart
Book by Mark Bramble
To start we are outside the tent and Barnum tells us we are here to defend 'the noble art of humbug". Whether we agree with him or not, Barnum's sure he'll be able to sell us his bill of goods.
Humble beginnings start as Barnum signs up his first attraction, Joice Heth, the "oldest" woman in the world. Joice is a big success.
Barnum's wife, Charity, wants him to settle to a respectable job but he tells her that this is not for him and rushes off to open a museum to house his growing number of attractions.
A cornucopia of clowns build Barnum's museum. Barnum says "Step right up" to the public. The years go by, the Barnum's grow a little older and more successful and their conflict and affection continue.
Jenny Lind, The Swedish Nightingale, arrives and wins the hearts of all who hear her, Barnum included. He can't resist her and leaves Charity at home to tour with Jenny.
Barnum returns to Charity on her terms and promises from here on to live his life in black and white.
Years later a now very ill Charity and Barnum declare their continuing love for each other by affectionately restating their age-old quarrel.
After Charity's passing, Barnum realizes that being a respectable businessman is not for him and he will always be the prince of humbug.
The Main Event. The Greatest Show On Earth James A Bailey arrives convincing Barnum to join the circus.
The tent pole comes down, the, canvas is loaded and we hear from Phineas Taylor Barnum himself that there's a sucker born every minute.
| Description | Photo | Contributed By |
| The tent. -- Note the small tents in front where some brave souls camped out overnight guarding the equipment. |  |
--- Twix |
| The tent at night. I think my parents went through more toilet paper and food that summer, as they were just down the street. |  |
--- Twix |
| Description 3 |
| Memories |
Contributed By |
|---|---|
| I have a memory: our production of "Barnum", I think it was summer of 84 or '85, when we erected a huge tent on the grounds of the Jr. High school, and we're painting (the cast that is - while in costume) fireproofing under the makeshift stage WHILE the fire marshal was being stalled out front, people were coming in and sitting down. Of course, we finished our jobs in time to open the show, only to have the opening song suddenly go dark when the generator went out. God bless whoever had that flashlight in the front row. The show must go on! | ---JJ Ryan |
| I was one of the "Dangerously Dumb but Dignified Deep Ditch-Digging Dopes" that had the joyous task of digging the 6-8' holes in which we planted the lighting poles. One afternoon, I went straight to the tent after work to keep at it, neglecting to go home for dinner. Sometime late that evening as I'm digging away about 6' down, I hear a loud "Ahem!" at the top of the hole. I look up to find my father staring down at me as I'm covered head to toe in dirt with steam rising off my shoulders. Needless to say, he wasn't amused! But, we got the damned holes done! I also remember our victory celebration at the end of the final show when we launched an inflated Spider Man up through a trap door in the stage with the help of some helium balloons! We all cried when we had to take that tent down in the following days.... | ---Stu Baker |
| If you recall, we used a gigantic diesel generator to power up the lights and sound for Barnum. Rick Bonyun was the generator operator. I'll never forget the look on his face when, after many days and nights of fighting with the generator, it decided to die on a performance night. He was a defeated man. He was done with summer theater. He was done with EVERYTHING. Somehow, the generator got fixed (or replaced) and the show went on. I'm glad I can laugh about it now, although I'm not sure if Rick is (or ever will be) laughing about it. | ---Gregg Sireci |