Coney Island Circus Sideshow
Category: Performing Arts [Edit]
Neighborhood: Brooklyn/Coney Island1208 Surf Ave
(between 12th St & Henderson Walk)
Brooklyn, NY 11224 (718) 372-5159
13 Reviews for Coney Island Circus Sideshow
I just came here for the first time this weekend. It was the weekend reunion show with a bunch of retired talent, and it was incredible! I've never seen a show like this before, and it was wildly entertaining!! If your at coney island, be sure to stop by this place and enjoy some all day entertainment!
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I live for things like this. Dime museums, oddities, performers on the edge, and a tinge of dust and decay. The Coney Island Circus Sideshow did not disappoint in all it's old fashioned, dark and dingy glory!
Now, if you're looking for Steven Spielberg style effects and Disney cleanliness...this ain't the place for you Puddin'. The Coney Island Circus Sideshow is a true to life sideshow. We were all crammed into a rather hot and humid (and did I mention dark?) performance area, seated on bleachers and ever-so-close to the rickety, small stage. Our host, the slimely-charming Donny Vomit, guided us through the wonders of glorious, live, counter-culture performance artists as they mounted the stage. He did his craft justice in setting the carny mood.
First off, the cute-as-a button Heather Holiday...a pixieish wisp of a thing that swallows swords (real one kids...I know what to look for), and pretzels herself with abandon.
Next, Serpentina...snake charmer oozing enough sexuality to make my stoic husband almost slide onto the floor in a puddle. She shifted persona and became the Electric Lady...too cool for words.
The Dogfaced boy, whose name escapes me, was a delight.
And Insectavora is a lady not to be missed. She's not only visually stunning, but her timing and fire breathing abilities are fun and fascinating.
The performances were all moved along by the fantastic stage presence of Donny Vomit, who had a few tricks, both clever and downright stupid (but funny!) up his sleeve. His comedic timing and presentation were just right for this venue.
Please understand...I'm jaded when it comes to "old fashioned" performance art. My older sister was a dancer on Atlantic City's Steel Pier (most of you hipsters are too young to remember it, I'm sure)...and I was fortunate enough to be introduced to sideshow artists at an early age. The performers at Coney Island Circus Sideshow are the real deal. Talented, skilled and obviously interested in preserving the American tradition of the Sideshow Performer.
For old-fashioned freaky-ness, The Coney Island Circus Sideshow does not disappoint. Go see it, support the performers, before this slice of Americana disappears.
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I'd give 2 1/2 stars, but I'm keeping up my tradition of giving the benefit of the doubt.
It's six bucks, which gets it higher. I really think they have the talent to do a $20 show, but they have little in the way of showmanship. That being said, they are doing a traditional style freakshow that runs all the time-- i.e., move the punters through. I'd really rather pay more for a longer, better planned show.
Showmanship. That's what they're missing. Each act should be about three times as long and the dead time between acts needs to be cut. Build our anticipation and then serve us up some freaky disgusting goodness. There are hints of it-- the sword swallower has this cute bumbling thing. The human blockhead does a pretty decent job, but it's just... a little slow overall. And rushing to give us the payoff without our asking for it.
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It's so awesome that this show is available and that people can see a little bit of what shows like this were like. It was kind of freaky to watch. I did have a good time and it was well worth the price of admission.
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I give this 5 stars only in the spirit that it is the only sideshow i can find. you get the oldschool corny atmosphere of a old school side show. you can bring in a beer and enjoy the craizness and the good looking female performers. Long Live Coney Island!
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Anytime I can see a guy hammer a nail and put an electric drill up their nasal cavity, a guy who lets someone throw darts in his back, a 'wolfman' with a hair-covered face do a tightrope act, a guy juggle two balls and a chainsaw, and see a woman eat and breathe fire for $5, I feel like I've gotten my full 5 star entertainment value.
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Definitely the best bang for your C.I. buck. Every time I've been by recently, they've been offering $4 admission, so hell, you CAN afford it. The show's about half an hour long, but if you want to get a beer or three from the conveniently located bar inside (cheap! all things considered), you can probably stay as long as you like. Sure, the jokes are a little corny, but there are some awesome performers doing party tricks you might not have had the cojones to try in that silly frat of yours. Insectavora (?) the fire eater is phenomenal. She's worth the price of admission alone. Anyway, the show is great for kids of all ages. See it before it's too late!
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First visit was June 2004. I have seen this so many times it is like an old friend.
There was the happy day when we heard the snake charmer girl and the human contortionist were getting married. He impressed her by pulling himself ass-first through an unstringed tennis racquet (it was amazing!). She impressed him with her twenty foot albino python (i nearly crapped myself when she appeared with it on the stage 10 feet in front of the audience). Then we had the sad goodbye when he got a TV gig in India...in terms of raw talent they were the pinnacle of this show. See this article about them http://www.littleindia...
But that show goes on!
There's eke the geek, practically the backbone of the show. His routine includes threatening to bite the head off a live chicken (the true definition of geek), but instead he lays on a painful bed of nails and selects two unsuspecting audience members to stand on top of yet another bed, making him into a nail sandwich. His tatooed face is ferocious, but his heart is 100% solid gold. He ends his routine with a surprisingly moving speech about tolerance.
The MC, who seems suspiciously college educated, impresses the audience with his wisecracks and his antics involving shoving icepicks up his nose and setting off mousetraps on his....tongue
Then there is Insectavora. Tatooed and athletic, she once ate live earthworms as part of her routine. But ever since becoming vegan, she limits her show to a talented walk on swords, some sword swallowing and a fire breathing routine. Sit in the back for that one!
But in terms of sheer personal development, hats off to Heather Holliday. Three years ago, her neophyte act was limited to being the damsel in distress - girl inside the box that is pierced with swords, electric chair volunteer (ZAP!), etc. Now she has a tantilizing sword swallowing act and great stage presence. How can such a little woman handle such a large blade. Go see for yourself.
In addition, the German guy who hangs bowling balls from his earlobes has added a certain zaniness and even pathology to the act. The part where he puts nylons on his head had the audience in stiches. His craving for attention, and to make people feel sorry for him, and willingness to do almost anything to get it, makes me wonder where his parents were when he was growing up.
There was the brief interlude where they had the embittered midget. He ranted about how hard it is being a midget, the prejudice he faced, etc. All valid points in this temple of tolerance, but his delivery was so pendantic that the audience lost interest. And his routine about how payphones are too high kind of lost its relevance 10 years ago. Cell phone? Buddy haven't you heard about cell phones?
They got rid of the side exhibit of stuff in formeldahyde - three headed fetuses, samples of skin with bizzare rashes, etc. Maybe one too many poeple lost their lunch.
That's the great thing about this show. You can buy a Rheingold Beer for like $3 and drink it with your hotdogs while you sit in the bleachers. This show is probably the best $5 I have ever spent on live entertainment. Go see it, then take a ride on the cyclone and hit Brighton Beach for dinner (Russian of course). Catch a Brooklyn Cyclones game. Make it a day.
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Best $5 Ive ever spent. I think it's $6 now. They tell you the show is only 45 minutes long but ours was about an hour and a half somehow.
Im not sure if the sideshow is going to be gone with the new plans to make Coney Island completely suck. I wouldn't be suprised.
Go while it's still there though!
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The first time I went was very enjoyable. Afterwards, I would take my friends but it got a bit repetitive for me.
I love inflatable boy.. He hangs fire extinguishers on his ear(lobe)s and then swings them around.
Someone stole his rubber chicken. He loved his rubber chicken. It's been around the world with him. Return his rubber chicken!!!!
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You got freaks and you got bodacious ta-tas. And you got rules that say you shouldn't stare at either. The only difference is the rules for ta-tas are often suspended; there are situations where it's OK to check'em out. That's not the case for freaks, at least in our world.
But there is another world, one that turns the rules around: The Coney Island Circus Sideshow. Established in 1985, its the world's first professional non-profit theater dedicated to keeping alive the American sideshow, and the last place in the USA to offer a traditional ten-in-one (10 acts for the price of one) experience. I'd bet it's not much different from the hundreds of shows that crisscrossed America from the Civil War until after World War II.
I've visited The Sideshow at Coney Island twice, once recently and once last year. Last year I met Eek The Geek, a pain-proof man with a "face from outer space" (he covered it with tattoos of the solar system) who, among other things, lies on a bed of nails while several audience members stand on his chest. I had hoped to see him again on this latest visit but apparently he has put show business on hold to go to law school. Also not performing on my latest visit was Insectavora, an insect eating woman who also walks on swords and does fire manipulation, though she was hanging out at the show.
You see, my latest visit happened to be Natural Freaks Weekend. No vaudeville style acts. Just real-deal freaks. Featured acts included Mathew, a Thalidomide victim with extremely short arms; Coco the Killer Clown, a Dwarf; Robbie the India Rubber Boy, a contortionist; and Jennifer Miller, a bearded lady, juggler and fire eater.
Two small snippets to give you the flavor of the place; Mathew who, after explaining that he found his lack of a humerus bone rather humorous, took of his shirt and dared the audience to look, explained that people will look anyway, but the sideshow is the one place where he can control it. Jennifer, whose day job is director of Circus Amok and professor at UCLA and NYU, explains that she hates being called The Bearded Lady because there are many, it's a common mutation, and therefore she is a bearded lady who juggles.
The Sideshow at Coney Island is always entertaining, occasionally challenging and very much a worthwhile and living part of American History.
The show is open Friday and Saturday May, and June, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in July and September, and seven days a week in August. Opening times vary so please see their website for details.
Some links
The Coney Island Side Show official home page http://www.coneyisland...
A history of freaks at Coney Island
http://naid.sppsr.ucla...
The Secretly Normal Lives of Sideshow Stars http://abcnews.go.com/...
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everyone giving the coney island freak show 4 and 5 stars?
seriously?
i see more entertaining freaks everyday while walking the streets of san francisco.
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How can anyone not love that a sideshow still exists? Kudos for keeping the art form alive.
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