This new production of Barnum the Circus Musical directed by Tyran Parke is a worthy homage to the great 19th-century showman. Just as PT Barnum used colour and movement to get audiences excited about things that didn’t warrant their attention, this cast and crew manages to make an unremarkable musical entertaining. Todd McKenney’s strong performance in the title role, and an appealing set that showcases a constant parade of fun circus performance, conjure a show that Barnum probably would have considered a nice bit of ‘humbug’ – his term for “glittering appearances and novel expedients.”

Kirby Burgess, Todd McKenney and Suzie Mathers in Barnum the Circus Musical. Photo © Jim Lee 

Barnum the Circus Musical made its debut on Broadway in 1980. Tellingly, the three Tony Awards it picked up were for design and performance, not the musical itself. Mark Bramble’s book presents Barnum’s sensational career as a series of plodding episodes: his museum-meets-sideshow burns down off-stage almost incidentally; his affair with star performer Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, seems like a very mild flirtation; his beloved wife’s death is suggested by this anti-humbug woman’s enigmatic exit through a curtain; and his political...