Spectacular Circus at Albrook in Panama City

The Circus Tihany Spectacular is in town! Tihany, headquartered in Las Vegas, is celebrating its 50th year under the direction of its 93-year-old owner, Tihany. The big top is set up on the grounds of Albrook Mall where shows start every evening at 7:30 pm. Tihany is similar to Cirque du Soleil. There are no large animal acts and the focus is on center stage with nonstop action. his fast paced “spectacular” starts with a Las Vegas style dancing extravaganza and moves quickly into very impressive acrobatics with men jumping from large swings to do somersaults forty feet in the air before landing in a net across the stage.

A multitalented clown wanders the audience between sets endearing himself to the patrons as he sets up slapstick jokes. He eventually directs an impromptu sleigh bell choir of audience volunteers and follows this with his own concert on six different instruments.

Men who are part of dancing routines return to display feats of strength and agility while dancing showgirls return to the stage, or above it, in trapeze routines.

The center piece of the show is the magician, making women disappear and a helicopter appear on stage.  An audience pleaser is when the magician asks for a volunteer and takes a four-year-old boy to “help” with a magic trick of moving a duck from one box to the other. The clown appears “behind the scenes” moving the none-to-willing duck while the boy is immersed in waving his hands and repeating “magic words.” Of course in the end the duck shows up in a box across stage and one of the beautiful female helpers pops out of the duck’s box.

The other crowd pleaser is the only animal act. The trainer, another pretty woman, has doves trained to fly in circles around the stage, hover in the air as she passes a hoop back and forth and sit quietly on the hoop as a white cat jumps through. At the end of the show the birds fly from all corners of the arena to perch on a centerpiece. The last of the birds trails a small Panamanian flag!

And don’t bother about eating before hand. Circus Tihany Spectacular provides all the popcorn, hotdogs, soda, and sinful snacks that you will require for an enjoyable evening at the circus.

Fearing that his jaded view of things would color this article this writer brought his wife who never ceased to exclaim, “¿Que Lindo!” at the bird acts and gasp when a acrobat was forty feet above the stage in mid somersault. Likewise the kids throughout the arena loved the show as evidenced by the show of hands when the magician asked for volunteers. There were, in fact, a few adults who would have liked to be on stage but I made my wife put her hand down.

Circus Tihanny Spectacular is in town until the 12th of May and is a genuine treat. Tickets run from $15 to $37.50 plus tax and jubilado discounts apply. You can get tickets through Metro Pharmacies, Extreme Planet, as Albrook Mall, through Ticket Plus or ShowPro. However, you can also buy tickets the door just before you get your popcorn.

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