While the British royal family may have closets full of tantalizing scandal and deceit, the “Royal Family of the Circus” continues to live up to its sterling reputation for perfection in the circus arts. Ah, the bore of the privileged life. Maybe fewer heads would have rolled through history, if the circus had been in charge. The Royal Hanneford once amused the likes of King George III—that means nearly three hundred years under the big top, although this incarnation, run by scion and former clown Tommy Hanneford, has been around only since the sixties. This time around brings a program of all-new acts to downtown St. Paul, featuring horseback rider Mark Karoly, Mongolian contortionists and Chinese aerialists, elephants and big cats, and much more. Ringmaster Billy Martin, we will point out pedantically, is not the late Yankees manager, although that Billy also knew a thing or two about circuses.
Xcel, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, (651) 726-8240, www.xcelenergycenter.com
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