Barnum

Barnum: Book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart and music by Cy Coleman. Barnum, a stylistic blend of Broadway musical and circus spectacle, fiction and history, opened on Broadway in 1980, winning Tony awards for costume and scenic design. An ensemble of circus performers, jugglers, acrobats and clowns and townspeople intermingle with historical figures to showcase nearly fifty years of the life and work of P.T. Barnum. In 1835, Phineas Taylor Barnum opens the show by introducing his circus acts from out front of the tent, including Joice Heth, the oldest woman alive and his star performer, dwarf Tom Thumb. Barnum continues his circus endeavors despite the urgings of his wife Charity to settle down with a factory job. The show follows Barnum as he leaves his wife to follow Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind and debates whether or not to join forces with rival circus owner James Anthony Bailey.

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