Never was a standing ovation so well deserved as that given to the cast of Barnum, The Circus Musical after they thrilled a full-ish Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening.
For over two hours we were entertained with sensational singing, dancing, acrobatics, magic tricks, music from multi-talented musicians – and Jumbo, the elephant circus owner Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) once advertised as “the largest in the world” in order to draw in the crowds.
It was later discovered he had enhanced Jumbo’s skeleton after the animal had died, by packing it with blocks of wood and positioning its tusks to make it look extra massive.
However, the huge elephant puppet on stage on the night was one of the best I have seen in any show, so hats off to its designers, Mervyn Millar and Tracy Waller.
But, back to the humans. Lee Mead did an incredible job in introducing the 19th-century American showman, businessman and politician, P T Barnum, to a 21st-century audience.
His US accent never faltered and the amazing singing voice that saw him win the BBC series Any Dream Will Do, in 2007, is better than ever.
Along with his wife, Charity (the equally amazing Monique Young) we follow Barnum’s career, a career embellished by his dreams, wild ideas, deals both good and bad, and unwavering intentions to always entertain the crowds – and make money while doing so.
From the curtain up the stage setting was a riot of colour with flashing lights, smoke, haze, gunshots and balloons. Add into the mix the most glorious costumes (I can hardly find the words to describe how wonderful they are – seeing is believing), trapeze artists performing high in the air, sans safety net, fire eaters, clowns etc, plus the afore-mentioned musicians playing over 150 instruments throughout the show, and you have as near to theatrical perfection as can be.
As the very talented Mead acted out each of Barnum’s ideas, I tried to focus on the “greatest showman” himself, but often there were death-defying acrobats twirling on high, hung upside down, doing the splits etc, who held my attention.
Barnum went from promoting Jumbo the giant elephant to “the smallest man in the world”, General Tom Thumb (Fergus Rattigan), whose lack of height was exaggerated in an amusing scene from Barnum’s circus trip to England when he stood and sang between two Beefeaters who were obviously on stilts.
There was mention of a four-eyed frog, the oldest lady in the world, at 161 years and his collaboration with Scandinavian opera star Jenny Lind, whom he advertised as the “Swedish Nightingale” after he brought her over to America to join his show.
We saw it was a collaboration that nearly ended his marriage to the wonderful Charity.
Soprano Penny Ashmore, as Lind, sang so wonderfully, a highlight being her rendition of Love Makes a Fool of Us All.
The “161-year-old”, played comically by Dominique Planter, was African American woman Joice Heth, falsely exhibited by Barnum as the “wet nurse of George Washington”. Planter’s tongue-in-cheek singing of Thank God I’m Old perfectly described her joy at the peace old age can bring – no mean feat as she was really a youngster behind the walking stick and stoop. Just another of Barnum’s hoaxes.
Barnum, The Circus Musical, from the book by Mark Bramble, is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, choreographed by Oti Mabuse and features a cast of more than 20 actor-musicians, acrobats and circus performers – in fact, the famous Zippos Circus acted as consultants to the show ensuring every detail is authentic to that genre.
The production features around 14 original songs with music by multi award-winner Cy Coleman and lyrics by Michael Stewart. The classic tunes include Join The Circus, Colours of My Life, There Is A Sucker Born Every Minute and, of course, The Prince of Humbug (Barnum understood the word humbug to mean clever hoax, illusion, or slight of hand).
There was never a dull moment on stage, but all the non-stop activity very cleverly never detracted from Barnum’s story – a story that had its sad moments as well as mad ones.
Mead rarely left the stage, donning several different costumes, including a clown with huge feet (loved that one) and even doing a high tight-rope walk, unharnessed, across the stage. I honestly didn’t expect him to even attempt what Michael Crawford did when he took the role of Barnum at the London Palladium in 1981.
Young, as his wife Charity, perfectly played her role, never overshadowing her hubby or taking the attention off him, while letting us know she wore the trousers in that relationship.
She completely took over his campaign to become Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, with a black and white theme (truly wonderful singing and dancing scenes to watch), soon being changed to colour at Barnum’s behest. As with Mead, she sang beautifully throughout.
Everyone on stage on the night deserves a mention; all were simply incredible.
And that standing ovation I mentioned in my opening sentence went on for quite a while until just Mead and Young, as Mr and Mrs Barnum, were left centre stage.
Then sadly the lights dimmed, leaving us wanting more.
Barnum runs until Saturday, June 6th at Hull New Theatre with tickets available at (01482) 300306 or www.hulltheatres.co.uk
Reviewer: Jackie Foottit
Reviewed: 2nd June 2026
North West End UK Rating: