Disney’s Dumbo remake – and our favourite circus adaptations on stage and screen

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The full trailer for the live action remake of the classic Disney cartoon Dumbo has been released, and it’s going straight to the top of our film watchlist.

In 1941 – and despite being only 64 minutes long – Dumbo was pretty revolutionary for its advances in animation techniques. It’s an enduring family favourite and many consider it an essential part of the Disney films canon. It also won an Oscar for best music!

That’s quite a lot to live up to, and the new movie has an intriguingly different feel thanks to the direction of Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Chirstmas, Edward Scissorhands), so you can bet it’ll be an interesting watch. We’re sure the heartfelt story will be in safe hands with Burton, and his impressive cast which includes Danny DeVito, Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton and Eva Green. This new version will be released in 2019.



Dumbo tells the tale of a flying elephant who is bullied for his giant ears, separated from his mother and made to perform with a clown act. But the help of sidekick mouse Timothy he realises his full potential.

Much like Bambi, even though it’s considered a family film, watching Disney’s original Dumbo is an emotional experience. It goes without saying that we really don’t like how cruelly the animals are treated in the story. Thankfully this is the exception not the rule in circus nowadays. We don’t use any animals in our Gandeys Circus productions – it’s thrilling enough with just our talented human acts!

Of course Dumbo wasn’t the first story set inside a Big Top to be adapted for the big screen or stage. Here’s some others we’ve also enjoyed watching…

The Greatest Showman



The Greatest Showman was THE runaway film success of 2018, and even inspired our Gandeys Circus ‘Greatest Showmen’ tour this year. It follows P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) and the birth of the circus in America. That’s not the first time Barnum’s story has been brought to the attention of the public though...

Barnum



The Barnum musical was a success on Broadway and the West End in the 1980s. The original London cast starred famous ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Michael Crawford, who had to learn to sing while walking a highwire for his role. It was worth all the training though, as in 1981 he won the Olivier award for best actor in a musical.

Pippin



Pippin is a different Broadway musical inspired by the circus. This time, the circus setting is used to facilitate the telling of the story of a young prince called Pippin, who is on a quest for meaning in his life. We love the vibrancy of the 2013 Broadway revival, which you can see in the trailer above…

Big Fish



Another Tim Burton film, Big Fish was a Broadway musical too! The circus makes an appearance in one of many tall tales (we also meet witches and mermaids!)

Astley’s Astounding Adventures  

Before P. T. Barnum arrived on the scene, Philip Astley (from Newcastle-under-Lyme) is credited with creating the original circus.

Earlier this year, as part of Circus250 (celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the circus), the New Vic Theatre presented this show about Astley’s life and his rivalry with fellow showman Charles Hughes.

We definitely hope the show is revived at some point. Here’s the review from when we went to watch.

Our latest Gandeys Circus productions...

The next Gandeys Circus production is our Greatest Snowman Circus at Belfast’s Winter Wonderland, running from 23 November 2018 to 6 January 2019.

Our Great Circus of Europe ‘The Greatest Show’ tour will be performed in Hong Kong from 14 December 2018 to 17 February 2019. 

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