Under the Small Top

The smaller show, of necessity, packs fewer pachyderms — two elephants vs. 10 in the main act. And whereas the big shows use 100 animals, Hometown makes do with six horses, six gators, three snakes and three dogs. There are four clowns, which is 75% fewer than usual, but there's no laugh deflation, insists Feld. "The quality is just as high, but the show is of a different magnitude," he said. A hallmark of the Hometown version is the degree of interaction between performers and the audience. Trapeze artists pause to explain, for instance, how it feels to do a triple somersault. The top ticket price for the four Rome shows was $18, about a third of the cost of VIP seats for Ringling's New York City dates in Madison Square Garden. Though production costs have been cut 60%, Feld says, wages for Hometown performers (some of whom have moved over from the big units) are comparable to what other Ringling performers earn.

Feld has targeted an additional 100 small markets to include on future Hometown tours. "I like to think of ourselves like Wal-Mart," he says. It's not a bad strategy. Wal-Mart may be the world's largest company, but it got that way by first dominating small towns. Indeed, in many places, heading to Wal-Mart is an evening's entertainment. Even with a smaller show, Feld figures he can top that.