P.T. Barnum called it The Greatest Show on Earth and his three-ring circus under a big tent was an icon of American entertainment. Today that circus has come a long way, but tradition endures. Matthew Barakat buys a ticket.

Nicole and Alana Feld come from a long line of circus folk, so they are well aware of the challenge of bringing a 150-year-old attraction to families that already have many entertainment choices.

Like tightrope walkers, the Feld sisters seek to maintain a balance between innovation and tradition in producing the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

After Ringling phased out the traditional three-ring format a few years ago so audiences could focus on one act at a time, there was some initial naysaying but the change came to be regarded as a success.

But when they eliminated lions and tigers that same year in response to survey results showing that elephants were the top animal draw, fans weren't happy - and Ringling quickly brought back the big cats.

"People expect to see animals, and they expect to see clowns," Nicole Feld says. "We want to deliver on those expectations."

The circus is the flagship product for Vienna, Virginia-based Feld Entertainment, a privately held family company that bought the circus in 1967. It's unclear how profitable the show is. But the sisters said business remains steady, with the circus drawing more than 10 million people a year to its shows across the United States.

Angry animal activists

Still, the company remains under siege from animal-rights activists who accuse it of treating elephants and other animals cruelly. Last year, the US Department of Agriculture imposed a US$270,000 fine against Ringling - the largest ever assessed by the federal government against an animal exhibitor under the Animal Welfare Act - for a variety of violations.

The issue is a sore point for Ringling, which agreed to pay the fine but admitted no wrongdoing. A company spokesman says the violations are a byproduct of heavy regulation - in one four-month period, one of the circus' traveling units was inspected 82 times by 18 different agencies.

By most measures, the circus has come a long way since P.T. Barnum assembled a traveling troupe of freaks, contortionists and Jumbo the Elephant into The Greatest Show on Earth.

In other ways, the circus maintains the traditions of nearly 150 years: exotic animals, acrobatics and an unwavering commitment to showmanship and pleasing audiences.

The balancing act requires the Felds to keep the show contemporary in the face of increased competition for the entertainment dollar and evolving public tastes. But much of the circus' appeal comes from tradition, and the circus ignores traditions at its peril.

It was Nicole and Alana's grandfather, Irvin Feld - who sold snake oil at carnivals as a child during the Depression and established himself as one of the country's top rock-and-roll concert promoters in the 1950s - who acquired the circus in 1967.

Before buying it outright, though, the elder Feld made one of the biggest changes to revive the circus, which had folded in 1956. He did away with the Big Top - the fabled circus tent - and moved the show to indoor arenas used to book his rock and roll shows.

The change enabled the circus to survive, continuing the traditions that dated back to "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus" in 1870. Feld died in 1984.

In modern times, the company has endured its share of difficulties. It owned the Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas, which closed in 2003 when Roy Horn was mauled by one of his tigers.

Ongoing complaints

Then there are ongoing complaints from animal rights activists, which at least one performer takes issue with.

Alexander Lacey, who performs with lions and tigers in Ringling's "Dragons" show, says his rapport with his animals is built on mutual respect and rewarding animals for correct behavior. He says circus life for big cats is a better fate than critics suppose.

"Look at the wild. That's not necessarily a good place to be," he says. He cites threats from disease and human encroachment on habitat that threaten lions and tigers in the wild.

The circus' big cats "have an opportunity to eat, sleep and reproduce in an environment that is stimulating for them," says Lacey, one of a number of Ringling performers from multi-generational circus backgrounds.

The key, he said, is to make ensure the lions' and tigers' days are interesting while they are awake - they typically sleep 18 to 20 hours a day. With many days of multiple performances, the big cats have active days.

The performers say that at its core, the circus isn't much different than it was decades ago.

What's changed, they say, is the presentation. Bulky costumes have gone by the wayside.

Music tends to be more contemporary. Technological improvements in lighting and staging help speed the pace of the show. Acts featuring children used to be common, but now are rare.

"It's more theatrical now," says George Caceres, leader of The Flying Caceres trapeze troupe. Caceres is a third-generation performer; his mother continues to work on the Ringling show as a costume designer.

The circus has always had to balance innovation and tradition, says David Carlyon, an author and academic from Larchmont, New York, who has studied 19th-century circuses and was himself a Ringling clown in the late 1970s.

A century ago, Carlyon says, the appeal of the circus was self-evident. No similar entertainment was available. Performers demonstrated mastery and partnership with animals to a population that was used to working with horses and other farm animals. And there was a sex appeal as well - in a Victorian era, it was rare to see the human body so clearly on display.

Entertainment options

As entertainment options have exploded in the modern era, the circus has worked to keep pace. Carlyon recalls a somewhat feeble effort by Ringling in the 1980s to incorporate a Menudo-style boy band into its act.

Despite the occasional missteps, Carlyon says, "the Felds, as near as I can tell, are doing a good job."

Some of the biggest changes at Feld Entertainment have been outside the circus world. While the circus remains Feld's flagship operation, in 2008 and 2009, Feld acquired a variety of motor sports properties, including monster truck shows, motocross and the International Hot Rod Association. In 2010, it created a theatrical motorcycle stunt show called Nuclear Cowboyz.

Combined with long-running brands such as Disney on Ice, Feld's shows draw more than 30 million a year, meaning the circus represents a third of the company's business.

The motorsports allow Feld to target young men and teens, a slightly different audience than the family with children ages 2 to 11 who make up the primary target audience for Ringling.

Still, the Feld family is at heart a circus family. Nicole and Alana, as children, performed as clowns.

"It's an old circus saying - 'You have sawdust in your veins'," says Nicole, who joined the company in 2001 after spending a few years out of college in other jobs. "It wasn't until I wasn't able to be around it that I realized just how much I missed it."