Adjacent (clockwise from top left): Gunther Gebel-Williams, star of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Red Unit; Mongolian contortionists on the Red Unit of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Irvin and Kenneth Feld in the 1980's; Monster Jam; Disney on Ice "Frozen"; John Ringling North with Irvin Feld when he purchased the circus; Arenacross; Alexander Lacey and his tigers on the blue unit; Marvel Universe Live; Kenneth and Irvin Feld with Gunther Gebel-Williams. (Below, from left) Supercross at Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas; Irvin Feld establishing Clown College; the grid for Marvel Universe Live.
Who would have guessed 50 years ago when Irvin and Izzy Feld bought Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that the tented wonder of entertainment would spawn a dynasty of family shows. Feld Entertainment, to almost any arena, stadium or theater, is a major franchise today, taking multiple brands — 26 units of circus, ice shows, motor sports, spectaculars and stage shows — to 30 million fans annually through multiple dates in each venue.
The journey culminated in the fifth decade with the debut of not another show, but a showplace — Feld Entertainment Studios in Ellenton, Fla. It could be called Feld “Entrepreneurial” Studios, because it has become the place where 600 Feld associates, many of them with the company themselves for decades, have been able to collaborate across genres, taking the best of the best to improve the whole.
Alana Feld, the third generation of the family in the entertainment business, had always known, as did her grandfather and father, that the circus was a great place to learn the entertainment business.
“Our ability to constantly change Ringling is something I’m very proud of,” Alana said. “My grandfather took it from tents to arenas.” And that was only the beginning of decades of redefining the circus to adapt to people’s expectations in entertainment.
“What is so great about Ringling is the different aspects to that business — the touring show, the brand, the production, you learn so much from it,” Alana said. Pieces of the circus translate to other shows and that’s what is special about Feld Entertainment. “Ringling is one of the brands where we are constantly learning,” Alana said.
Ironically, that foundation brand, the signifier of quality, legacy family entertainment enjoyed by generations, is going off the road after 146 years of performing, exactly 50 of those under the Feld regime. In the beginning of its 50th year, Kenneth and Juliette Feld announced both units — red and blue — would perform their last show this May.
They cited the economics of traveling such a large show, declining ticket sales, particularly drastic following retirement of the circus elephants which had been a big draw since P.T. Barnum toured his giant pachyderm, Jumbo, and changing tastes in entertainment.
Back in the day, an RBBB promotion offered every child born in America the right to see the circus at least once, with certificates still sent to newborns as part of their inheritance. But it won’t be a birthright much longer.
As sad as it is, the circus has done its job in many ways, informing all the shows Feld Entertainment has added to the fold since, from ice shows to motorsports to the spectacular Marvel Universe Live!, “where we incorporated so many types of entertainment into one show. A lot of it was acrobatics, using acrobatics to tell a story,” Alana noted. Motorsports riders are in Marvel as well. “We pulled the best elements of our different productions to use with these Marvel characters to tell a story.”
“Whether it’s the circus or motorsports — logistics, touring and operations — there is so much we’ve learned that we’ve now applied to all our shows,” Alana said.
Acting a tour guide at the 580,000-sq.-ft. Feld Entertainment Studios, which houses 600 employees in all Feld Entertainment departments, is an obvious joy to Kenneth Feld, company CEO.
It sits on 47 acres, a repurposed industrial site, and houses most of the back of house operations as well as mammoth rehearsal studios. It opened four years ago with the intent to migrate outliers over a three-year period. That took about 18 months. Everyone wanted in.
“That’s 750 feet, this hallway,” Feld points out in a tour of the studios. “This is the third largest commercial building in the state of Florida.”
The building was designed with Scott Dickerson, VP, Florida Operations and Show Support, who worked on all the units and understood the needs. “Individual departments designed what they needed,” Kenneth Feld said. “We figured out how it could work. Everything is functional.”
That includes rehearsal space for all Feld shows, events and other productions. The South Hall rigging grid capacity is 500,000 pounds. The North Hall can handle 700,000 pounds. Each of the rehearsal halls is bigger than the floor space of Staples Center, Los Angeles, he added.
“We’ve expanded since we’ve been in here,” Kenneth continued. “Six months ago, everybody said you are literally running out of space. The migration has been quicker than we planned. The key when we did it was not to duplicate functions. You didn’t want two payroll departments anymore.”
The attention to detail is as impressive as the scope of the studios. Kenneth points to a one-inch scale model of an event they produced for 450 for the American Cancer Society at the studio. Every show has a scale model, from sitdown dinners to Marvel Universe Live. “The model was in the lobby, so if you were at Table 4, you could look and see where your table was,” Kenneth noted. His attention to detail is legendary. “It’s become a new business,” he said of renting out studio space and producing events.
They have already rented space for a commercial for ESPN for the football draft, complete with rain, and a technical rehearsal for Linkin Park.
He also pointed out a model of Marvel Universe Live II, which will open in late 2017. It’s technically precise, showing overhead grids, lighting, elevators, runways, staging. “We even do the people to the right size and design the backstage so when we go in the building, we know how to lay out the back stage,” Kenneth said. “We had this meeting in August for a show that opens next September. It gives you an idea of the planning process. I don’t believe anybody plans to the extent we do.”
Kenneth loves the activity in Ellenton. Several things are always in process. The studio itself has evolved with the content being produced. From the scenic shop to the Monster Truck garage to wardrobe, where 12,000 costumes, “my whole history in costumes,” are hung and color-coded for repurposing, the effect is to share the vision with the entire staff. By December, 20 of the 54 Monster Trucks would be in the shop preparing to hit the road. When Feld Entertainment bought Live Nation Motor Sports in 2008, there were only 24 trucks.
“I look at the whole thing and think, oh my gosh, this is extraordinary,” Kenneth Feld admitted. “It all started 50 years ago with one circus. Sometimes in a year now, we have 25-30 shows out there. You have great people, you have a team. You have quality.”
As leader of the pack, Kenneth believes life is about evolving. “I don’t do what I did then.”
He appreciates that on lunch breaks, staff can come downstairs, sit in the bleachers and absorb what Feld Entertainment does. “Now people in the accounting department can see what we’re doing. It’s a lot more job satisfaction,” Kenneth said.
For production, it’s a dream. “We can test lighting, like we never could before,” Kenneth added.
“This is the ultimate money pit. You have to be really disciplined in how you spend your money to decorate,” he said as he passed through a giant hallway covered with show posters. “The sheer volume makes everything more expensive.” But, they are disciplined. In fact, HVAC, while “a lot,” is a third of the power used when GE was in the building.
“This is closer to a throwback, the golden age of studios,” Kenneth Feld said.
FELD’S ALL-HANDS-ON-DECK WORK ETHIC
As a young promoter for Feld Entertainment back in the day, Jeff Meyer, SVP, Event Marketing & Sales, North America, learned very early that, in this company, you help out wherever necessary. “It could have been any aspect of the business, operations to promoting. You name it. It was all hands on deck,” he said.
He vividly recalls that decades-ago day in Rockford, Ill., when he met the circus train, per promoter protocol, with the water meter. “It was before we had cell phones; pagers were the best bet we had. We had no real lines of communication with the circus trains when they came in. So we would stop at a payphone and call the transportation department or rail yard.”
“The first two people you would meet would be the trainmaster and, on the Red Unit, Gunther Gebel-Williams. We would hand the water meter off and they would stop the train and hook the water meter up and fuel the train for all the performers and animals.”
This night, Gebel-Williams had further instructions, telling Meyer to meet him at the arena at 6 a.m. The eager young promoter arrived as ordered and discovered this was one of the arenas where they had to pound stakes in the ground to put the tents up in the back.
“It started raining like crazy so it was all hands on deck to get the tents up.” Meyer, dressed in his promoter garb of three-piece suit and tie, was standing under an awning watching the process when he heard Gunther, in his thick German accent, beckon him to “come over right now. He has six guys, including him, with sledgehammers. He said, ‘grab this stake and hold it up.’ And they started driving that stake in. I realize, one mishap and my arm’s busted.”
“It’s a poignant memory of mine, as if it happened yesterday.”