Barnum – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Book: Mark Bramble

Music: Cy Coleman

Lyrics: Michael Stewart

Director: Jonathan O’Boyle

This is a feel-good show with some amazing, awe-inspiring acrobatic work and choreography.

Barnum is an American musical based on the life of showman and politician P.T. Barnum in America, from 1835 to 1880. Barnum created the Barnum and Bailey circus which became known as the Greatest Show on Earth. The production combines elements of traditional musical theatre with the spectacle of the circus. The performers include jugglers, trapeze artists, clowns and acrobats as well as real-life characters including Barnum and his wife Charity, the singer Jenny Lind and General Tom Thumb.

The traditional, individual skills which make up the circus – acrobatics, equestrianism and clowning – have been performed since ancient times, but in the 1760s, Britain Philip Astley brought them together and included other performers like jugglers, tightrope walkers, strongmen, acrobats and clowns to create a separate show. Arguably his greatest innovation was the invention of the circus ring itself – which still continues to this day, and with exactly the same dimensions. Circuses in England and across Europe were relatively small-scale but Barnum in the 1880s created his huge travelling circus in the United States.

The original 1980 Broadway production of Barnum ran for over 800 performances and was followed by a London production in 1981 with Michael Crawford making theatrical history with a nightly tightrope walk across the stage.

The stars of the show are undoubtedly the circus performers – Gianpaolo Candelaria, James Gill, Lennin Nelson- McClure, Emily Odunsi, Andre Rodrigues and Niki Tsonopoulou. Two particularly breathtaking sequences include a massive seesaw with a performer on each end, launching one other high under the proscenium arch; and as the accompaniment to a Jenny Lind song about love, where a male and female acrobat hang above her head, entwined in romantic and elegant shapes, simply hanging from a single rope held by one of the men’s hands. It is absolutely stunning.

There is also a magnificent life-sized puppet elephant which is beautifully constructed and animated by three of the performers.

The set is incredibly impressive – a stage within a stage and magnificent proscenium arch within the beautiful Lyceum one.  The trapeze swings, tightrope, hanging ropes, hoops and ladders all hang from above the stage. There are many occasions when all 21 performers are on stage: singing, playing musical instruments, tumbling and acting. They are all impressively multi-talented, and perform the music live on over 150 different instruments.

The musical highlights include the songs There is a Sucker Born Every Minute, The Colours of my Life, One Brick at a Time, and Black and White.

The production is very slick but does have the sense of a show that has been performed many thousands of times. Actually, this tour only began at the end of January 2026, so a run of three months so far.

The stand out individual performances come from Monique Young as Charity Barnum and Laura Sillett, who was understudying the role of ringmaster on the evening of this review.

Runs until 2nd May 2026, before continuing on tour