For a true indicator of the advent of spring, nothing beats the arrival of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. And this year’s edition, titled “Zing Zang Zoom,” is an artful eyeful, liberally spiced with mystifying magic.

If Sandburg’s fog arrives on little cat feet, this extravaganza has made its way Thursday to Madison Square Garden — after stops in New Jersey and on Long Island — on the paws of testy tigers, the hooves of pirouetting zebras and the oversize feet of capering clowns.

That is not to overlook the feats of assorted acrobats, wirewalkers and other daredevils blasted from a double-barreled cannon, or flying through the air, or trying to maintain their balance atop a spinning wheel high above the arena floor. Or to ignore the pulsating music, fireworks, smoke, dancing girls and lavish costumes that evoke a fever dream of ancient Oriental opulence. And there is plenty more, including the educated elephants whose treatment has been at issue in a suit that is expected to be decided this year. Ringling and its parent company, Feld Entertainment Inc. of Vienna, Va., have denied any misconduct.

While hewing to traditional circus fare, this 139th edition of the entertainment that promotes itself as “The Greatest Show on Earth” puts special emphasis on illusion and magic. In the course of the performance an elephant apparently disappears. The ringmaster enters a box pierced by flaming swords while his hands seem to wave outside. In a moment he’s back, unskewered. And most amazing, a pestiferous character named Mr. Gravity enters a small container. When it is opened, he is gone, and in his place is a tiger.

At a recent performance armloads of small children and their parents looked transfixed by it all.

- by Lawrence Van Gelder

The 136th Edition of Ringling Bros. will be at Madison Square Garden March 23rd through April 17th. But this won’t be the same Ringling Bros. we remember. Impresario Kenneth Feld wants us to forget the circus we’ve known in preparation for a bold new staging that eliminates the traditional three rings and brings audiences closer to the action with a highly interactive production.

“We’re instituting the biggest changes in 50 years,” says Mr. Feld. “Our single goal in rethinking ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ was to give families a more intimate, up-close experience. The new format looks and sounds like nothing audiences have experienced before. Our goal is to put the ‘awe’ back in awesome. And our new production team has been working for over a year to reinvent the show and bring audiences super-sized spectacle.” Thanks to a jumbo video screen, no matter where you’re sitting you’re going to be close to the action.

The all-new creative team includes Academy- and Emmy Award-winners, and Feld’s 27-year-old daughter Nicole, who is following in her father and grandfather’s footsteps to become a RBBB producer. Says Nicole Feld, “We’ve redefined the show with cutting-edge technology, new set design, a hip-hop score, and a family-friendly storyline.” The future of the circus lies in bringing it into the 21st century and making it more relevant to modern families — and Nicole Feld has been actively on board in pursuit of re-imagining the show.

Director Shanda Sawyer’s goal “is to take families on a magical circus journey. Our production will push the boundaries of audience imagination like never before, and have everyone participating in the action from start to finish.”

Ringmaster Chuck Wagner and vocalist Jennifer Fuentes will introduce a lineup of exciting acts and animals to root and roar for: Brazil’s circus sensation Wellington Silva, who not only performs on the trapeze but also walks upside-down high, high, high above the arena floor; two incredible troupes from China — the Yunnan Acrobatic flyers and the amazingly dexterous Shenzhen Acrobats, who specialize in hat- and foot-juggling; and Argentinean beauty Gisela Riquelme, who glides through the air with the greatest of ease on her trapeze and, with the RBBB showgirls and boys, on trail upon trail of red silk.

You’ve heard of Hercules, but now meet Herkules: Hungary’s Joszef Pakucza, a former “Strongest Man in the World” titleholder who’ll astound by catching a cannonball and bouncing right back from under a two-ton jeep. Talk about industrial strength! Thrills, chills, and spills will come courtesy of motorcycle daredevils the Torres Family, in the intimate confounds of the Globe of Death; and daredevil equestrians the Kassaev Cossacks, 11 men and one very brave woman who can — for the first time in an indoor venue — fully demonstrate the traditions of trick riding and extreme horsemanship.

Oh, and did we mention RBBB’s magnificent herd of performing elephants under trainers Troy Metzler and Mike Hayward?

One family treat is not changing. The RBBB all-access pre-show will still take place an hour before show time, allowing customers a visit and photo-ops with the artists, elephants, horses, and other attractions, and even try on costumes and have their faces painted by the hilarious denizens of Ringling’s Clown Alley and join with the show’s athletic performers in getting “CircusFit.”

“I’ve been asked, what’s it like to go down to just a one-ring circus, but I don’t look at it that way,” says Shanda Sawyer, the San Francisco native chosen to reinvent the 136th edition of Ringling Bros., which makes its way to the Oakland Arena on Thursday. “I think of it more like we’re coming up from the confines of three rings.”

It’s that sort of thinking that attracted Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey to hire someone with no experience or connection to the usually traditional circus circuit. But considering Sawyer’s background of directing rock stars in ’80s music videos and movie stars in the 69th annual Academy Awards telecast, a strong case can be made that she knows how to survive in a circus-like atmosphere.

“At first it seemed like I was entering unknown territory,” says Sawyer, who can’t recall going to a circus show even as a child. “But it always comes down to entertainment, and I think I learned early on how to keep a crowd entertained.”

Sawyer’s first gig in showbiz was alongside her sister, with whom she formed a sort of roaming gypsy dance troupe. The two, who grew up in Berkeley, would often camp out on a piece of carpet outside of the Cost Plus import store near Fisherman’s Wharf. They’d do their goofy gypsy dance moves along with silly skits and sometimes even a mock knife fight — anything to keep the crowd laughing and the tip jar full. After graduating from Berkeley High School in the late ’70s, Sawyer relocated to North Beach and made her big move indoors, with a dance comedy group called the Rhythm Methods.

The sketch comedians persuaded a couple of clubs to let them do self-produced shows on “off nights,” which quickly turned Tuesday nights into a scene of 400 paying and laughing customers pouring out of defunct places like the Boarding House.

“It was us and a bunch of unknowns like Nora Dunn, Dana Carvey, Paula Poundstone,” Sawyer says.

But even after following up the early successful days in San Francisco with more of the same in Tinseltown, Sawyer still had her insecurities about conquering the circus world.

“Everybody knows that kids don’t applaud politely if they don’t like something,” Sawyer says of the possibility of an arena filled with 26,000 pairs of unclapping hands. “The circus crowd is a sophisticated audience. They expect to be amazed. They expect to be thrilled, and they expect to laugh.”

With that in mind, Sawyer wondered how to reinvent the circus without replacing it.

“Wave that trunk, wave that trunk,” Sawyer says, swaying side to side to a pretend hip-hop beat. “Elephants dancing to hip-hop,” she says. “I thought that one up in my living room.”

Sawyer came up with a new story line called “The Circus of Dreams,” which focuses on a family that gets to join the circus for a night. The family (played by actors, of course) includes a reluctant dad who becomes ringmaster, a mom who finally gets into the spotlight, a bratty older sister who learns to appreciate her family more and a young boy who just wants to have a good time.

Instead of the three rings, the show takes place in a 130-by-80-foot performance area decorated with a video screen that is 24 feet in diameter to lead the crowd along. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey decided to make the changes in order to tap into the sophisticated psyche (and limited attention spans) of the so-called iPod generation.

“Because of video games and television, kids are no longer happy with just being passive viewers,” Sawyer says. “They want to interact. They want to be involved.”

With the video game theme in mind, Sawyer incorporated the giant screen to, at times, double as a live-action video game that welcomes the crowd to the next level, based on the audience reaction and applause.

Ditching the three rings was the biggest change in the circus since it moved from under the big top to inside the arena. With intense scrutiny coming from circus traditionalists, Sawyer was sworn to secrecy by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. For several weeks she rehearsed with the circus performers in a fenced-off area near Tampa, Fla., where the security was tight.

What made the circus transformation easy was the circus troupe, who Sawyer says embraced her ideas.

“Circus performers are so committed to what they do, in part because they have no other choice,” Sawyer says. “Sometimes it’s easy for us to forget that they’re risking their lives every day. You know, they’re really doing all those stunts.”

Although Sawyer says the performers were impressed with the video technology she introduced, it took a little more time to win over some of the animals, although they eventually got used to admiring themselves on the big screen.

“The Cossacks, on the other hand,” says Sawyer of the handsome horse-riding troupe from Russia, “they fell in love with the new format the moment they saw themselves on the big screen.”