Circus Krone - Revision history

Djando: /* A New Era */

2025-10-11T18:24:56Z

‎A New Era

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-10-11T18:22:32Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-09-01T05:11:14Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-06-11T22:10:13Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* A New Era */

2025-06-11T20:55:20Z

‎A New Era

Djando: /* A New Era */

2025-06-11T20:53:56Z

‎A New Era

Djando: /* A New Era */

2025-06-11T20:53:12Z

‎A New Era

Djando: /* New Blood */

2025-06-11T20:51:43Z

‎New Blood

Djando: /* New Blood */

2025-06-11T20:51:25Z

‎New Blood

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-06-11T20:50:23Z

‎Image Gallery

@@ Line 282: / Line 282: @@
 Jana and Martin eventually reached a better balanced solution, and it worked. In 2025, the huge, oversized circus tent was replaced by a "cathedral" big top, quarter-pole-free, even bigger than the previous one, but which contained an elaborately decorated foyer, a classical, elegant, and comfortable house without any pole inside, which resembled that of a traditional circus building, and a vast backstage area. The show was also revamped in a more traditional style, albeit with a special attention given to a staging that kept a decidedly modern flavor, but without looking too experimental. That time, it worked for its traditional audience and pleased a new generation as well.
-Meanwhile, Munich's Kronebau kept producing its winter shows with continuing success. Sarting in 2024, other Christmas shows were given concurrently, in Munich itself (at the fairgrounds of Rosenheim Loretowiese) and in other cities, such as Würzburg. In 2008, Jana had given birth to a son, Alexis-Henry Lacey Krone, thus solidly ensuring the continuity of Europe's oldest and most prestigious circus company.
+Meanwhile, Munich's Kronebau kept producing its winter shows with continuing success, although with only one production that runs the entire winter season. Sarting in 2024, other Christmas shows were given concurrently, in Munich itself (at the fairgrounds of Rosenheim Loretowiese) and in other cities, such as Würzburg. In 2008, Jana had given birth to a son, Alexis-Henry Lacey Krone, thus solidly ensuring the continuity of Europe's oldest and most prestigious circus company.
 ==Suggested Reading==

@@ Line 386: / Line 386: @@
 File:Krone_Cathedral.jpg|The "cathedral" new big top (2025)
 File:Circus_Krone_in_Munich.jpg|Circus Krone in Munich (2025)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Circuses|Krone Circus]][[Category:History|Krone Circus]]

@@ Line 384: / Line 384: @@
 File:Kronebau_23.jpg|Poster for Circus Kronebau (2023)
 File:Circus_Kronebau_poster.jpg|Poster for Circus Kronebau (2024)
-File:Krone_Cathedral.jpg|The "cathedral" new big top (2015)
+File:Krone_Cathedral.jpg|The "cathedral" new big top (2025)
 File:Circus_Krone_in_Munich.jpg|Circus Krone in Munich (2025)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Circuses|Krone Circus]][[Category:History|Krone Circus]]

@@ Line 384: / Line 384: @@
 File:Kronebau_23.jpg|Poster for Circus Kronebau (2023)
 File:Circus_Kronebau_poster.jpg|Poster for Circus Kronebau (2024)
 File:Circus_Krone_in_Munich.jpg|Circus Krone in Munich (2025)
 </Gallery>
 [[Category:Circuses|Krone Circus]][[Category:History|Krone Circus]]

@@ Line 280: / Line 280: @@
 To the German audience, which had, after more than a century, come to expect something quite familiar from Circus Krone&mdash;a sort of circus "comfort food"&mdash;it was a total surprise. Once the shock passed, the new style began to find its followers, old and new, but it also disappointed many. Circus Krone had, in the German audience's psyche, a specific image ("Größter Circus Europas") and a tradition that were not truly open to drastic artistic changes. Nonetheless, Circus Krone had to adapt to a new era: It was not an easy task.
-Jana and Martin eventually reached a better balanced solution, and it worked. In 2025, the huge, old-fashioned circus tent was replaced by a "cathedral" big top, quarter-pole-free, even bigger than the previous one, but which contained an elaborately decorated foyer, a classical, elegant, and comfortable house without any pole inside, which resembled that of a traditional circus building, and a vast backstage area. The show was also revamped in a more traditional style, albeit with a special attention given to a staging that kept a decidedly modern flavor, but without looking too experimental. That time, it worked for its traditional audience and pleased a new generation as well.
+Jana and Martin eventually reached a better balanced solution, and it worked. In 2025, the huge, oversized circus tent was replaced by a "cathedral" big top, quarter-pole-free, even bigger than the previous one, but which contained an elaborately decorated foyer, a classical, elegant, and comfortable house without any pole inside, which resembled that of a traditional circus building, and a vast backstage area. The show was also revamped in a more traditional style, albeit with a special attention given to a staging that kept a decidedly modern flavor, but without looking too experimental. That time, it worked for its traditional audience and pleased a new generation as well.
 Meanwhile, Munich's Kronebau kept producing its winter shows with continuing success. Sarting in 2024, other Christmas shows were given concurrently, in Munich itself (at the fairgrounds of Rosenheim Loretowiese) and in other cities, such as Würzburg. In 2008, Jana had given birth to a son, Alexis-Henry Lacey Krone, thus solidly ensuring the continuity of Europe's oldest and most prestigious circus company.

@@ Line 274: / Line 274: @@
 On February 1, 2019, Jana and Martin presided over a circus gala celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Kronebau. Yet, the traveling Circus Krone had entered an era that brought drastic changes on the circus scene. Over-zealous animal rights activists were harassing circuses as a question of principle, without even trying to prove their arguments; elephants, once Carl Krone’s pride, couldn’t be replaced anymore when they went into retirement, and the venerable Colonel Joe had passed away in 2012, at age sixty (give or take a few years). In 2019, the two remaining elephants were sent to retirement and Tsavo, the old rhino, an audience's favorite, passed away.
-[[File:Circus_Krone_in_Munich.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Circus Krone in Munich (2025)]]Undeterred, the young directorial had already begun to work on a necessary revision of Circus Krone’s artistic concept, knowing that, in the process, they still had to satisfy a popular audience used to more than a century of unaltered tradition. To do so, they approached the Hungarian director-choreographer [[Bence Vagi]], whose ''Recirquel'' company had shown a remarkable creativity, balancing avant-guardist approach and a deep understanding of classic circus traditions.
+Undeterred, the young directorial had already begun to work on a necessary revision of Circus Krone’s artistic concept, knowing that, in the process, they still had to satisfy a popular audience used to more than a century of unaltered tradition. To do so, they approached the Hungarian director-choreographer [[Bence Vagi]], whose ''Recirquel'' company had shown a remarkable creativity, balancing avant-guardist approach and a deep understanding of classic circus traditions.
-Together with Recirquel's artistic producer [[Kristian Kristof]], they delivered in the spring of 2019 a new touring production called ''Mandana'': A elegant contemporary twist on the traditional circus imagery that included a new decoration of the huge tent’s interior, including a new decor, evocative of Krone's old prewar façade, at the ring entrance, and even a total redesign of the hydraulic façade. There was a unity of style, costumes and music, in which the traditional equestrian and cage acts were totally integrated.
+[[File:Circus_Krone_in_Munich.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Circus Krone in Munich (2025)]]Together with Recirquel's artistic producer [[Kristian Kristof]], they delivered in the spring of 2019 a new touring production called ''Mandana'': A elegant contemporary twist on the traditional circus imagery that included a new decoration of the huge tent’s interior, including a new decor, evocative of Krone's old prewar façade, at the ring entrance, and even a total redesign of the hydraulic façade. There was a unity of style, costumes and music, in which the traditional equestrian and cage acts were totally integrated.
 To the German audience, which had, after more than a century, come to expect something quite familiar from Circus Krone&mdash;a sort of circus "comfort food"&mdash;it was a total surprise. Once the shock passed, the new style began to find its followers, old and new, but it also disappointed many. Circus Krone had, in the German audience's psyche, a specific image ("Größter Circus Europas") and a tradition that were not truly open to drastic artistic changes. Nonetheless, Circus Krone had to adapt to a new era: It was not an easy task.

@@ Line 258: / Line 258: @@
 The Kronebau’s program of December-January 1990-1991 introduced a talented twelve-year-old high school rider trained by Christel Krone Sembach, Jana Mandana. Born in Munich on April 7, 1979, she was the daughter of Urs and Machy Pilz, who were close friends of Christel. Urs Pilz, a Swiss circus enthusiast, worked as an international representative for the German sportswear firm Bogner. (He is today&mdash;as of 2020&mdash;Director of the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] and President of the [[European Circus Association]].)
-[[File:Krone_Lacey_Family.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Jana Krone Lacey, Martin Lacey, Jr., Alexis-Henry Krone Lacey (2019)]]Jana and her sister Nina loved the circus, and Jana had a passion for horses. Christel, who never married and didn’t have any children, took Jana under her wing and taught her all facets of equestrianism and animal training in the process. Jana was indeed at good school and proved an excellent student, and she soon became a very capable high school rider. She made her debut in the ring on December 25, 1990&mdash;on Christmas Day! The stage name Jana chose, Mandana, was that of her Iranian grandmother.
+[[File:Krone_Lacey_Family.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Jana Krone Lacey, Martin Lacey, Jr., Alexis-Henry Krone Lacey (2019)]]Jana and her sister Nina loved the circus, and Jana had a passion for horses. Christel, who never married and didn’t have any children, took Jana under her wing and taught her all facets of equestrianism and animal training in the process. Jana was indeed at good school and proved an excellent student, and she soon became a very capable high school rider. She made her debut in the ring on December 25, 1990&mdash;on Christmas Day! The stage name Jana chose, Mandana, was that of her Iranian grandmother.
 Little by little, Jana took over some of her mentor’s chores, first presenting the exotic animals (camels, zebras, llamas and the giraffe Baluku) and, after Christel’s retirement from the ring in 2005, taking over the liberty and elephant acts, for which she showed again a great talent. To all intents and purposes, as the circus was ready to enter the twenty-first century, Jana increasingly appeared as Christel Krone Sembach’s obvious successor.