Genii

The Conjurors’ Magazine

Alex
Ramon
SEPTEMBER 2010
$6
 Two Years
Before
the Mast
BY JIM STEINMEYER
Photography by Norm Ofstead

The answer takes about half a second. Alex Ramon

nods his head. The highlight of his tour? Even thinking about it
now, a year and a half later, the thought makes him grin.
“Oh, yeah. Madison Square Garden.”
By the time Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey’s headline-
making Red Unit show, Zing Zang Zoom finishes later this year,
Alex will have performed for over four million people in over
800 performances. As Ringling’s first and only magician-cum-
ringmaster (for the show, the producers invented a special term
for him, “Zingmaster”), he has just experienced a long, dazzling
dream that few would even dare to imagine.

42 GENII
 He’s criss-crossed the country in the circus train,
performing a magnificent show of illusions interspersed
with America’s most famous show business franchise:
quite literally, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
“You have to realize that Zing Zang Zoom,” Alex says,
“is not just a magician in a circus. It’s a magical circus.”
The magic was integrated into the atmosphere of the show,
from the opening number to introductions and circus spectacles, with the

Zingmaster
in charge of it all.
So it’s easy to equate Alex Ramon’s experience as a show-
business Cinderella story, a magic wand of opportunity
that’s been waved in the direction of a young, charismatic
performer.
He’s the first to acknowledge his good fortune. Raised in a
modest Richmond, California home, in the Bay Area, it was
Alex’s father, a courier in Oakland, who introduced his son
to a friend who performed magic. When Alex was 13, he
watched his father’s friend dazzle him with some card tricks
and a floating paper ball. His father followed up with a magic
book, and Alex was hooked. For two years, he practiced
card tricks and worked through the fundamentals of magic.
His mother encouraged his newfound passion, and when he
was 15 he performed a show for his family, the first slightly
awkward attempt to corral those card manipulations and silk
tricks into something that resembled entertainment. “I wasn’t
very good,” he remembers.
But something about his enthusiasm always attracted
audiences, and Alex was asked to perform for local birthday
parties, paid a princely $20 for each show. The San Francisco
magic community introduced a new group of friends and
experiences—hanging out at Joe Pon’s Misdirections Magic
Shop or swapping tricks with local professionals. “When he
came into the shop,” Joe Pon remembers, “he didn’t know
anything about magic, and he didn’t have much money. So I
sold him Mark Wilson’s book, and he made his way through
it, learning everything. Every week he came back, anxious to
learn more. He wanted to get better. He wanted an act.”
“In another city, it might not have happened,” according
to Jay Alexander, a longtime friend of Alex’s, and one of his
San Francisco mentors. “There’s a small, supportive group of
magicians here. Alex was able to quickly meet people who
made their living with magic, and I think that was an inspira-
tion.” At the same time, Jay believes, San Francisco magicians
are unique in being competitive without being territorial.
“It wasn’t about Alex’s material,” Jay remembers. “He was
doing a card and dove act. Instant Magician. And he did a
routine with a mouth coil. Standard material.” Jay continu-
ally gave him grief for not being more original. “He was a
good-looking kid with a great smile, and his presence was
enough; it let him get away with a lot. Audiences always liked
him, and related to him. When he was 14, I used to tell him,
‘Don’t be afraid to ask questions,’ and ‘Don’t act like you know
everything. If you act like you know everything, no one wants
to help you’.” And in that way, Alex stood out from the “usual
obnoxious 14-year-old magicians!” Jay laughs. “You could
see that he was serious about what he was learning. He was
the kid who always asked the right questions. And then he
listened to the answers.”
Marshall Magoon, the popular Bay Area magician, remem-
bers Alex from Joe Pons’ shop. “Alex was always the guy you
knew would succeed. He had a real love for magic. When
you’d show him a card move, he’d come back a month later
and he’d not only mastered it, he’d added something to it,
or combined it with another move. You wish that everyone
approached magic that way.”
Alex gradually began winning awards, first at the local
magic club, then in 2004 he won the Lance Burton Award at
the World Magic Seminar. He began performing in a circuit
through Oakland area libraries. By the age of 16, he had
bookings that were the envy of many professional performers.
In 2006 he was cast in a Feld Entertainment production of a
Disney Live production, titled Mickey’s Magic Show.
“He’s a good person, he has a good heart,” his friend Joe
Pon says. “I’ll tell you a story. The day he left for South
Carolina, to start on the Disney show, he came to the shop to

44 GENII
say goodbye, and he was dressed for a show. I asked him what ✦
he was doing. He said he had one more show to perform. It “I’d like to do a magic circus,” Kenneth
was only a few days later that I heard, from a local nurse, that Feld told me in 2007. “We’ve never done
he had done a free show at a children’s home. He wanted to that before. Don’t say anything about it yet.
do that show before he left town.” My question to you is whether it’s even possible
to do great magic, big magic, in the middle of our
✦ arena.” The notion of illusions in the round, he knew,
It was on the Disney show that I’d first met Alex. I’d been was a real problem, and he wanted assurance that the magic
hired to design the illusions for the show, which had would not only be possible, but sensational. When I asked him
been conceived as a hybrid: a magic show incorporating who would be his magician, he was more certain. “I’m going
Disney’s famous costumed characters. Kenneth Feld knew to ask our guys.”
that it would be difficult. Admittedly, the costumed characters Both Brad and Alex had proven themselves on the road, but
would attract kids and their parents. They all wanted to see starring in Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus would
Mickey, Goofy, and Donald, or the pretty Disney princesses be another matter. It was not just an ambitious plan, but a
waltz or blow kisses. But Feld was experienced when it came real gamble. There was a big difference between the theater
to magic; he had produced Siegfried and Roy’s show at the stages where Disney Live! appeared and the arenas that could
Mirage Hotel. Costumed characters could do very little, and accommodate The Greatest Show on Earth. When both of
they couldn’t perform magic; no one would believe it. He them were called down to winter quarters in Tampa at the
knew that the show would only work if real magicians—not end of 2007, the circus staff noticed and the rumors quickly
actors in character costumes—took charge of the illusions. started buzzing. “What are those guys doing here?” we were
His solution was to find two young, talented magicians. One, asked. “They’re good magicians, but I hope we’re not thinking
Brad Ross, already had plenty of experience performing with about them for the circus. They couldn’t handle that … .” In
amusement park shows. Alex Ramon was recruited to take the fact, tucked away in an upstairs conference room, Kenneth
part of “Benny,” a young magician who aspired to be in the
show and ends up being encouraged by Mickey to do his very
best. In the finest fairy tale tradition, by the end of the show
Benny and Brad shared duties by performing the “Double
Sawing a Woman in Half.”
The show was a big stretch for Alex. At the time, maybe it
was good that none of us knew just how big a stretch it was.
Brad was a seasoned professional who wasn’t fazed bouncing
between the illusions, the audience participation, and the
canned dialogue with the Disney characters. But Alex was
suddenly asked to take on a role (Benny, the inept magician,
complete with a fuzzy brown wig), and learn a number of
new illusions. His only life preserver was a short segment
of his Linking Ring routine, pushed into the second half of
the show.
“On Disney Live!,” Jay Alexander recalls, “Alex was the
character with the lowest status.” His job, as Benny, was to
bumble into the performance, mess up a few tricks, tenta-
tively stumble through a few more, and finally finish up with
the Rings and the Sawing in Half. “At the start of the tour, I
know that Alex was uncomfortable playing that part. He felt
that he couldn’t play himself.”
As it turns out, the combination of Brad and Alex was
perfectly cast, and the young magicians easily captivated
their audiences and developed a rapport with their Disney
co-stars. During the run of the show, the two magicians were
even encouraged to swap roles so that they could be familiar
with all of the material. For Alex, it was all a learning experi-
ence—first the illusion, the travel, publicity. Like any actor,
he found his way into the part of Benny and then connected
with the audience; this was the first time he’d ever been in
such a large, prestigious production. Most importantly, it
started Kenneth Feld and Nicole Feld, the producers of the
circus, thinking.

SEPTEMBER 2010 45
 and Nicole Feld explained to a small group of us that’s exactly
what they were thinking.
Brad ended up saying no. He was happy with the Disney
show, and he followed it overseas, in many ways responsible
for its continued success on the road. That left Alex facing a
difficult decision. At 23, he would be the second youngest
ringmaster in the circus’s 139-year history, and the circus’s
first starring magician. As Ringling’s star, it could mean certain
death or a glittering success—but he was guaranteed to have
an awfully big adventure.

✦
The Felds voiced virtually the same
concerns. When Alex went down to
Palmetto, Florida, for the White Model
Meeting, the kick off for the new cir-
cus, where the concept and design is
revealed to the production staff, Feld
pulled Alex aside and told him soberly,
“We live and die by you.”
Kenneth and Nicole Feld and the
show director for the 139th circus,
Shanda Sawyer, knew that Alex wouldn’t deliver basso gran-
diloquence. He would have to be a different kind of star. It was
his energy and enthusiasm that would captivate the audience. And maybe that’s why Alex’s story is not quite as simple
Adding to the challenge are the size and scope of the circus. as a Cinderella tale. Because more than anything else,
The statistics make the show sound like a marathon. Each his success has been the result of continual hard work.
performance is three hours and 15 minutes long (including One day in winter quarters, as the typical chaos ruled,
the pre-show, during which Alex appears). He runs just under hundreds of circus performers and technicians learned
two miles during each show—that includes the trips around their cues, as choreography was rehearsed, numbers were
the 60- by 200-foot arena, backstage to the dressing room, re-staged, and costumes were being altered, Kenneth Feld
over to check the props, to the side of the ring to meet the pulled me aside. “You know, I was concerned whether he
kids that are going to assist with the next trick. He is onstage, could do it. But every day, I’ve watched Alex get bigger
in front of the audience, for about one hour. He goes through and bigger in this role,” he told me. “Every day, he just
two liters of water during a performance and makes nine gets better and better.”
costume changes. It takes 45 minutes to re-set for
the next show. On some days, they perform three
shows a day.
“When people meet me backstage, the question
they ask more than any other is, ‘Are you tired’,”
Alex says. “And I always tell them, ‘Not yet.’ I can’t
afford to be tired. If I slack off, 100 people notice, the
performers of the circus. It affects the quality of the
performance. At the beginning of the run, Kenneth
told me, ‘We’re counting on your energy. If you don’t
have it, the show’s not going to work.’”
Alex has never missed a show. When asked about
what happens when he gets sick, he just sighs and
shakes his head. “Oh, we’ve rehearsed every possi-
bility. I have a stand-in for the magic. But I can’t get
sick.” He’s been there at every performance to intone
the “G.S.O.E announce,” as the insiders call it. You
know, “Welcome … to the … Greatest … Show …
On … Earth!” “In the history of the circus, there have
been only 37 people who got to say that!” Alex says
with justifiable pride. “And I’m one of them.”

46 GENII
 I know, from talking to Alex at the end of every rehearsal,
that he was working very hard to live up to the job, as if he
were watching a chess game at the same time he was rehears-
ing the show. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever worked with
another magician who could have accomplished what he did
in winter quarters. Alex had carefully focused on each bit of
direction and every line, anxious for notes to improve the per-
formance, and curious about everyone’s perceptions of where
he was coming up short.
“The problem with a lot of young magicians,” according
to Marshall Magoon, “is that the first inkling of success ruins
them. It goes to their head and it changes them. It changes
the way they think about magic, and that’s always a mistake.”
That was the difference with Alex. “That never happened
with him. And because of that, he is the guy you want to
succeed, the guy you’re cheering across the finish line.”
Kenneth Feld’s doubts may have been understandable.
After all, just a few years earlier, Alex had been performing
card manipulations in the Oakland library. But on that par-
ticular day in Tampa, when Alex finally crossed the invisible
finish line, I could see that the producer was satisfied that
he’d found his star. Feld stopped worrying whether the 23-
year-old magician could lead the circus.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Joe Pon says, recalling the day that
the circus played in San Francisco. “I knew that he was doing
a good job, but he was just amazing. He’s bigger than life,
bigger than any magician working.”
“You know, he’s been so successful, I’m not sure even he
realizes where he’s at,” Alex’s friend Jay Alexander says. “I saw
the circus, and I was shocked by his presence in the middle of
that ring. It was completely different, a different energy, than
anything he’d done, even the Disney show. I couldn’t believe
that he could own that audience the way he does.”
During Zing, Zang, Zoom, he does own the audience, and
every eye is on him when he’s in the ring. He’s unquestionably
the “coolest kid in the room,” energetic and exciting, and a hero
to each of the children. And, of course, he’s
proven to be a formidable magician. According
to Kenneth Feld, he’s “redefining the role of
an illusionist.”
✦
Ringling Brothers stages
the shows and rehearses at
winter quarters near Tampa,
then plays their initial
engagement at the Tampa
arena, which is the first
chance to put it in front of
a real audience. “But the
first weeks are all about the
approach to New York and
Madison Square Garden,” Alex says. This
is when the timing is tweaked, acts are cut
or lengthened as necessary, and technical
details are smoothed out. The show had
its official opening in New York City in
March, 2009.
“Those early weeks, all you hear from the
circus people is, ‘Wait until the Garden’.” It
began to take on a mythic reputation. “Our
100th performance was our opening at the
Garden,” Alex says, “And it was everything
you thought it would be. Everyone is excited
to be there. The audience is excited to have
the circus there. Madison Square Garden seats
nearly 12,000 people; we had show days where we performed
for over 33,000.” The excitement of Madison Square Garden
might be partly tradition, the 139th year that the “Greatest
Show” returned to America’s greatest city. But there’s also
something about the space, Alex recalls, that’s particularly
“exciting, electric.” The energy of the room makes it curi-
ously intimate, or at least, as intimate as a huge arena can
be. Everyone there feels the energy, and that adds to the
atmosphere.
In every city, the props, costumes, and scenery are taken
from the circus train. That means that the elephants have
to be walked from the train yard to the arena. The Elephant
Walk becomes a sort of unofficial circus parade, an eagerly
awaited event in every city. In New York, the Elephant Walk
was particularly memorable. “I got to ride Asia, the elephant.”
It was a particularly fitting entrance to New York, since Asia
is the elephant that disappears, at every performance, under
Alex’s spell. So, at midnight, with police barricades up,
SEPTEMBER 2010 47
 Alex—the magician—and Asia—the assistant—lumbered
through the Midtown Tunnel and swayed down 34th Street in
Manhattan, past cheering crowds.
During the show, in addition to making an elephant disap-
pear, he transforms Mr. Gravity, his clown nemesis, into a
tiger, slices another clown in half using a gigantic rotating
wheel, stretches one, and spikes another with an array of
flaming spears. He escapes from a rack of chains and locks,
trapping one of the clowns in his place.
Alex also invites three children onto the arena floor and
instructs them in a magic spell that allows each to cause their
parent to float in the air. As the children cause them to float
up and down, Alex circles from one parent to another, passing
a hoop over the floating assistants.
One transition starts with gigantic shadows appearing
on a screen; when Alex claps his hands, the screen drops
to the ground and a dozen dancing girls appear beneath it.
At another spot in the show, he introduces the dog acts by
producing a dog within a small dog house. Moments later,
the dog returns to the house and is transformed into Mr.
Gravity. For other transitions in the second act of the show, traditional elements. “It took me a while to earn my stripes
Alex performs a bit of Linking Ring magic, and even manages with circus fans,” he admits. The circus performers often
several dove productions. “When magicians come backstage, come from small family groups, which means that friends and
they say they were glad to see me do doves,” Alex smiles. relatives will be appearing in other circuses around the world.
“But magicians are the only ones who remember it. You have “You really come to respect this world, and you’re honored
to realize, I’m producing those birds after 11 elephants have to be a part of it. When you’re part of a circus, you feel like
just left the floor. Audiences don’t even remember I did it. Just you’re tied to every other circus.”
the magicians!” Ringling Brothers travels by train: the animals, costumes,
His finish is an illusion of crawling through a large, spin- props, and 300 people. Alex has his own room on the train, a
ning fan. “It’s the only illusion that I just present, as an act, sort of small apartment. “After traveling on the Disney show,
instead of integrating it into another sequence. You have to staying in different hotels, the train is fantastic. It’s really
remember, I’m not performing the Ringling Brothers Magic spoiled me. It’s like always having your own room, no mat-
Show,” Alex says. “After the show, I often hear from magicians ter where you travel.” Invariably, each performer discovers
that they’re surprised how much magic is in the show. My job the joy of falling asleep in front of the window, watching the
is to make the magic look great, of course. But my job is also countryside roll by. “And, of course, we’ve all had the experi-
to make it fit into the circus.” ence of waking up and discovering that the train has stopped
Alex was surprised by the tight-knit world of the circus. at a crossing, and people staring in the window at you!”
“If you think that the world of magicians is small, you’d be Besides the logistics, there are a number of secrets, behind
surprised by the circus.” Circus fans follow the shows care- the scenes, responsible for the smooth-running performance.
fully, and don’t hesitate voicing their displeasure with non- During the show, Alex wears an earpiece that allows the

48 GENII
production manager and the musical director to talk directly
to him. That means that he can be given directions if he needs
to cover, or adjust for a delay or a technical mishap. “It also
means that, sometimes, there are two people talking to me
while I’m giving my lines.”
Playing a show in 360-degrees to 12,000 spectators calls
for its own finesse. “There’s a different kind of dynamic in that
setting. You have to let the magic speak for itself. It has to be
clear and distinct, because there are a lot of distractions. Crisp,
firm motions. That’s why energy is always important; energy
in your arms, and in the core of your body. You can’t fake it. If
you’re not giving it your full energy, the audience reads it.”
“The big challenge is to always look at the audience, not
through them. Even in an arena, you make a connection with
people. There are seven different sections of people in the
arena in the lower section, not including the upper levels. It’s
particularly difficult to read the reactions from the balcony
sections, near the roof. That all seems distant, delayed. But
you still have to play the show to them. And it’s very impor-
tant to appeal to the kids, because the parents often watch
the circus through their kids’ eyes; they respond because their
kids are responding.”
Each illusion has its own timing. “All your focus has to be
where you need the audience to focus, and you might need
a pause, an extra beat, that might not be necessary onstage.
I’ve learned to wait for applause,” Alex says. “The audience
really wants to applaud, but they have to catch up with you.
In this setting, they sometimes react, then look down the row
at their friends or their kids, then look back at me before the
reactions start.”
In any new arena, Alex walks the empty room and gets
a feeling for the zones of the audience before the lights are
lowered. “The job of a ringmaster is all about multitasking.”
He’s “on” during the whole show, continually checking techni-
cal elements, noticing if anything’s wrong, or anything needs
to be fixed. Because it’s such a complicated show, filled with
potential dangers or mistakes, if there’s water on the ground,
or something isn’t plugged in at the right time, he reports it
to make sure that the show won’t be delayed. “You can’t have
blinders on. You really have to be aware of everything, all the
time, and have a sense of what’s behind you. I think that’s a
great lesson for a magician, because that sort of awareness is
also necessary for our work.”
The circus is, itself, a sort of steamroller being driven by
hundreds of performers, technicians, and musicians. It keeps
rolling, rolling in the interest of entertainment, and it can flat-
ten someone who gets in the way. Alex’s success has been to
figuratively hop on the top of the steamroller.
The levitation trick is a good example. “The Parent
Levitation is like a madhouse onstage. You’ve got three kids,
three parents. There are three different stations on the arena
floor, and I have to be in synch with the other performers
who help with the audience management. They’ll signal me if
something’s wrong, or if I have to handle a situation. I have to
be sure to direct the focus to each kid, and then get the focus
back for the hoop moves.”
SEPTEMBER 2010 49
 Mistakes are inevitable, of course. Animals can be unpre-
dictable. “One night the little dog, Pillin (pronounced Pe-
Jean), that appears out of the doghouse, decided that he
wasn’t going back into it. And, you know,
I’ve got to get that dog! The trainers have
just taken the other dogs offstage, so I
was on my own. I ended up chasing him
around the arena. By the time I caught
him, I was laughing. Fortunately, the audi-
ence was laughing as well.”
But a smooth show means that most
mistakes are cleverly buried. “You can’t
waste the time of 10,000 people. The kids
who come up from the audience aren’t on
a microphone. So if a kid says something
funny onstage, the audience is 30 feet
away. They can’t hear it. I don’t have time
to repeat it. I can’t laugh at it, or the audi-
ence becomes annoyed that I’m laughing.
If they can’t see what’s happening, it’s
irresponsible of me.” On more than one
occasion, when Alex asks the kid’s name,
he’s received some mumbled responses.
“I just say, ‘Michael!’ or some other name,
50 GENII
because I can’t really stop the show for that.”
The steamroller moves on …
In Las Vegas, Alex’s show invited a parade of great magi-
cians, and he was excited to meet many
of the performers he’d admired over the
years. In Los Angeles, the load-in at Staples
Center was delayed for the Michael Jackson
Memorial. Alex was invited to attend the
memorial, then the circus staff raced to
prepare for their Los Angeles premiere.
“I have to say, I’ve never really been ner-
vous during the Ringling Show. I’ve been
excited to be in major cities, but never
really nervous. I suppose that I was more
hesitant during the Disney show, a much
smaller show.” Alex pauses, considering
his explanation. “I really prepared myself
for the circus, I did everything I could
to be ready. Maybe that’s why I’ve always
been comfortable in the arena.”
✦
Alex remembers a conversation from win-
ter quarters. “Kenneth Feld told me, ‘After
 this, you’ll be able to do anything.’ I now know what he
meant. It’s hard to describe, but that position of Ringmaster
really changes your perspective. No one gets it unless they do
it—how you have to focus on the performance, how you give
all your attention to details of the show.
“I know that Kenneth and Nicole have given me something
that few people have, the opportunity.” There’s something
about this mixture of self-confidence and humility that is the
secret to Alex’s appeal. You want to root for the winner, and
you want that winner to be a nice guy. “More than anything
else, Ringling taught me to be versatile.”
That versatility will be put to the test when Alex leaves the
circus and steps out on his own. “I’ve already started to put
some plans in the works,” Alex explains. “There are some
interesting projects for next year and some good opportuni-
ties.” He thinks for a moment, and adds, “And I suppose I
really shouldn’t be talking about them yet.”
But most of all, he wants a little time off in the Bay Area
with his family. “For the beginning of 2011, I’m really looking
forward to spending some time at home,” he says with a sigh.
“I’ve been touring for five years. It really wouldn’t bother me to
do some shows around that area, some small shows.” By small,
he presumably means for audiences less than 12,000 people.
“It will be really enjoyable performing shows on that scale
again. Of course, I won’t have the pyro, the confetti cannons,
the elephants, the moving lights … .” He laughs,
fully aware just how much his perspective
has changed.
This fall, Zing, Zang, Zoom comes to an end, and Ringling
Brothers, Barnum & Bailey will mount another Red Unit Circus.
The Blue Unit, the 140th, is already on the road celebrating
Barnum’s 200th birthday with a show called Funundrum. Very
soon, the magical circus, the disappearing elephant, divided
clown, and the illusionist “Zingmaster” will be chapters in the
long, storied circus history.
“The big challenge is what he’s going to do next,” Jay
Alexander says. “That’s what I want to see, because he’s going
to have to engineer his own success.” Based on Alex’s focus,
that next step is definitely going to be interesting. “He’s
driven,” Jay says, “and he has momentum behind his career
right now.” Whatever direction he moves, it will be a different
direction, and something worth watching.
“Even in the middle of the circus ring, in those costumes, lit
with the beams of four Supertrooper spotlights, I can still see
the young guy standing in the magic shop in San Francisco,”
Marshall Magoon says. “His enthusiasm, his love for what he’s
doing still comes through. That’s what people respond to. As
long as Alex can keep doing that, audiences will find him.” •
SEPTEMBER 2010 51