The high point, literally, of the show comes from a pair of Brazilian ceiling walkers named Ari and Mari, who are hilarious as they go about their daily routines - upside down in a topsy turvy room suspended from the top of the Garden's ceiling.

One of the attractions of a three-ring circus like Ringling Bros. is the big animals, and this show gives you 10 dancing Asian elephants, a fascinating sight with their sad, laughing faces and gallumphing grace.

RINGLING BROS. and BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS

At Madison Square Garden, through April 11.

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THE Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus turns itself upside down in its new show at Madison Square Garden.

The high point, literally, of the show comes from a pair of Brazilian ceiling walkers named Ari and Mari, who are hilarious as they go about their daily routines - upside down in a topsy turvy room suspended from the top of the Garden's ceiling.

It's a mystery how they move about, with Mary's pony tails hanging down - although my captivated, 5-year-old son Max insisted they stayed fixed to their floor-cum-ceiling by means of powerful magnets in their shoes.

However they do it, it's a hoot to watch them juggling upside down, bouncing a ball, dancing upside down and even - whoops! - pouring drinks upside down.

Ari and Mari make up the freshest, most unusual spectacle in a show that combines circus staples with new takes on the old.

As in years past, Ringling Bros. tries to answer the age-old question of how many clowns fit in a Volkswagen.

This time the answer is nine. Nine very fat sumo wrestler clowns, that is - which Max, the silliness expert in my house, thought was uproariously funny.

The expert was also tickled by a giant mouth that chases a dental assistant across the three rings.

One of the attractions of a three-ring circus like Ringling Bros. is the big animals, and this show gives you 10 dancing Asian elephants, a fascinating sight with their sad, laughing faces and gallumphing grace.

At another point, a herd of beautiful white horses gallops around the center ring following mysterious rhythms

But this show also includes a string of depressingly lethargic lions literally prodded through their routines, and with none of the ferocity or power they are supposed to invoke.

Star clown David Larible is very funny here as a comic magician.

He pulls a woman and her boyfriend down from the audience and locks the reluctant beau inside a cage so he can make a move on the man's ladyfriend.

Things get even wackier when he turns the boyfriend into a goat.

This year's show was co-produced by Nicole Feld, the daughter of longtime circus head Kenneth Feld, and directed by Sylvia Hase, making it the first time Ringling Bros. has had women in its top spots.

One of their best moves has been the addition of singer Danette Sheppard, as a more soulful counterpart to brassy ring-master Kevin Venardos.

The two-hour, 20-minute show's finale reprises an act Ringling Bros. presented last year, with motorcycles whizzing around inside a hollow globe made of steel grating.

Last year they managed to cram six motorcycles inside - a truly thrilling spectacle. This year a new twist was added when parts of the globe peeled away as four bikes sped around, creating the illusion that they might spin dangerously off into space.

My 5-year-old chaperone couldn't have been happier.