Welcome to The LEGEND Cirque

Step back in time. It’s the 1800’s. Hear the clamoring metal horseshoes click across cobblestone roads in this dark Sleepy Hollow tale. The LEGEND CIRQUE is a simmering adaptation of Washington Irving’s iconic ghost story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Audiences will be treated to a cirque/theatre noir production with narration by Washington Irving himself – in hologram form, in a simmering retelling of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!”

 The LEGEND CIRQUE is a new, total immersive experience with the groundbreaking use of holograms of Washington Irving and the Headless Horseman, combined with live action circus performers to tell the story.

Set in Sleepy Hollow and ‘Tarry Town’ in the early 1800s, Irving returns to present-day to tell us what he really meant by ‘the legend.’ The story follows schoolteacher Ichabod Crane (played by Justin Durham – hand balancer and straps artist) who has, of late, been down on his luck but finds adventure when he accepts an invitation to teach the children of Sleepy Hollow.

Everything changes when the beautiful heiress of the Van Tassel fortune, Katrina Van Tassel (played by third generation circus artist Zoë Heywood), enters the ballroom of her father’s holiday party by performing a seductive aerial ballet on silks. Crane is stricken by his good fortune and believes he has the savoir faire to win her hand (and her father’s money).

When Katrina’s assumed beau, Brom Bones (Mickey Lonsdale – comedic actor and acrobatic dancer), sees Katrina’s interest in Crane, the game is afoot! Crane finds himself involved in what may become a deadly love triangle, spurred by the practical (and perhaps deadly) jokes of Brom Bones. What neither suitor realizes is that Katrina is in possession of a ‘very particular set of skills’ and can summon ‘the Dark Spirit’ (played by Doug Stewart of Cirque Us) with incantations reminiscent of ‘The Exorcist.’ The intrigue mounts: is the ‘Dark Spirit’ the ghostly and ghastly Headless Horseman villagers see at night in pursuit of his prey? Or is it something else that causes Crane to vanish suddenly one night in an epic battle between ‘light’ and ‘dark’?

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Producing The LEGEND CIRQUE has been a years-long endeavor by The Village of Sleepy Hollow’s Administrator Anthony Giaccio and the Village’s grant writer Fiona Matthew. The Village re-engaged longtime collaborators Westchester Circus Arts to create a show that would celebrate the bicentennial publication of this story, so unique to Sleepy Hollow. Now it’s back for a second year by popular demand!