There is a temptation, particularly when all seems stalled and no real light seems to be appearing at the end of that proverbial tunnel, to stop. Fact is the seduction of stillness is strong. Despair is far more attractive than it is to gather oneself and move. What do you do when there’s no assured…
Johnathan Lee Iverson is the luckiest man in show business. For 48 weeks a year, he is in a different U.S. city in front of bright spotlights, wearing a radiant smile underneath a top hat, entertaining alongside a diverse cast in lively costumes and doing what he loves most – singing. “I’m a fierce advocate…
P.T. Barnum once said, “The noblest art is that of making others happy.” Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson takes that quote to heart. A classically trained singer, he understands what so many successful artists and entrepreneurs discover, often later in life: that true success comes when the emphasis is on giving, making others happy, rather than…
Three years after I married my wonderful wife, our beloved son was born. He had me at the sonogram. He was merely a centimeter when we first saw him, but he was the most precious centimeter I’d ever laid eyes on. When he was born I became certain of two things: first, I never wanted…
There I sat across the table from the legendary Vice President of Talent and Production for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®, the late Tim Holst. He’d flown into the quaint city of Fort Atkinson, WI where I was performing at The Fireside Dinner Theater to conduct my final audition, interview me, and eventually offer…
The circus is coming to town! And it still excites me just as much as it did when I was a child many moons ago. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are on their way to my home region — Nashville, Tennessee — this weekend, and it promises to be a very extraordinary event….
“The Boys Choir of Harlem Saves Lives,” is the phrase that welcomed members, including myself, to rehearsal each and every day. The expression was scrolled across a custom made flag positioned for all to see in the large rehearsal room where the Concert Choir (the performing division of the chorus) would meet to rehearse everything…
“You have what it takes to make it,” he said softly, with a look of utmost certainty in his gaze. He meant it, better still he was convinced of it and dared me to be just as convinced as he. I was floored, humbled even, if that is possible for a teenager. We were in…
