A New York City staple and undeniable spectacle, The Big Apple Circus, featuring acrobats, contortionists, magic, and more, returns to Manhattan at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park from November 7, 2025 to January 4, 2025. There are several ways for veterans, first responders, and others to score discounts to the event that has wowed New Yorkers for nearly five decades.
The circus first launched in 1977 and has often participated in community outreach, producing programs like “Clown Care,” which placed clown performers in hospital settings, and hosting special performances sensitive to those with special needs. This year, the show, which has travelled around the world and held its first performance at Damrosch Park in 1982, features “an all-new production that will enthrall audiences of all ages with daring stunts, comedy bits, and classic thrills,” according to their website.
Performers include the Bone Breakers, contortionists from Guinea, Africa, with “limbs that twist, snap, and spiral in ways that defy the laws of nature”; the Kung Fu Boys, who will “unleash a storm of martial arts mastery fused with fearless acrobatics”; and the Flying Maluendas, “gravity-defying daredevils” from Chile, among a slew of other performers (some of them with four legs).
Tickets start at $26 on select dates. Veterans and first responders can receive a 10% off admission by showing their ID at the door. Veterans can also receive a special 50% discounted rate for Veteran’s Day on Tuesday November 11 by entering promo code VETERANS at the ticketing website at eventim.com. People with disabilities or special needs can attend a performance on November 9 through Lincoln Center’s Passport to the Arts Program, which “provides a welcoming, accessible, and cost-free introduction to the performing arts at Lincoln Center,” according to their website. Everyone else can score a 20% discount for select dates through Groupon.
For more info about the Circus, performers, and dates, visit bigapplecircus.com.