The show starts with a full cast dance number and when the performers stand before us, you realize that artistic director Jaron Hollander’s notion of the circus is much closer to theater than is Cirque du Soleil’s. Here, we’re confronted with character types, not categories of performers. There’s an angry teen, an anarchist punk, a conservative Republican family, a Ring Mistress with a whip, a little girl, and two fairies — one kind of devilish and the other a bit of an angel.