P.T. Barnum: The Master Showman

Phoenixville Public Library presents “P.T. Barnum: The Master Showman”, a fully-staged, one-man entertainment, on Thursday, April 4 at 6:45 PM.  Neill Hartley portrays master showman P.T. Barnum in this exciting and entertaining look at one of the most colorful and well-known personalities of all time, who brought high and low culture to all of America.

A brilliant and shameless promoter, Barnum gave the wise public of the 19th century shameless hucksterism, peerless spectacle, and everything in between — enough entertainment to earn the title “master showman” a dozen times over.  Barnum weathered accusations of fraud with the attitude that there was no such thing as bad press, and he became one of the richest men in America.  Audiences will watch his fame grow with a parade of freaks and oddities from “The Fejee Mermaid”, the tiny General Tom Thumb to Jumbo the elephant and then share his crowning success, “The Greatest Show on Earth”!  Following the performance will be a short informational section about the history of the circus, and of P.T Barnum’s life outside of the entertainment world, including a short reading from his book, The Art of Money Getting. A question and answer will conclude the presentation.  Neill Hartley is professional actor who has performed with many local and regional theaters and is on the theater faculty of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.

This event is free and open to the public.  Registration is required at https://ccls.libcal.com/calendar/Phoenixville/pt-barnum or by calling 610-933-3013 x132.  Email mp****@cc**.org for more information.  Phoenixville Public Library is located at 183 Second Avenue, Phoenixville, PA.