Ed Henry, Bryan Voltaggio, Ben Olsen, Dwayne De Rosario & Josh Wolff Caught Clowning Around At Circus!

CHINATOWN -- Thursday night’s opening show for the latest Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey performance to hit the District had all of the trappings of what you would expect from the world’s most famous circus: Clowns, acrobats, elephants, jugglers, strongmen, high-wire acts, White House correspondents, Top Chef stars, etc. (more on those last two in a bit).

Fox News’ Ed Henry and family.

Dubbed ‘Fully Charged’, the current production of ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ will call the Verizon Center home from now through Sunday (Baltimore and Fairfax, Virginia thereafter) with a smorgasbord of both daytime and evening performances timelessly designed for children of all ages.

To celebrate the arrival of the circus to Washington, the producers at Feld Entertainment rolled-out the red carpet for a lucky handful of VIP families before yesterday’s show, during an exclusive pre-performance party.

NBC4’s Eun Yang and Poshbrood’s Elizabeth Thorp.
Spotted clowning around with their kids inside the venue’s tony Acela Club was a diverse group of local notables, including Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry and his wife, CNN Weekend Coverage Manager Shirley Henry, MSNBC commentator Richard Wolfe, Ashcroft Group Founding Principal Juleanna Glover, Washington Post reporter Anne Kenderdine, The List Are You On It editor Nycci Nellis, Poshbrood founder and HuffPo scribe Elizabeth Thorp, and NBC4 anchor Eun Yang, among others.

D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen and family.

Players Josh Wolff and Dwayne De Rosario with kids.
Representing the city’s beloved sports franchises was D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen, along with fellow players and assistant coaches Dwayne De Rosario, Josh Wolff, Brian Goodstein, Dave Kasper, Doug Hicks, Mike Harloff, Carlos Saaverdra, Brian Goodstein, and Pat Onstad.

Thacher and Bryan Voltaggio.
Top Chef runner-up and Volt owner Bryan Voltaggio was even there with son Thacher Voltaggio serving-up dessert pops from the top-ranked Frederick, Maryland-based restaurant!

From the opening ‘Spark The Show!’ act to the grand ‘Fully Charged!’ finale, the current production of the Ringling Bros. circus surely entertains. Yet in the end, all of the animals, slapstick bits, and death-defying acts pale in comparison to the surrounding sound of laughter coming from all of the kids in attendance – big or small.