The Greatest Showman

There’s been no shortage of features about Carnival darling Ron Barrett. Recently, while chatting at a cocktail party, Ron shared the news that he has moved into a new warehouse downtown – a warehouse to beat all warehouses. Naturally, ACCESS asked for an exclusive inside look into his world of larger-than-life papier-mâché, gilded champagne glasses, whimsical whipped confections, towering columns, and the random zebra on wheels. Our visit with the mastermind of Mardi Gras was too good not to share.

By Hayley Hill / Photos Layla Lambert

 I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t think the world of Ron, myself included. However, I wasn’t prepared for the flood of admiration and jaw-dropping awe I experienced when I stepped off the St. Louis Street sidewalk into his newly acquired warehouse. Filled with natural light flooding through a sea of skylights, this expansive space shows the scale and scope of the work Ron and his team accomplish. Only one other man comes to mind in terms of comparison.

Clearly, I’m referring to the one and only P.T. Barnum. If you don’t happen to have a teenage daughter whose life depended on countless viewings, “The Greatest Showman” film tells the story of P.T. Barnum. Growing up in the early 1800s, P.T. Barnum displayed a natural talent for publicity and all things grand. By 12 years old he was selling lottery tickets. After various jobs, P.T. turned to showbusiness to indulge his limitless imagination, rising from nothing to create the Barnum & Bailey circus. His mesmerizing spectacle soon took the world by storm with his troupe of exotic performers and daring acrobats to become the greatest show on Earth.

While many may not realize it, if you’ve participated in Mardi Gras you’ve more than likely been transported to a different time or place through Ron’s creative stamp. His work most notably includes creating Carnival ball stages where royals take their reign, krewe’s welcome their guests with elaborate Broadway-worthy openings, and countless debutantes are introduced to society. “Last year we installed 34 Carnival stages along with Mobile Ballet stages, and several prom, graduation, and dance recital stages,” Ron says. “The natures of the Mardi Gras ball installations are really as diverse as the organizations themselves. Several of the Carnival groups lean on me for themes, stage and costume drawings, and float designs.” Ron says that some groups come to him with their themes all set, and that he and his team then produce every detail of their events. “We have three balls coming up where we will supply the tableau design, dancers and costumes, and scripted actors to tell their story,” Ron shares.

 Bigger than a three-ring circus, Ron doesn’t do this alone and is quick to give credit where credit is due. “My hat goes off to Jim Sapser,” he says. “As my right hand, he completely gets it. He manages several departments at one time, directs and inspires the artists and florists, and somehow ensures the set-up and take-down of every job we do. I am only right in the middle of this at 70 years of age because Jim Sapser keeps it all pulled together,” Ron beams. An adored duo who not only set up the crème de la crème events, Ron and Jim are thrilled to attend them and support their special causes as well. Behind the scenes at Mobile Ballet’s recent Nutcracker Charity Ball, these gents started out on ladders sporting khakis and prepping the scene, yet in the blink of an eye were in tuxedos sipping champagne with guests.

 With the stages getting bigger and more elaborate every year, Ron says they employ a small local army. “We are so proud of our working event-stage and prop warehouse and our full-time employees and craftsmen,” Ron says. “Currently, we are enjoying the most talented and aggressive team I have ever known. We have a close group of full-time stage painters and some of the best conceptional and construction artists imaginable,” Ron shares.

 So why the new digs? “We’ve maintained a large warehouse for Mardi Gras for 41 years, and as our sets became more elaborate, we began to inventory the stage props,” Ron says. “The move into this new warehouse has been life-altering and monumental, as the space allows for the ultimate organization and production all under one roof. It took seven months and $17K in labor to move, and this was with us throwing away about a third of everything we owned. I really don’t think I could ever go through this again,” jokes Ron.

A true Carnival chronicler, Ron shares that “Historically, Mobile Mardi Gras decorations were homemade with tongue-in-cheek last-minute stages, always made with refrigerator boxes and butcher paper. I am still the great protector of this homemade Carnival look we have here. Rather than the commercial glossy mylar and fiberglass seen in New Orleans, we’re about vibrant, rich, artistic creations that tell the group’s story. It’s more personal and seems like those on the stage did it themselves. The stages here are frequently like a silly dream or something so off the cuff that they dare not even say it! That’s the Carnival feel I still protect,” declares Ron.

Able to lay his hands on a life-like turtle or a disco ball in just seconds in this epitome of organized chaos, we wonder how Ron landed here. “Nobody ever taught me how this works,” he says. “Nobody. The Mobile Press Register used to show some of the stages in the paper and I was fascinated with the large cut-out artwork. I would go to the Civic Center just to study how a Rogene Locke or Joe Andrade set-up was all pulled together. Imagine cardboard appliance boxes duct taped to chairs and florist foil pinned to curtains,” recalls Ron.

On the ugly side, he wasn’t always welcomed. “When I started constructing the stages in 1970, all of the local union people and stage managers stood vigilant to keep me uninformed and out of the way, especially the manager of the Civic Center,” he says. “However, I was unbelievably relentless to worm my way into the Carnival scene by doing awful room decoration jobs for ladies’ groups.” In 1979, Ron put in a bid against the renowned Leon Zimlich and got to decorate the floor for The F.F.F. and for The Thalians. “I think about Leon talking down to me and refusing to even look at me, where today I could buy HIM a drink and a steak!” he shares.

As for his creativity, “This comes easy to me, as the nature of the balls never change; just the themes and people,” Ron says. “It’s an unspoken secret that Mardi Gras groups are so different in structure, family-involvement, and social-economic strata. Some never listen and micromanage, and some let us work our magic with minimal interference. But at the end of the day, it’s about a group of people coming together to honor time-tested traditions and their Queen or Leading Lady,” he says. “It does worry me, though, that there is not one person in Mobile who even attempts to install Mardi Gras ball stages. If there is anyone that wants to understand the homemade look of Mobile Mardi Gras, I would teach them everything I ever figured out for myself!”