Well, it was nice because the Soviet Union had failed and fallen and there was a feeling of kindness/connectedness in the audience. Strangely, this brilliant troupe of circus performers ended up stranded in the USA because Russia defaulted on their plane fares and hotel costs. I never found out what happened to them.
Yes. Your memory obviously held more import than mine considering the events of the time. It was talk of the Garden and anthems that brought that story back to me.
I did a bit of searching but couldn’t find out the resolution to that problem. Seems like it is not uncommon in the circus world. The Great Moscow Circus went belly-up in Australia recently stranding performers, but TPTB are trying to keep it going.