Dodge told Playbill.com that she will direct the 141st edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which launches at Madison Square Garden in March 2011. "We go into rehearsal right after Thanksgiving," Dodge said, "and I'm directing [and] taking [Ragtime's] Derek McLane with me to do the sets and [Wicked's] Susan Hilferty to do costumes. It's going to be a big Broadway team working on it, so we're really excited."

If experience is the key, the famed regional director shouldn't have any trouble directing "The Greatest Show on Earth." "Strangely enough," Dodge said, "I worked with elephants when I first started out in New York. I did an event at the Bronx Zoo, I did an elephant festival, and I've worked overseas in South Korea, so I've worked with some international performers and had to work with a translator. So I think that I have a little, teeny, tiny bit of experience," she laughed. "But the whole way that we invent the show is so different than doing a musical because you start with all of the acts and then you go in and try to create a theme, a narrative, loosely.

"But I got to hire a full design and creative team – book writer, composer, lyricist, designers that I was able to select in collaboration with Nicole and Alana Feld, who are the producers." The production will feature book and lyrics by Jeremy Desmon with music by Craig Safan.

"It's actually very, very exciting, and I'm a big fan of the elephants, so I'm really, really excited about it," Dodge added.