Sentence:  Meager and shabby by-products linger to haunt our memories of a once mighty protagonist ; a maladroit reharmonization of our National Anthem ( The Star-Spangled Banner ) ; a poor attempt to write an idiomatic jazz concerto ; a <WSD>circus</WSD> polka for elephants ; his hopes that the tunes from his old music might be used for popular American commercial songs ! 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a performance given by a traveling company of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals