Side Show parades onto the Theatre Memphis Lohrey Stage March 10, 2017, and struts its human cavalcade through April 2, 2017. This musical is based on a true story, which is a spectacle in and of itself, focusing on the lives of conjoined twin women, Violet and Daisy Hilton, who became famous stage performers in the 1930’s. Conflict eventually separates the two emotionally as one wants a husband and home and the other wants fame and fortune. Only heartbreak brings them back together as they move forward with their careers and lives.
Filled with characters known to be associated with the travelling carnival shows of past eras, the stranger the oddity in the script the more normal to the story. Reaching into the lives of the likes of a Lizard Man, the Bearded Lady, a Tattoo Girl or the Human Pin Cushion, the comradery and the chaos is central to the plot. The Hilton sisters have suitors who complicate their lives and who figuratively pull them from one another as they learn to cope with their differences.
Casting this show was the immediate challenge to director Ann Marie Hall. “We started the audition process quite early for the two female leads who play conjoined twins,” Hall says. Not only did they have to be of similar size and build, but also they had to be excellent singers, dancers and actors. It was important that they also ”get along with each other”. While the characters quite literally are attached at the hip, Hall adds, “I wanted to give them time to grow on each other emotionally….” Hall cast Gia Welch and Dani Chaum in the leading roles.
Theatre Memphis Executive Producer Debbie Litch says a musical like this can be quite a surprise to the public. “Telling someone about this show could raise an eyebrow or two, but when you hear the music of this show and get to the heart of the story like Ann Marie can, it is double the pleasure. I know our patrons will love this cast full of outcasts.”
Review of Side Show
By: Kevin Shaw
Two Be or Not Two Be
For almost two decades now, I’ve been driving around Memphis listening to the cd recording of Side Show. I fell in love with the music after realizing the show’s musical librettist and lyricist was Bill Russell—the same talent who also wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Pageant, a show which I choreographed years ago at Circuit Playhouse. I also fell in love with the “idea” of Side Show—a story about conjoined twins who escape a traveling “freak show” to make it big in Hollywood. I once heard Andrew Lloyd Webber say in an interview that often the best subjects for musicals are ones that don’t sound like they’d make for great musicals—e.g. Eva Peron (Evita), train racing competitions with a spiritual slant (Starlight Express), cat poems (Cats), etc. I’d venture to say that many people back in 1997 didn’t immediately think a story about conjoined twins would make for a good musical either, which convinced me that it was destined to be a hit! I was wrong. It closed on Broadway after just 91 performances. What went wrong? The story was unique, the songs were amazing, etc. How could it flop?
Fast forward to 2014 and the Broadway revival. When I heard the show was being revived, I knew in my bones that if there were ever a show that deserved a second chance, this was it. Again, great music and a unique story! Side Show was going to find an audience this time around and become a massive Broadway hit. It closed in seven weeks. Unbelievable! What was I (and the producers who put up millions of dollars for this revival) missing? The critics loved the show! The NYC tourists from middle America didn’t.
When Theatre Memphis announced the show as part of their 2016-2017 season, I was excited to see if I could figure out what went so terribly wrong, not once, but twice. Did I mention the great music and unique story? Oh, I did? Did I mention that a “unique story” is not the same as a “great story?” Oh, perhaps I should. Side Show is a great concept, but not a great story.
Many of the most successful Broadway musicals have a similar theme—an unlovable creature just wanting to be loved (the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera, the beast from Beauty and the Beast, Evan Hansen from Dear Evan Hansen) and Side Show fits perfectly (in concept) into this fail-safe formula. Even the opening number, “Come Look at The Freaks” is the creators’ attempt at getting you to “sign the contract” that you are going to automatically love this show about society’s castaways just as you’ve done so many times in the past, but there’s a catch—surprisingly, Daisy and Violet Hilton aren’t freaks. They are two young, beautiful and talented women, each with two arms and two legs who can sing and dance. They’re not two heads stuck on just one body. They don’t walk around the stage awkwardly like the Elephant Man (in fact they glide in perfect unison). They are two, lily white women who are joined ever so slightly at the hip. When you put these two onstage and surround them with a bearded lady, a man with 3 legs, a reptilian man and a dog boy, it’s hard to pinpoint your sympathy on the twins. Compared to everyone else, they’ve got it made. If Dog Boy were given the show’s signature song, “Who Will Love Me as I Am?” the resounding answer would be, “No one,” but when the Hilton sisters sing the song (perverts not included), you think, “Plenty!”
Theatre Memphis’ production which opened this past weekend and runs through April 10 th is director Ann Marie Hall’s best musical to date. Technically, the show is solid. The set, costumes, lighting, etc. are all top notch. Jeff Brewer’s led orchestra is the best I’ve heard in years. The cast (except for a couple of performances) is also solid, with special kudos to the two knockout performances by local high school actresses who play Daisy Hilton (Dani Chaum) and Violet Hilton (Gia Welch). Their voices (especially Welch’s) are rich, deep and never disappoint. Their signature songs (“Who Will Love Me as I Am” and “I Will Never Leave You”) are worth the price of admission alone, but they’re almost too pretty to garner any sympathy from the audience. The backstory detailing their difficult path to Vaudeville always shone a negative light on the people in their lives, never on the twins. Unlike, the Phantom or the Beast, these girls were never “ugly” on the inside or out, so loving them is never difficult. It’s a love/hate conflict we, as an audience, never get to experience. Simeon Johnson’s forlorn portrayal of Jake (who is secretly, but sincerely in love with Violet) is lessened by the actor’s flat facial affect, but he’s got a singing voice that almost stops the show with his rendition of “You Should be Loved.” Charles McGowan (Sir) is appropriately sleazy as the leader of the “freaks” and Standrew Parker (Buddy) does his best (almost trying a little too hard) to play the honest, but conflicted Buddy Foster who agrees to marry one of the twins as a publicity stunt. The rest of the cast make up the band of misfits in a striking and convincing fashion.
Go see Side Show. It’s a show that deserves to be seen and especially heard. It’s not perfect, but to no fault of Ms. Hall and her solid production. Daisy and Violet Hilton certainly had a difficult life and were surrounded by more than their share of freaks, they just weren’t one (or two) of them.
Grade: B
