La Jolla's Re-Imagined SIDE SHOW to Include New Characters

As BroadwayWorld first reported last March, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will produce, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 2013 and will play the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater beginning June 2014. The musical features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger who will revise the show before its debut at La Jolla. Casting, creative team, and additional details will be announced at a later date.

According to an Equity casting notice, the revised version of the show will include some new characters- 'Auntie/Loretta' and 'Sir/Todd Browning.' While the latter seems to be a similar to 'The Boss,' who sang the opening song in the original production, the other is described as 'the woman who saved the twins from abandonment but began to display them as curiosities for money.' Additional new characters will include a Texas lawyer named 'Martin Arnold,' and a vaudeville performer named 'Ray.'

Based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton who became stars during the Depression, Side Show is a moving portrait of two women joined at the hip whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love.

The original 1997 Broadway production of Side Show was directed by Robert Longbottom and received four Tony nominations, including a shared nomination for co-stars Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, the only time in Tony history where two people were co-nominated for the Best Actress award.

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