Based on the legendary Hilton twins, Daisy and Violet, SIDE SHOW follows their heartwarming search for first love and acceptance amidst the spectacle of fame and scrutiny under the spotlight. The world of SIDE SHOW is set against the backdrop of 1920's and '30s show business that seamlessly blend the worlds of carnival, vaudeville, and Hollywood glamour.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Bill Condon (Chicago, Dreamgirls, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2, Gods and Monsters) making his Broadway debut, this exciting new staging of SIDE SHOW has "the flash and velocity of a Hollywood motion picture" and "puts gripping emotion in the main tent" (Los Angeles Times).
Don't miss this remarkable true story of two sisters. The very thing that makes them different... makes them extraordinary.
The new, improved 'Side Show' smells like a hit. Helmer Bill Condon's shrewd reworking of this short-lived 1997 cult musical by Henry Krieger and Bill Russell...is both darker in tone and lighter in theme than memory has it. Leading ladies Emily Padgett and Erin Davie are perfection as Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins in real life who were plucked out of a carnival midway by a rascal showman and transformed into vaudeville stars. A lot of things that didn't work in the original version still don't work now, but no question about it, this show has the best freaks on Broadway.
If ever there was a show that defines the phrase 'cult musical', it's Side Show...If you saw Side Show the first time around, you may not recognize it...And if you didn't see it the first time around, you're likely to leave asking: what was all the fuss about? Certainly not this leaden, sporadically moving update -- which bears little resemblance to the original production...in giving the girls a backstory...Condon subverts the show's momentum...One aspect such revisions have not messed with: the two linchpins of Side Show's score, the twins' power-ballad duets 'Who Will Love Me As I Am?' and 'I Will Never Leave You', both as heart-stopping (and tear-jerking) as ever, and Padgett and Davie are never more connected than they are in those moments...But in making Daisy and Violet's connection literal, the production robs us of a chance to fully relate to the sisters -- even if it is just, as Houdini sings, 'all in the mind.' C
1997 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2006 |
Welsh Revival |
|
2006 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Ryan Silverman |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Erin Davie |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Bill Condon |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Side Show |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Peter Hylenski |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | Side Show |
Videos