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.
Despite what seemed like weeks of buzz about its radical transformations, the revival of Side Show that opened on Broadway tonight is not as meaningfully different from the 1997 original as its current creatives would like to think. Now as then, the cult musical about the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton is itself conjoined. (There's no avoiding the Siamese imagery; many of the songs, and even the title, play on the theme.) The story of the Hiltons' rise from circus freaks to vaudeville stars in the early 1930s, with all the requisite references to cultural voyeurism and its human costs, is fused to an intimate story of emotional accommodation between sisters as unalike as sisters can be. The problem with Side Show is that these stories can't be separated, and only one can thrive.
For a musical about true-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, the strange and stirring 'Side Show' has a nagging habit of losing its grip. Chalk it up to dramatic inconsistencies and thin characterizations. Even so, there's a lot to like about the revised vision...Beyond a laudably offbeat topic, two very good leading ladies and a shadowy, evocative design, this show's most stunning jewels are brilliant songs by composer Henry Krieger and lyricist Bill Russell, who revamped the book with director Bill Condon...Despite its unusual material, this reimagined 'Side Show' remains standard singing bio. Par for the course, the tale of two long-forgotten curios zips along quickly but feels like a lot is missing -- and what's here is sanitized...We take a journey with these dreamgirls, but there's no truly satisfying payoff -- or a portrait that goes deeper than the skin.
1997 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2006 |
Welsh Revival |
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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 |
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