It Should Be Loved! SIDE SHOW is Broadway Bound - Reviews, Pics, Videos & More!

By: Jul. 14, 2014
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As BroadwayWorld recently reported, the Hilton sisters may soon be coming back to New York. According to The New York Times, three sources in the theater industry have confirmed that producers of the re-imagined production, which just concluded its run at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (following playing San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse earlier this year), are in talks to bring the show to Broadway - as early as this fall.

Lead producer Darren Bagert is reportedly meeting with "potential producing partners" to discuss a possible transfer of the production, which has received strong reviews in Washington D.C., though he could not "confirm or deny" the news. A spokesperson for the creators of the musical declined to comment. Should SIDE SHOW make its way to New York, sources say the St. James Theater, currently occupied by BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, could possibly be a good fit for the production.

In preparation of a possible Broadway opening, BroadwayWorld brings you a recap of the show's success at both San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse and Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center!


Check out production shots from the San Diego and the DC versions.

Kennedy Center Reviews:

Charles Isherwood, New York Times: The director of the movies "Gods and Monsters" and "Dreamgirls" (with music by Mr. Krieger), Mr. Condon has forsaken the stripped-down approach taken by the original director, Robert Longbottom, in favor of a brighter, more vivid visual style. (David Rockwell designed the lavish sets.) In the original version's opening number, "Come Look at the Freaks," the players in the side show appeared essentially normal, only striking the occasional pose to suggest a deformity. Here, the costumes (by Paul Tazewell) and makeup (by Cookie Jordan and the married team Dave Elsey and Lou Elsey) elaborately evoke their physical aberrances, bringing to disturbing life the prurient aspect of the side shows that were popular entertainments in the Depression, when the musical takes place.

Paul Harris, Variety: With Condon and the original creative duo making wholesale revisions, the team has realigned the book from an abstract work to a more vivid biographical piece based on the true story of the Hilton twins, adding 10 new numbers and cutting others. The revised storyline might register as more compelling than convincing, but it breezes along nicely under Condon's sturdy hand and is adorned with polish in every department... Erin Davie andEmily Padgett, playing Violet and Daisy, lead a first-rate cast. With their inspiring soprano voices, comedic timing and obvious compatibilities (they even look like twins), the two are thoroughly convincing as sensitive gals who just want to be like everyone else.

Watch highlights from both DC and San Diego!

Peter Marks, Washington Post: In the extensively rewritten version of the musical at the Kennedy Center, re-engineered under the guidance of director Bill Condon, this song remains pretty much the same. It's the "freaks" who've been radically reconceived. On Broadway, the singers were exotic only in the mind's eye. Now, in the incarnation starting preview performances Saturday, they've been cast and elaborately costumed to resemble the "attractions" they describe: the human pincushion, the pygmies, the lizard man, the living Venus, the dog boy, the geek.


La Jolla Reviews:

Don Grigware, BroadwayWorld: Side Show demands to be seen. True, it is not a show for the squeamish, but it contains so much relevance to the daily workings of humanity. Who is normal, after all? And...everyone deserves love, and the manner in which Daisy and Violet treat one another is a great life lesson for one and all. Thanks to Russell, Krieger and Condon, the show has new songs that delve into the girls' interior feelings, and the entire show benefits to the max. Side Show is now a sturdier, more complete portrait of the Hilton twins, and still high on entertainment, maybe higher.

Bob Verini, Variety: Bill Condon has reworked "Side Show," the 1997 tuner succes d'estime - translation, floppo with cult status - into a handsome production that will follow its bow at the La Jolla Playhouse with a Kennedy Center run in the summer. Redux firms up the backstory of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton and provides a fitting showcase for one of the 1990s' greatly underappreciated scores. If the spectacle doesn't quite take flight, for reasons old and new, unquestionably it dazzles.

James Hebert, San Diego Union-Times: The show, in sum, could lose a little gloss and use a bit more grit - a feel for the sisters' struggles beyond their romantic troubles with the two showmen, Terry (Manoel Felciano) and Buddy (Matthew Hydzik), who take them from the seamy sideshow life to vaudeville fame. Still, Bill Russell's book and lyrics brim with gentle wit and humanity. And "Dreamgirls" composer Henry Krieger's tuneful "Side Show" music gives Davie (part of another very unusual duo in Broadway's "Grey Gardens") and Padgett ("Rock of Ages," "Legally Blonde") plenty of opportunity to double down on gorgeous harmonies.

Click here for an interview with leading ladies Erin Davie and Emily Padgett

Charles McNulty, LA Times: This retooled version doesn't solve all the musical's problems, but it capitalizes on the lurid showbiz milieu and it powerfully magnifies the heart of this more or less true tale of the Hilton sisters, "Siamese twins" who became a vaudeville sensation.


Side Show features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger, and is directed by Academy Award winner Bill Condon.

The musical stars Erin Davie as Violet Hilton and Emily Padgett as Daisy Hilton, as well as Matthew Hydzik as Buddy Foster, Robert Joy as Sir, Ryan Silverman as Terry Connor, and David St. Louis as Jake. Additional casting includes Brandon Bieber, Charity Dawson, Lauren Elder, Derek Hanson, Javier Ignacio, Jordanna James, Guy Lockard, Kelvin Moon Loh, Barrett Martin, Con O'Shea Creal, Matthew Patrick Davis, Don Richard, Blair Ross,Hannah Shankman,Jason Walker, and Delaney Westfall.

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.



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