SIDE SHOW at Kennedy Center- Page 4

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/21/14 at 7:43am

That logo looks like "The Drowsy Siamese Twin."

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/21/14 at 12:42pm

I'm in the minority; I loved the original poster art. "The Drowsy" seems spot-on.

[hockeynut2]

Posted: 6/21/14 at 1:11pm

Here is David Friscic's review on DCMetroTheaterArts. You can read all the reviews in one place in Other Reviews.
http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/other-reviews/
Side Show review on DCMetroTheaterArts

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 3:44pm

Side Show Trading Cards available at the show:

[DCS]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 10:45am

Wow, love those trading cards....were they for sale at the theatre?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 11:23am

I was there Saturday night and had a great time. The musical has been improved with the shifts they've made to the book. The score remains terrific, even if it is less well sung than the original.

Davie and Padgett are lovely as the Hilton sisters. Padgett really impressed me with her timing and her voice is beautiful, with a high enough belt/mix to put over the powerful numbers for the girls. Davie, while a good Violet, doesn't have the belt to give the chills that Ripley did. It's just not the same in a head voice...and Padgett couldn't help but drown her out. That said, they both acted the roles beautifully.

Hydzik and Silverman were both great. Hydzik was helped tremendously by the changes in the book, and Buddy is less of a jerk...just a misguided man with a not-so-secret secret. Silverman was perfect. I did love his Giorgio and he was just as impressive here, likeable and smarmy. Both men have amazing voices as well.

My only problem with the cast was with David St. Louis as Jake. His performance was both overacted and oversung. He is clearly having vocal problems at this point from all of the aggressive pushing he is doing. His Jake was so protective of the girls that he just came across angry all the time. There was no sweetness that Norm Lewis conveyed. That said, he got the biggest applause, so I must be in the minority.

Robert Joy was good as Sir, but his british accent was hard to understand some of the time.

The rest of the cast was great, and they work their asses off backstage, getting in and out of costumes and characters! The design was very good, especially the costumes. The "freaks" were, well, freaky, especially the "geek" and "three legged man". The moving scaffold was efficient, if not completely original.

I recall the original staging to be constricted by the girls' inability to move efficiently, so much of the action was directed at them, rather than them feeling a part of the action. I didn't feel that with Condon's direction at all. He did a fine job keeping the sister's moving.

I did miss "Tunnel of Love", even if the song is still there in a different form.

Go see it if you can. We had box seats and there were many empty chairs, unfortunately. I can't imagine how they will get investors to mount this on Broadway...but fingers crossed!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 1:54pm

Doodle, David St. Louis sound rough when I saw the show last Wednesday.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 2:13pm

I definitely think was possibly sick, or had allergies which is giving him vocal problems, but he shouldn't be pushing so hard. It's not going to help. He was trying to milk "You Should Be Loved" so much, it was painful...and SLOW!

What did you think, Dottie? If I remember, you weren't too excited to see it.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 3:18pm

Doodle, as much as I wanted to like it, I didn't. Also, 10 or so minutes into the performance, I large school group was seated in the first three rows of the balcony (which included my row). I then had an usher insist I was in the wrong seat (which I wasn't-even after she checked my ticket). So that really put me off. The Kennedy Center got a very pointed email the following day about such incident.

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 6:47pm

Nice video footage of sideshow!

http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/video/5959/Side-Show-Lives-Again-at-DCs-Kennedy-Center

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 8:45pm

I am not impressed with their vocals not very strong

I am so used to Alice and Emily's strong power house passionate voices!

[brotherhoodofman]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 10:37am

If you are 30 or younger, the Kennedy Center has added a ton of $30 tickets to their MyTix program.

https://www.kennedy-center.org/offers/mytix/

This show is really not selling. I'm seeing it tomorrow, and here are the seats available:

Orchestra -- 31% available
Box -- 54% available
Balcony -- 66% available

Word of mouth has been outstanding, so I am looking forward to seeing this!

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 11:07am

Even with good reviews, this show is a tough sell. I don't think their current TV ad airing in the DC metro region is helping matters. It's kind of creepy with the music they chose.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/25/14 at 4:45pm

Watching clips from this production it appears that the twins costumes are physically connected at the hip. If I remember correctly in the original production the twins just held their bodies hip to hip. Am I right? (Looking forward to seeing this on Sunday.)

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:05pm

Finally able to see it! Going to tonight and will be in the balcony so I hope it's a decent enough view. I've only ever sat in the orchestra in the Eisenhower. Super exited for this, it will be my first time hearing the music and seeing the show!

[mschwager]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 4:13pm

I saw this last night and overall really enjoyed it, but would echo the sentiment that vocally, David St. Louis was struggling and just sounded totally off.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 7:24am

Really sorry to hear those comments about St. Louis. For those who say he's sick/has allergies, the scary thing is I said the exact same thing about him in the La Jolla production in Dec. I saw it three times there, and while he seemed to improve over the 3 week span between shows 1 and 3 for me, I thought he might be changed out between La Jolla and Kennedy. Thought: how about Joshua Henry for the role?

[mschwager]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 8:07am

I was thinking the same thing about Joshua Henry. I just wondered because they kept the entire cast for DC, if this transfers will they be willing to let some people go?

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 9:01am

I saw it last night AND LOVED every second of it!!

First, I'm an idiot and completely forgot that Erin Davie was in it, so you can imagine how excited I was while going through the program.

Second, holy cow costumes and set. The way they did the "Cut Them Apart"/"I Will Never Leave You" number was AMAZING. Even the first number, "Come Look at the Freaks" gave me chills.

I thought David St. Louis sounded great. A little rough at times, but I thought it added to his character rather than taking it away. But again, I have never seen the show/heard of the music before so this is coming from a first timer!

I was so impressed with this show and REALLY really enjoyed myself!

Edit: forgot to add some stuff!

I sat at the balcony on the right (row ) and there were only two people behind us. I couldn't see if the orchestra or mezzanine were full but the applause sounded like it was a full house. The thing I've noticed while comparing my experiences with Broadway shows and regional shows are that the audience in regional shows are so much more receptive to everything that's going on. I'm not sure if it's because of all of the tourists in the city and that I've only seen shows during the weekends in NY, but it's definitely why I love regional theatre.

One thing I found weird about the show was (spoiler?) the gay undertones of Buddy. I see what they were trying to do but it felt really misplaced to me. Just a few random insinuations about his sexuality in random places it seemed.

Oh, and I thought the lighting was FANTISTIC! I've never been in a show so I usually don't really notice those kinds of things (I played an instrument for years so I'm more inclined to pay attention to that then technical stuff) but for some reason that really stood out to me last night. It created a really, really neat atmosphere on the stage. Updated On: 6/28/14 at 09:01 AM

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 12:08am

mschwager "I was thinking the same thing about Joshua Henry. I just wondered because they kept the entire cast for DC, if this transfers will they be willing to let some people go?" Definitely. They replaced what is arguably the male romantic lead (now the Ryan Silverman part) after La Jolla--haven't seen DC version, but Manoel Felciano just didn't work and they jettisoned him. At the end of the day, it's show BUSINESS :)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 1:44am

Well, and I'd think for NYC they at least need some sort of DRAW. Follies had its divas. This show...not sure what the draw would be for the everyday tourist. It would def. be a tough sell for a commercial run.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 7:50am

"I did miss "Tunnel of Love", even if the song is still there in a different form..."

They've kept the melody and reconfigured the purpose/lyrics? I'd love to know more. I always thought the number among the most ambitious, but given a slightly too heavy-handed treatment in the original (locking everyone on the ride, etc.). If memory serves, they performed it in Times Square at the annual B'way season preview concert, so clearly the creators at one time thought it was representative of the show as a whole. It was one often mentioned in reviews as a problem. It always felt it was fixable. But then, I liked its feverishness.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 8:32pm

Those trading cards posted above are NOT being sold at the show. I asked them at all the gift shops and show merchandise stands and no one knew what I was talking about. Finally I talked to a manager and she knew what I was talking about (a couple other people had asked her) and she said that they never sold them. She speculated that they were posted on a website.

The show was extremely well done and the orchestra sounded fantastic. The standouts for me were Ryan Silverman as Terry and Matthew Hydzik as Buddy. Both had great voices and acting skills. Erin Davie and Emily Padgett were both very good. David St. Louis as Jake sounded much better than I expected based on earlier comments posted here. Maybe he had a few performances where his voice was tired? His "You Should Be Loved" brought down the house. The ensemble work their asses off throughout the show as freaks and multiple other roles. Many quick changes and they sound great especially with the choral stuff. The Houdini number didn't bother me at all as his song set the notion of the girls compartmentalizing their separate emotions and finding "hiding places" within themselves to escape one anothers feelings. The best moment for me was "Private Conversation". I was a little bored with the flashback to the twin's birth and childhood. The gay twist on Buddy's character worked for me (during that time period society would have considered him a "freak" too).

The sets were nice, the lighting was SUPERB, and the sound was very good. I had forgotten how relatively intimate the Eisenhower Theatre was! (It appears that any seat in that venue is an excellent seat.)

Highly recommended. Go!

[greensgreens]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 10:36am

I'm thinking that business for this will pickup substantially with American Horror Story: Freak Show and I'm guessing the powers that be are counting on this, don't you think? Assuming that AHS doesn't bomb out the concept and ruin it completely, it should enter the zeitgeist for a brief stay at least. Producers could run ads keyed to that demographic on FX this fall/winter and I believe they might hit a sweet spot for marketing this. It sounds like the DC ads may be trying to get at this with creepy music. Then again, if AHS bombs, the whole freak show thing could be over for a long time and it could take the show down with it. I can just imagine tourists dismissing it... "Ethel, I HATE that Freak Show show. Why on earth would we want to see it as a musical?"

The only thing that gets me upset with this AHS/SS marketing bounce potential, is why did no one do this with Witches of Eastwick/AHS: Coven? I'm still waiting for that to materialize on B'way!!!

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 3:02pm

Fascinating notion about them banking on the success of AHS. A group of AHS: Coven fans I know actually went to see a production of THE CRUCIBLE because it was about witches last fall, so it could happen with SIDE SHOW.