Photo by Joan Marcus.
By DCist contributor Riley Croghan
The Kennedy Center’s Side Show is a beautiful chimera of a production, a musical that incorporates tragedy and comedy into one attractive and graceful whole. The show has DNA that is half Broadway musical, with dazzling dance routines and uplifting songs, and half the sort of carnival freakshow on which it’s based: a spectacle for the senses designed to awe and amaze, though one infused throughout with an unmistakably tragic aura.
The production is a revival and a reimagining of an ill-fated Side Show that opened on Broadway in the ’90s to tremendous buzz, before it fizzled out after less than 100 performances. This time around, director Bill Condon (who snapped up an Academy Award for Gods and Monsters and a nomination for Dreamgirls) aims to breathe new life into the true story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton and their quest for fame and acceptance in Depression-era America. Condon has leveraged a compelling cast of 22, jaw-dropping sets and costumes, and soaring (if sometimes groan-inducing) musical numbers to pull off an impressive magic trick: turning a famous flop into one of the best new musicals in recent memory.
One of the most stunning aspects of the show is how realistically and vividly the Hilton twins’ world comes to life. The opening number, “Come Look at the Freaks,” introduces the twins’ fellow freakshow co-stars brought to life with special effects from Dave and Lou Elsey (who have done the same for Wookies and Wild Things on the big screen). The sort of how’d-they-do-that effects include creating a convincing three-legged man (Brandon Bieber), armless woman (Lauren Elder) and a gangly, creepy yet gentle Geek (Matthew Patrick Davis). Despite the intricate effects and costuming (designed by Paul Tazewell) the sideshow ensemble manages lightning-quick costume changes to create a vibrant world for the Hilton twins to inhabit.
Against this bustling backdrop, Erin Davie and Emily Padgett, co-starring as gentle Violet and ambitious Daisy, respectively, harmonize with each other and glide about as effortlessly as if they had spent their entire lives working in tandem. Aside from gracefully overcoming the physical and logistical demands of the roles, the two actresses do a commendable job of navigating a roller coaster of emotions, handling quirky (sometimes schmaltzy) upbeat numbers like “Typical Girls Next Door” with panache before diving into raw, dewey-eyed renditions of sad (sometimes sappy) numbers like “I Will Never Leave You.”
The obviousness of that last song title—which earned a famous retort in Michael Musto’s review of the original 1997 show (“Duh!”)—is one of the many aspects that have been nimbly corrected in Condon’s overhaul. He’s clever to leave most of the songs and lyrics from the original Side Show in place. Despite the fact that the music occasionally dips into syrupy sentimentalism, the songs have earned a cult following since the original show collapsed and have thus earned a place in Broadway canon. Condon manages to fix the problematic songs by correcting the plot rather than the lyrics; the song “I Will Never Leave You,” for instance, makes much more sense in the context of a potentially fatal separation surgery, a possibility that looms over the twins’ existence here but was absent from the original.
Also new to this production are highlights of some of the true stories from the girls’ early lives, including their cruel upbringing at the hands of Auntie (Blair Ross, as one of eight characters she plays in the show) and the vaudevillian villain “Sir” (Robert Joy) who together adopt the twins only so they can legally own and profit from them. There’s no doubt the Hilton twins led tragic lives — the Wikipedia entry on their deaths counts among the most heartbreaking encyclopedia entries out there — and Side Show never shies away from that. But the most heart-rending aspect of the musical might be in how misfortune comes to them. Violet and Daisy aren’t tragic heroines undone by a fatal flaw, or brought to ruin at the hands of a villain; “Sir,” the closest the musical has to a real monster, is cast away by the twins early in the first act. When he begs them for redemption and forgiveness in Act 2, they selflessly grant it to him.
When the twins wonder to each other “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” — one of the most genuinely emotional songs of the night — they get an answer of sorts from love interest Terry (Ryan Silverman). In an equally heartfelt and show-stopping rendition of “Private Conversation,” he replies that he would love Daisy for exactly who she is — he just can’t share that love with Violet, too. It’s hard to blame him for feeling that way, and it certainly doesn’t make him a villain. Like a classic marriage plot comedy, the characters in Side Show seem doomed to fall in love with the wrong person.
The fact is that the twins greet every new obstacle to their dreams with plucky determination (even if it requires fighting back tears) and always make the best choices available to them. An early number, “The Devil You Know,” exemplifies the kind of doubt that the twins regularly navigate; the song features their circus co-stars agonizing over whether the twins should stay in a miserable situation with Sir, or jump into the unknown life offered them by the charming and handsome duo of talent scout Terry and vocal coach (Matthew Hydzik). This doubt dogs the twins for every tough decision they are called to make, but they only ever react in resolute and relentless pursuit of their dream to make a better life for themselves. By the end of the show, watching the twins meet their inevitable, sad finale with teary-eyed resignation feels like a punch in the gut.
Side Show has already generated a huge amount of buzz, and the idea that it will be shortly headed for another run at Broadway feels like a foregone conclusion. It’s an extravaganza of a musical, and certainly one that has the spectacle and larger than life energy to duke it out with its Broadway brethren. The only lingering question seems to be whether or not audiences will warm to such a heartbreaking night out when there is such a glut of easy, feel-good fare already available. Still, for those willing to steel themselves for a tragedy, Side Show offers an experience too good to be missed.
Side Show runs at The Kennedy Center through July 13 at Eisenhower Theater. Tickets, $45-$130, are available here.
