Side Show- Page 2

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/29/04 at 9:45am

I never saw Side Show, but I was very curious about it. I have tried so hard to like the CD, but it just puts me off in so many ways. I guess it's one of those shows you have to see. The varied styles of music from period to contemporary is very confusing and doesn't seem to mesh well with the story. Every time I listen to Tunnel of Love, I just start laughing. It sounds completely out of place from the rest of the show. And I don't understand the photo I saw of that number. Why are the twins seperated? I assume it's metaphorical to illustrate the different feelings the twins have towards sexuality, but I thought the whole point was that they are different, yet they are joined. Showing them together seems like it would have been far more effective. I don't know. Maybe someone who has seen the show can explain it to me. Considering the huge cult fan base the show has, I'm sure there must be something about it that has a large appeal. Other than a couple of songs, I can't seem to find it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/29/04 at 11:53am

Matt: Your take on the score is not unusual. The year it opened, I bought them for Christmas presents, and most people didn't care for it, or just didn't get it. That blend of pastiche and contemporary put people off. One friend of mine said he like the period numbers, but couldn't take what he called "the Whitney Houston" stuff. I think the internal life of the twins is dramatized in v. contemporary idiom. It's pop-infused. Many people would've preferred those revelatory/epiphany numbers ("Who Will Love Me..." and "I Will Never Leave You" the biggies) in sync with the style of the period tunes. Curiously, I think the WICKED score has divided people in a similar way (let's NOT start a major WICKED thread!). It's best appreciated by the number of us at this board who find "For Good" to be the SIDE SHOW number. Anyway, SIDE SHOW was ambitious, a show that wanted to be accessible, intimate, and take on a relationship that has never been dramatized and certainly not musicalized. I also saw the glass half full, and again, felt 90% of the music landed.

Speaking of the music, we haven't talked about the more compelling ensemble pieces, which are very accomplished and do move the action forward in wonderful ways. "The Devil You Know," "Say Good-bye to the Freak Show" are lovely, plot-enhancing pieces.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/29/04 at 12:09pm

The funny thing about Wicked, is the fact that the setting of the show is not any specific period. It's a fantasy world that has no specific period and the score could use virtually any style.

I also saw the tiny correlation between For Good and Who Will Love Me As I Am, but it's only a couple of comparable lyrics. Nothing to really shout about. I'm sure with a bit of research, there could be several ballads in other shows found that use the "like a _____ in a _____" lyrics.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/29/04 at 12:30pm

Not to get off on WICKED... But the Gregory Maguire novel makes specific reference to the Teddy Roosevelt factor, in the Wizard's former life. It's all built around F. L. Baum's era, and technically, the show should probably be Wizard-specific, in the early part of the 1900s. The movie gave a nod to that, in costuming, and the Frank Morgan character. I think the show has "period" flavor, but is highly stylzed to go with the tone of Holtzman's book. Carole Shelly and Joel Grey are costumed in strict period clothes, as are many of the chorus. But it's hard to really put a period on most of Chenoweth's clothes, and Menzel's somber school girl outfits have only a glimmer of early twentieth century styles.

Side Show tried to portray the Hilton sisters within the era they actually lived and and performed. To some members of the audience, dropping the period for the "character" numbers hurt the show's flavor and was jarring. Matt's reaction wasn't unique.