‘Side Show’ Revival Sets Broadway Opening
By PATRICK HEALY
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/side-show-revival-sets-broadway-opening/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 A new revival of the 1997 musical “Side Show,” about the real-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, will come to Broadway this fall, starting preview performances on Oct. 28 at the St. James Theater and open on Nov. 17, the producers announced on Wednesday.
The show is transferring from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it ran through mid-July; the move to Broadway has been in the works since the revival opened to strong reviews this summer.
The Broadway run will again star Erin Davie and Emily Padgett as Violet and Daisy; the lead producer is Darren Bagert (Off Broadway’s “Buyer & Cellar”).
The Broadway production will cost about $7.5 million, according to three Broadway producers who have seen the show’s investment papers – a fairly typical amount for a musical the size of “Side Show.” The revival’s weekly running costs are expected to be about $570,000, not including royalty payments, according to the three producers, who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose confidential information.
A spokesman for the “Side Show” producers did not immediately reply for a request for comment about the financial figures. A request to the Kennedy Center about its involvement in the Broadway run was also pending on Wednesday afternoon.
Whether ticket sales will be enough to cover weekly running costs is a major challenge for every Broadway show, and the big question for “Side Show” is whether it will fare better than the original production, which ran for only three-and-a-half months and closed at a financial loss.
That production struggled to attract audience members for its early 20th century tale of the grim lives of the Hilton sisters, who became a popular circus act that was a spectacle for gawkers. The production also faced stiff competition from other musicals that opened that fall and winter, like “The Lion King,” “Ragtime,” and “1776”; this fall’s revival will face the new musicals “The Last Ship” (with songs by Sting) and “Honeymoon in Vegas” and another revival, “On the Town.”
While “Side Show” has undergone extensive changes since 1997 – with the addition and subtraction of several songs, and substantial rewrites to the book – the story is still darker than the latest popular draws on Broadway, such as “Aladdin” and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” But “Side Show” remains admired by critics and long-time fans, and the producers are counting on strong reviews to help generate ticket sales.
The musical’s score is by Henry Krieger (music) and Bill Russell (lyrics), with the book by Mr. Russell and additional material by Bill Condon, who is also the revival’s director.
You did me one better, Namo.
