Side Show Revival: Updates/Rumors?- Page 2

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 4:07pm

"Come Look at..." is still opening the show, right?

... That's my jam.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 4:10pm

Aside from casting speculation, does anyone know much about the changes in the text? What songs were dropped? Many of us who know this score inside/out probably cannot imagine losing one of them (though I'd vote for "Tunnel of Love," a daring piece that just didn't really work). The original staging was so lean n'mean, the black set, the simplicity of the stark lighting -- I hope it would be reconceived as economically, creatively speaking. This material does not need womped up production values.
Anyone with info on the changes, please post.

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 4:13pm

I would LOVE to see real twins do it; I think that would be a really wise casting move. Certainly the Engen sisters are a pair to explore.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 4:57pm

I'm going to get shot for this, but what about Haven Burton as Daisy?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:01pm

adamgreer, Haven Burton is a great suggestion, though I'd be more interested to see her as Violet (maybe opposite Larkin?)

Her voice reminds me a lot of Alice Ripley's, actually.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:05pm

Hmmmm....good point.

Actually, she and Leigh Ann Larkin would make a great pair.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:14pm

I think the reworked version cut "More Than We Bargained For", "When I'm By Your Side", "Rare Songbirds", "Tunnel of Love" - some of them replaced by new songs, and they put the cut song "Stuck With You" back in but it was redone so it doesn't really sound the same. I'm doing this off the top of my head so I don't really remember if that's about it.

I'm a big Side Show dork, and honestly the weirdest thing for me was the lyric rewrites on songs that stayed, not the cut ones. My favorite part of "Who Will Love Me As I Am" is when Violet says "lonely pondering" and they changed that.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:20pm

LeaGirl, did you see the workshop?

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:23pm

I would have died to see the workshop. I really just want it back on broadway and I am willing to accept the minor changes.

She's Gone back in would be a plus, I think.

[LeaGirl]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:48pm

No, I didn't.

And I love "She's Gone" but I don't think that was in there.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 5:51pm

I LOVE Side Show. As for the casting, I'd say Leslie Kritzer as Daisy and maybe Lea Michele or Laura Benanti as Violet?

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 6:23pm

Laura Benanti as Violet would be disastrous (IMO). Vocally, there is no issue, but I simply could not see her playing that part.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 6:32pm

My understanding is that it will be Erin Davie and Betsy Wolfe.

[desiree armfeldt]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 7:31pm

I really cannot see Erin Davie in the role at all. I LOVE the idea of Leigh Ann Larkin. I think she's spectacular!

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 7:50pm

Yeah, full confession, the show turned me into a blathering, blithering show queen. I secretly 2nd acted it a couple of times (when the mezz was cold, dark, empty) and saw it more than I care to admit, including the moving and memorable closing night.

Love it or hate, it losing "Tunnel" makes sense -- it just didn't work and the giggles it produced nailed its fate. And the "birds" bit; wisely excised. Alas, I'll miss "By My Side" -- one of Krieger's gems. But if I step back from the piece, I realize the show had an excess of songs that covered the same ground and metaphors. It doesn't need more irony-tinged plays on duality. If anything, it could use another solo for one of the twins, in place of a duet. That's why I'd love to think "She's Gone" might've been reinstated. We need to further enhance their individuality to make the ending more powerful, not re-hit the same "we're stuck!" idea.

By the way -- does everyone here know that "I Will Never Leave You" was originally written as a first act number for child versions of the adult twins? Never the 11 o'clock spot that resulted.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 8:29pm

I did NOT know that. But I can see why they changed it. Watching two little girls playing Siamese twins...a bitter pill to swallow to be sure.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 9:51pm

I actually think seeing child versions of the twins in the first act might be interesting to see.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 9:58pm

The score to Side Show is nothing less than brilliant.

[DrTheatre]

Posted: 11/2/08 at 11:37pm

I heard that Bruce Vilanch and Robin Williams were playing the twins...

[feline0favenueQ]

Posted: 11/3/08 at 8:48am

That's interesting about the little twins. I'd like to see that.

I personally want Heidi Blickenstaff as Daisy.

[michelle3]

Posted: 11/3/08 at 8:53am

I would like an unknown cast, too. I think as long as they do something more with their makeup/wardrobe than have them stand next to each other, it'll be fine.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/3/08 at 11:39am

Apparently, the original show stuck to more of the real biographical details about the Hilton sisters. They were sold to the side show, or pawned off, by a dark Momma Rose woman, and that was in the show. I think they cut it to get the two men on stage far sooner and the romance(s) in place. But the OLIVER-like origins must have been heartbreaking. The problem, of course, is that the show builds toward a happy ending that doesn't, cannot, actually arrive. There is satisfying resolution between the twins, but the romantic journies are aborted. Perhaps having a dark first quarter showing them semi-abused and dumped in a seedy circus, with real children onstage, made darkish material black. Just a thought. Of course, if you're a fan, you'd be willing to watch 3 hours of material, as long as it's as compelling as what we know.

Anyway, "I Will Never Leave You" as a song sung between desperate children in desperate situation brings tears to the eyes just thinking about it, no?

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 11/3/08 at 10:44pm

She's Gone was definitely not in the workshop.

I am a big Side Show dork so am curious to see how this develops, though I am not sure if I will see it. The mini Kennedy Center production a few weeks ago was a treat but I don't see Brescia and Colella (especially the latter) as a good choice for the pair. Brescia, paired with someone else? Maybe.

[joneswright08]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 5:28pm

When coming up with names for the twins, they should be in the same ballpark in the height department.

Laura Benanti is like 5'7", Leslie Kritzer is 5'2"...could never be twins.

They also need to compliment each other vocally, and facially.

Just note that they need to be similar in some way.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 5:57pm

I would kill to see Leigh Ann Larkin and Heidi Blickenstaff though I dont think they could pair together. But each of them would be amazing in their own right. I love the show and since I cannot afford to get to NYC in 2009, a 2010 revival would be amazing because I could base my trip around it.