Side Show : What Happened? — Page 2

thanks for the comp

yet the audience I saw it with went crazy by the end...
go figure

wonderboy- is your icon a pic of yourself?

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No problem. Thanks for answering though. I was just curious as I studied with Barry for a short period of time.

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When i saw side show both times it was in a bigger theater and i think it works better..... i think seeing it in a smaller housed theater the beginning could be kinda freaky...i must admit the rest of the show would be better because you could "get into" the actors better.... i'd love to see it be made into a independent movie

It should have opened much closer to the Tonys. By the time the nominations were announced, it was too late

If Sideshow had been up against Piazza,DRS & Spelling Bee, it would have won. The score is great & Norm Lewis's rendition of "You Should Be Loved" it one of the best torch ballads ever written & he sang the hell out of it. This show put him on the map & was his breakthrough role. He needs a show built around him to showcase his talents & especially that voice

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because it was a corny show and it was dreadful. it was brimming with talented folk (cast,crew,creative team) but the material was god awful (in my opinion)

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As a lyricist myself, I had a problem with that aspect of the show. I thought the idea was great, the music was perfect, but that far too often the lyrics became laundry lists of analogies and metaphors.

Sunk a potentially great show.

Re: What happened?

The show was far from perfect. I really like the score, but the show itself definitely needed work. A lot of the through-composed parts could have been done without and the show just needed work.

I agree with RedHot that the show definitely could have benefitted from some more workshopping.

Sidebar, it's always bugged me that the opening is SOOO long and they had to cut "She's Gone," which is only around 2 minutes long. They could have easily taken out two minutes of the freakshow or even a minute from the freakshow and a minute out of "We Share Everything" and kept "She's Gone." Sigh...

I would definitely like the show to come back, but only if it gets the work it needs and came comeback in the shape it should have been in in the first place. I think it would be really hard to outdo the original cast, but I would love to see two new, maybe no-name girls get their big breaks and blow everyone away in a remounting.

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Updated On: 6/18/05 at 04:25 AM

Quasi: They just stood next to each other, and they wore identical outfits.

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Updated On: 6/18/05 at 06:25 AM

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I'm not sure what you mean. From what I remember of the logo used in the ads, there was NO mention of the fact that this was a musical about Siamese twins. I remember an ad that showed a crowd of people from the 30's, and one that showed the two girls standing together. At the time, I remember thinking that if the producers had the nerve to really push what the show was about, it would have done better. Instead, I think the general public didn't know WHAT it was, so they just picked other shows to see.

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Behind the fake tinsel of Broadway is real tinsel.

It's one of my favorite all time shows and unfortunately I only got to see it twice. I agree the marketing was lacking and the subject matter wasn't your typical Broadway musical fare however, just the mere fact that a musical can open your eyes and change your way of thinking about others is a major accomplishment to me. Yes, the subject of "freaks" or rather those unfortunate enough to be born with physical abnormalities that have them shunned by society is a powerful subject. Before seeing the show my take on those who were physically deformed was "Gee, what a horrible existance. If I were them I'd put a gun in my mouth". By the end of the show when the cast looked at the audience and pointed at US reprising "Come Look at the Freaks" my realization that we are ALL God's creatures with a heart and soul certainly changed my perception. No, not a question of pity but rather a greater understanding that the physical embodiment of a person is only skin deep. As far as the quality of the show, read the Times' review. It was a rave yet like "Follies" it was a subject matter that most audiences were uncomfortable with.