Will Side Show transfer???

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 2:36pm

With the Side Show getting another chance at life Off-Broadway do you think it might get another chance on Broadway if all goes well?

I think the Broadway version opened at the wrong time and I think it would do great this time.

[mathewbrock]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 2:38pm

I don't think this is the kind of Off-Broadway production that usually fosters Broadway development. With only a handful of performances over one week, it seems like a special event. Who knows, though? I don't know a lot about the production. Maybe someone who does can shed some light on the subject further.

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 2:47pm

I know the tickets aren't that exspensive for the show either.

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 2:56pm

I'm in the production.

The cast is absolutely first-rate, particularly our Jake, who has a set of pipes on him that would make Fort Knox crumble. (He's also incredibly handsome...)

However...

I really don't think a transfer is even remotely feasible, as much as it would be fantastic. It's an extremely limited production, in a very, very small house, and the public opinion about this show is such that it would NEVER be a Broadway success. I don't think the first time failure was a fluke...people just don't want to see a musical about conjoined twins being humiliated that is just ultimately depressing. (Particularly if you know anything about the real Violet and Daisy, who died alone and poor of the flu after being abandoned at a drive-in movie theatre with no money or transportation, and they had to take jobs at a nearby grocery store.

God, it makes me want to cry just typing it.

(Interesting note: The sisters' birth mother's name? Kate Skinner.)

Updated On: 8/31/06 at 02:56 PM

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 2:59pm

aww, does our own little Jaily play a freak?

[JailyardGuy]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 3:01pm

No, Jaily plays the flute.


And the clarinet.

And the piccolo.

And the soprano saxophone.

And the alto saxophone.

[iheartamc10]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 3:22pm

No way. I love this show, but this production is a non-eq cast and the show has already been done on broadway. the best we could hope for is a revival in many years time.

[Zachary Goldfarb]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 3:27pm

it's not off-bway if it's non-eq...

[flaemmchen]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 3:44pm

it's not off-bway if it's non-eq...

Not necessarily. It's the size of the house that determines whether a production is off-Broadway or not.

The show was a disaster on Broadway. It would need to be heavily reworked before anyone considered a revival.

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 5:20pm

I'll be seeing this saturday and I am thrilled. Unfortunately, this type of a production is nothing that would transfer to bway. In years to come, a revival might take place, but this particular production? I do not think so. But I am so looking forward to seeing it!

[eyekanspehl]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 5:37pm

" 'it's not off-bway if it's non-eq...'

Not necessarily. It's the size of the house that determines whether a production is off-Broadway or not. "

Maybe I misread/misunderstood Zachary's post, but I read it as saying that all off-broadway shows are equity, and this production can't be non-equity and off-broadway at the same time.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 5:41pm

Yes it can.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 5:41pm

The climate for a musical like Side Show is no more conducive now than it was a decade ago. Seriously, the subject matter is depressing and bizarre and the treatment of it does little to make it more interesting. The show has several things to recommend it, but it's not first-rate and would surely fail again as miserably as it did the first time around.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 5:50pm

Even though we loved it, it failed once so why would people invest to revive it ? The main problem is how do you sell a show about Siamese twins to tourists. Solve that & than talk of reviving it

[All_For_Laura]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 6:00pm

Same problem with Sondheim shows. Usually, their runs are short, because his intellectual and complex melodies and subject matter do not appeal to the great masses. I love his stuff and I love side show, so it does have some audience, just not the general public.