Would SIDE SHOW (1997) have a better run today?

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:14pm

Was the problem simply that the audience was turned off the subject matter? I could see today's audience connecting better with the material.

I'm still haunted by SIDE SHOW after all these years and feel like it was full of so much beauty and emotion. A sure winner unlike some of the other shows that season. Plus, of course, Ripley and Skinner were impressive.

Does Broadway today seem more friendly to a musical like SIDE SHOW than in 1997 with The Capeman and Triumph of Love bombing nearby? If it were on Broadway as the other new musical this season I think it would kill. Or would The Lion King still steal its thunder? Or would The Addams Family?

Does SIDE SHOW get any attention from colleges, high schools, or theater groups?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:19pm

I don't think it's the kind of show that would ever find that wide of an audience. I saw the OBC and saw a decent production in Chicago about four years ago. I hear about it being done regionally here and there.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:35pm

I think I saw the same production you did, Phyllis and it was pretty good. I never saw it on Broadway, but my one big quibble has always been with the rather uneven score. The rather jarring transitions from pastiche to contemporary always bugged me. And I simply cannot stand The Devil You Know and Tunnel of Love.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:36pm

I loved Tunnel of Love on Broadway, but it might have been more the staging.

Was it Bohemian Theatre Ensemble or something that did it here? It was around this time of year, I know, because I had just moved here.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:41pm

Yes it was BOHO who did the show. The show won a few non equity jeffs including both Hilton sisters

[philly03]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:44pm

...if Ripley did it now after n2n, then maybe it would have found an audience of her fans.

I don't think it has anything to do necessarily with the material, although it is a relatively sad show and I'm not sure people want to go into the shows that end depressing.

I also agree about the score, but I've yet to find anyone who hasn't loved the song "I Will Never Leave You" or "Who Will Love Me as I Am?"!

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:46pm

I remember when that production was up in Chicago. I let it go by like so many other productions I should have seen. Did you see Nefertiti at the Jedlicka Center for the performing arts some years back? Still kicking myself over that one. (BTW, Matt, I may be seeing Billy Elliot next week finally.)

The music transitions never bothered me, really, but I see your point.

Do you think SIDE SHOW would be better appreciated this season and have a longer run? I think timing would have made all the difference for SIDE SHOW and this season is so sad to me for new musicals.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 5:52pm

Yes, I saw the Bohemian production. Did they have a run of Side Show before the production at Theatre on the Lake? I noticed they will be performing The Glorious Ones at the end of the month. I'm very curious to see it.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 6:03pm

I saw Glorious Ones advertised as well. I would like to make it to that production, time permitting.

I see your point, philly, about it being quite a dark show with little humor. I think it has a sense of humor but not in a guffaw kind of way.

I think it's a glorious score. I was wondering the other day if the fortune teller was directed to sound like one of the girls in Moby Dick the musical. She has a gravely vibrato like Pip.. I believe it's Pip.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 10:23pm

I would like to say it would, but I really think the only way we will see it on Broadway again is in a limited run produced by Roundabout or the like. I know too many people who I really thought would love the show who just found it ridiculous, and I sadly think that would still hold true with the large majority of ticket buyers today.

One friend, in particular, could just never get over two conjoined twins singing "I Will Never Leave You." As he always would put it "No sh*t, Sherlock."

As for it's post-Broadway life, it pops up in colleges on a somewhat regular basis (I'm sure if you spent the time you could find at least one college theatre department, if not more, mounting it each year). It's also not unheard of for high schools to attempt it either, and every once in a while you'll find a regional theatre putting it in their season.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 10:38pm

think the only way in which SIDE SHOW would have benefitted from opening today as opposed to 1997 is that its the kind of show that probably would have greatly benefited from the internet, which really wasn't much in play when the original production opened. In retrospect, its also a show that would have benefitted from discounted tickets aimed at college students and a lottery. But shows back then weren't doing that aside from RENT, and nobody really knew who SIDE SHOW was supposed to be marketed to.

But nothing about that production itself would have benefitted from opening today as opposed to then - it was dwarfed in the Richard Rodgers Theatre - given a supremely unattractive physical production, complete with a lot of unintentionally campy moments -- I'm sure subsequent regional revivals have served the material and made a far more effective case for it than the original Broadway production.

[philly03]

Posted: 6/4/10 at 11:06pm

It's commonly mistaken that for 1997-1998 Tony Awards the four Tony Award nominees for Best New Musical (SIDE SHOW, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, RAGTIME and THE LION KING) were all nominated by default, but they were not. I think there was 7 or 8 musicals (all shows, save for The Lion King FLOPPED that season I believe as well) however.

Side Show, the only one closed of those four, won a nomination over Cole Porter's High Society (say what you want!) which lasted for the summer, so it wasn't as unliked, but I agree there was no finding an audience.

Surprisingly I couldn't agree more with Michael Bennett on this one. Discounted tickets would have caught on especially since it had the score. The internet in today's use also could have worked. Remember that the internet played a HUGE part in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL's revamped one year after it opened, and another Frank Wildhorn show, Jekyll & HYDE also had use of a front-row lottery! Shocking it took so much longer for them to catch on!

[bryan2]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 4:54pm

I saw Emerson College do a great production
back in the day... I think the show is kind of
creepy and I loved it..but not for the general
public ...now if Daisy took a knife and sliced
Violet from her while singing I will never leave you
that would be what the general public would love to see

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 4:55pm

It certainly would have gotten a bump this week.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 5:04pm

I don't think the book and score are quite as good as they could be.

[perpetualanticipatio]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 5:54pm

It certainly wasn't dwarfed in the Rodgers theatre. The thrust stage made it seem you were actually in a tent. A terrifically intimate and moving piece of theater. Marvelous performances and Norm Lewis, to boot.

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 6/9/10 at 11:55pm

I've done the show regionally and I think it's a beautiful, unsettling show. Though I agree there's some unevenness. There are a few duds in the score, but so much is just beautiful. I remember reading some kind of interview with either Alice and Emily, or Hugh Panaro and one of them lamenting that the marketing group representing the show "didn't do their job". Though I'm not sure how I would go ABOUT marketing it, I do agree that a really strong marketing campaign would be essential. The show, due to its subject matter, isn't just going to sell itself.

But doing it was undeniably the highlight of all the shows I've done so far. Jake was my favorite part I've ever played, and it was a really special experience for me. I do hope that Roundabout or another non-profit does end up producing a revival eventually.