Customer Reviews

Side Show (1997 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After a disappointingly short run on Broadway this fall, SIDE SHOW has been preserved on a fantastic original cast recording that tells much of the story through songs and recitative. Cast members Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner will dazzle you with their vocal dexterity, particularly in their duets that end each act. Composer Harvey Krieger, most well known for DREAMGIRLS, has written a pop-based contemporary musical that navigates its way through the surprisingly universal story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton -- and their conflicting dreams. The score brims with amazing variety, from the rock-based quartet "Tunnel of Love" to the charming Charleston pastiche song, "We Share Everything." Lyricist Harvey Russel brings a Hammerstieinesque simplicity to the story's incredibly complex conflicts; He emotionally injects the pain and anguish of rejection with dignity and honesty. A very satisfying musical -- one of the decade's best.

Opening in the Fall of 1997, "Side Show" was roughly based on the lives of Daisy & Violet Hilton, Siamese twins who were Vaudeville performers during the Depression. Unfortunately, the production lasted only lasted about three months before closing.

Alice Ripley & Emily Skinner (both nominated for Best Actress Tonys) are terrific as the twins and have beautiful voices. The talented supporting cast includes Ken Jennings ("Sweeney Todd"), Norm Lewis, Hugh Panaro, and Jeff McCarthy.

Overall, the score is quite good and contains several memorable songs. Henry Krieger's beautiful music, however, is somewhat hindered by the score's uneven lyrics.

Best tracks:

Come Look At The Freaks
The Devil You Know
Who Will Love Me As I Am
You Should Be Loved
I Will Never Leave You

Hopefully, this production will surface again one day. Until then, this cd is a nice listen!

I saw this show on Broadway during it's too short engagement. If ever a musical deserved an audience and a longer run than 95 performances, this is it! Fortunately, the original cast album, released just before the show closed, retains the excitment of its scope and score. Alice Ripley (whom I'd also seen in the dreadful SUNSET BLVD) and Emily Skinner are marvelous as the Hilton Sisters, Siamese Twins who escaped the Freak Show to star on Broadway, even though their personal lives were at odds.

I look forward to many more good musicals by Bill Russell! SIDE SHOW is one of the best!!!

Anyone who isn't a fan of "SideShow" isn't a fan of musical theater. This album has it all:

Great performances by the actors. Skinner and Ripley are amazing in these roles and their work here is better than any solo albums they have put out. Norm Lewis steals the show in "You Should be Loved," and I still get chills when Norm sings in "Say Goodbye to the Freak Show." Ken Jennings is terrific as the boss and his opening song, "Come Look at the Freaks" is haunting to say the least, especially when it's reprised on the final track.

There's a little bit for everyone here. Ballads, jazzy tunes, big "show" numbers, and huge duets ("You Should be Loved" & "Private Conversation") not even mentioning Ripley and Skinner's numbers.

Best of all, this album gives you a great sense of the show. If listened to cover to cover, and it's very possible to sit and enjoy each song, you walk away chilled at what a great show this really was.

Simply put, as in the title, one of the best cast recordings of the late 90's...

I had the pleasure of watching my old high-school troupe perform this emotionally stunning piece, and now I believe that it was a crime that such a meaningful musical such as this is too easily forgotten. This show violently hurls you from one emotion into another, from joy to sadness. This effect is even moreso intensified by the fact that this is a true story. Of how these two siamese twins strive to stay together and deal with who they are while the men they love also attempt adjust to their situation between love and fame and the fact that they would never able to be alone. The music of this play manages to be upbeat, haunting, humorous, and powerful from beginning to end. This show definitely joins Assassins, Lucky Stiff, and The Fix as an underrated musical masterpiece. Cut short in it's prime with only 96 performances to show for itself. So please don't let this brilliant musical disappear into anonymity. pick up this recording then you'll join many who wish this show to make a triumphant return.

Side Show is a wonderful musical that picked a really lousy time to open on broadway. There seems to be this self fulfilling prophecy on broadway that a musical is judged on box office sales. If they are slow then there is a clamor to say that something is wrong with it. In normal cases that may be true, but on the great white way timing is everything. Side Show opened in a season that included Cabaret, Ragtime, 1776, and the Lion King. The ticket dollar was stretched as Cabaret was raising prices upwards of $80 dollars and Lion King Tickets were as impossible to hail as NY Cab in rush hour. Side Show was in need of an audience it never found until it was too late. Regretably Side Show closed on broadway unable to attract the lemmings that were running across the street to see shows they had already seen once with Joel and Liza or at their child's pre-school. For those of you who missed the chance to see the cast on stage performing one of the greatest treasures broadway has let go since Chicago (the musical that everyone forgot about 20 years ago because a Chorus Line opened up the same year), buy this CD now... CURIOSITY WILL BE SATISFIED!

I saw RENT, LES MIZ, etc. etc. pretty much everything worth seeing in the last ten years, including all the Sondheim shows, and for my money this was THE show and THE score. (For Broadway, that is. Otherwise, see FLOYD COLLINS) Absolutely reeking of integrity and passion, this show was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved, and it shows in the vocal performances on the CD. You will seldom hear as haunting an opening as "Come Look At the Freaks" or as heart-wrenching a declaration as "Who Will Love Me As I Am." Ripley and Skinner deserved their dual Tony nomination, and as far as I'm concerned, deserved the Tony more than Ms. Richardson from CABARET. Do yourself a favor and add this to your collection. It's the score that defines the way to integrate a pop sound into a well-written character-driven Broadway score.

This is a very good catchy score that almost works better on CD than it does live on stage. Often times the music seems to soar to greater heights while the lyrics are left behind. Lyrics like.."Who will ever call to say I love you? Send me flowers or a telegram. Who will proudly stand beside me? Who will love me as I am." are almost amateur they are so maudlin...and yet the whole thing, as a pop music theatre piece, works well.

Highlights include "The Devil You Know", "Feelings You Have Got To Hide" (some of the best lyric work is in this song) "One Plus One" and "You Should Be Loved."

The original cast recording of "Side Show" was hands down,the best cast album of the 1997-1998 season. Henry Krieger and Bill Russell did a terrific job writing the music and lyrics and Alice Ripley,Emily Skinner,Jeff McCarthy,Hugh Panaro,Norm Lewis,Ken Jennings,and the rest of the cast did a splendid job of capturing the emotion and power of the stage production for the recording. This recording is a delight from start to finish,with numbers such as "Who Will Love Me as I Am?", "You Should Be Loved", "Tunnel of Love", and "I Will Never Leave You." And even though the recording is first rate,it's a scary thought that there is even more wonderful material in the stage production (such as "Overnight Sensation") that wasn't even included on the recording!

If you were one of the lucky ones who saw the show,each number brings back memories,and if you didn't see the show,it makes you wish you had. As Alice Ripley said in her curtain speeches,Side Show is theater with a message that means something both to the audience and to the performers,and that message is loud and clear on the cast recording.

I first purchased this original cast recording the first week it was released. From the very first time I listened, I fell in love with the voices of Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner as the conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton. Norm Lewis also delivers yet another powerhouse performance as Jake, the Cannibal King. Delivering a wide array of musical stylings of the vaudeville era, the score by Henry Kreiger and Bill Russell quickly grows on you...as does the beautiful lyrics. Anytime the twins open their mouths to sing, it is pure delight. ...