Flashback Friday - Sideshow

Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley as Daisy and Violet Hilton

One of my favorite recordings that I have been listening to for years is the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Sideshow.  Composer Henry Krieger (of Dreamgirls fame) and lyricist Bill Russell concocted this beautiful, haunting, and poignant musical which premiered in 1997.  Sadly the show was short-lived and only ran for three months or so, but it received four Tony Award nominations including a co-nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner.  Ripley and Skinner portrayed Violet and Daisy Hilton in the true story of conjoined twins who became famous touring in sideshows and Vaudeville for many years.

This is another show that I first heard about by watching The Rosie O'Donnell Show and there was always so much in this story that really struck a chord with me.  I definitely understood the feeling of being an outcast and being perceived as a "freak".  Only a few years after I first heard Sideshow, I came out of the closet while I was in high school.  I would listen to songs such as "Like Everyone Else" and "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" over and over on my Sony Discman and I could absolutely relate.  I knew how it felt to be ostracized all too well and it really hit close to home to hear these girls begging for love and acceptance and just wanting to be "like everyone else".  This is a theme that is just as important today as it was at the time this show premiered and I think would resonate with modern audiences as well. 

As you listen to and watch Skinner and Ripley sing "Who Will Love Me As I Am?", you can tell these two are emotionally invested in these characters.  This was the first time that I saw the power of Alice Ripley's acting.  She has the ability to vividly convey the pain a character feels with her facial expressions while simultaneously expressing it with her voice.  I was so fortunate to see the talented Ms. Ripley (see what I did there?) in her Tony Award winning role in Next to Normal at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles and I was floored.  I was so obsessed with her performance that I saw her in the show again only a week later and I still think about that performance often. 

Anyway, back to Sideshow, here is another fantastic performance from the Tony Awards with Skinner and Ripley performing "I Will Never Leave You".  This heart-wrenching duet is the final scene in the show where the twins realize that although they were not successful in romantic love, the two of them will never be alone and will always have each other.  Beautiful song, beautiful message.  

Last year Sideshow returned in a revised version that premiered at La Jolla playhouse.  I was unable to see this production at the time, but I do hope and pray that it will return to Broadway in the near future and that I may have an opportunity to see it.  This is one of those shows that I have entirely mapped out in my mind and I desperately want to see it fully produced.  On my list of my top favorite shows, there are several that I have only listened to and imagined, and this is at the top.