A scene from “Side Show” at Theatre Harrisburg. Photo credit: Chris Guerrisi
“Side Show” isn’t the circus from your childhood. It’s a smarmy look-see behind the curtain at the forbidden underbelly of freak shows in the 19th century, with a revoltingly true story underlying its tragic operatic score.
People with extra limbs, missing limbs, lizard skins, fur where it doesn’t belong, and Siamese twins had looky-loos lining up around pop-up tents in every town. “God’s mistakes” like these both inspired and starred in the 1932 cult classic “Freaks,” where their iconic chant, “We accept her. One of us,” simultaneously humanizes them and others them.
“Side Show’s” first attention grabber: the marquee on the curtain that reads “See This Alive Show.” The operative word “Alive” distinguishes it from the preserved human oddities displays in jars, à la Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The opening song “Come Look at the Freaks” treats us to a peek at all the alive carnies: Sword Swallower (Chris Aulbach), Lizard Man (Daniel Bixler), Half Man/Half Woman (Heather Coughlin), Bearded Lady (Marisa Keener), Venus de Milo (Lauren Kutz), Dog Boy (Huy Nguyen), Tattoo Girl (Hannah Paymer), Human Pin Cushion (Rachel Elizabeth Potter), Three-Legged Man (Aiden Storm), Fortune Teller (Bryden McCurdy)…
And the focus of our regrettable story, Daisy and Violet Hilton (Ashley Parson and Nicole Hall), Siamese twins sold into slavery at a young age, unlucky love travails, and exploitation throughout their conjoined-at-the-hip journey.
Directed by Eric Pope, “Side Show” is a compassionate view of the Hiltons’ struggle of just wanting the normal things from life that everyone else wants. That peek behind the freaky carnie curtain reveals the twins’ family of sorts, fellow anomalies of nature who would have had nowhere else to go without people paying to see their mutations.
The main scoundrel in the Hiltons’ story is Sir (Joe Durika), who pretends to be fatherly toward the girls, but is truly as sinister and fake as his British accent that changes regions from sentence to sentence. Durika expertly combines the necessary elements of ringmaster and charlatan for a villain worth booing at final curtain.
Standout musical numbers:
Parson and Hall coordinated their vocals to deliver an impressive number of duets for their Theatre Harrisburg debut. By far, I found their most resounding numbers to be “Feelings You’ve Got to Hide,” “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” and “I Will Never Leave You.”
The sisters’ protector, Jake (David Payne), impresses with his bassy baritone and his gravity-filled warnings to the girls in “The Devil You Know” and his emotional duet with Hall, “You Should Be Loved.” Payne brings to his performance a solid protector role, but also the knowledge he will go on the offensive if even slightly provoked.
Houdini (Nguyen) makes an appearance as a contemporary performer to the Hilton Sisters’ act, lyrically hitting higher notes than I thought I would hear from him in “All in the Mind,” with Hall and Parson accompanying. Along the same lines of showcasing the high end of his vocal range, Daisy’s love interest, Terry Connor (Thomas Dougherty), sings an animated duet with Parson called “Private Conversation.”
Until I read the program’s cast credits, I did not catch on that the majority of the cast is new to Theatre Harrisburg. The gelled energy of this performance would have led me to believe this troupe that had worked together again and again.
“Side Show’s” storyline might lack a happy ending, but I promise you the talent resident in this singing and dancing cast more than makes up for its grim plot twists. Like the sandwiching opening and closing song urges, “Come Look at the Freaks.”
Theatre Harrisburg’s “Side Show” runs until May 14 at the Whitaker Center, 222 Market St., Harrisburg. For more information on show times and tickets, visit https://theatreharrisburg.com/shows/side-show/.
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