Anyone who has wondered what folks such as the Elephant Man, the bearded lady or the midget clowns think about their lives and the audiences who pay to see these "freaks" on stage should look no further than Sideshow now playing at the Capital Playhouse in Olympia. It peels back the circus tent and lets theatergoers peek into the lives of regular folks with unusual features. It's a show with heart and bits of humor as well as heartbreak.
Sideshow is a play that focuses on the real lives of two stage sisters who do a duet that seems to draw the crowds. The sisters, Daisy and Violet Hilton, are conjoined twins who not only are dealing with career issues with show business but with affairs of the heart when men enter the picture.
Adding to the unusual storyline of the show, Sideshow also has a wonderful score that allows for angelic duets between the sisters, most notably found in the song "I Will Never Leave You" during Act II.
Sideshow first took to the Great White Way in 1997 with Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner as Violet and Daisy Hilton. Although it played to strong reviews in New York papers, the show ran for only 91 performances before it closed on Jan. 4, 1998. It later went on to be nominated for four Tony Awards in 1998, including Best Musical. It didn't win anything although it marked the only time two actresses were nominated together — as a single nomination since they played conjoined twins.
Man-eating plant
For more musical theater about off-the-wall topics, Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s Youth Theatre is staging Little Shop of Horrors, the sci-fi tale about a man-eating plant and a nitro-huffing dentist who seems to have a bit too much fun at his job.
The topic of two movies, a handful of traveling and regional productions as well as one of the longest-running off-Broadway shows of all time, the show is one of the classics of the stage.
This production features local youth performers Marvin Gold as the floral shop clerk Seymour, Emily Dale as the bombshell dingbat Audrey, Derek Strausbaugh as the skid row floral shop owner Mr. Mushnik, and Bryan Gula as the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. The cast is rounded out by Claire Idstrom, Emily Urfirer and Kaytee Brown as the backup doo-wop trio Crystal, Chiffon and Ronette.
Boy Gets Girl
Theater Artists Olympia is premiering Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Tom Sanders. The psychological thriller is basically a stalker’s tale. Theresa Bedell is a journalist for the New York magazine The World and finds herself set up on a blind date with Tony. They have some beers and then go out on a dinner date, but her heart isn’t in it. Tony really doesn’t do it for her, so she breaks things off before they ever get started. Tony, however, sees things differently.
His efforts to win her over step from the desperate to the creepy. He follows her and makes sure she knows that he has been watching her. The show gets dark quickly after that.
[Capital Playhouse, Sideshow, through April 5, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $21-$33; 612 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943. 2744, www.capitalplayhouse.com]
[Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Little Shop of Horrors, 7 p.m. March 28, 2 p.m. March 29, $10, Narrows Theatre, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565. 6867, www.tmp.org]
[Black Box Theatre, Boy Gets Girl, through March 30, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $12, Kenneth Minnaert Center for the Performing Arts, South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Road S.W., Olympia, 360.357.3471, www.buyolympia.com]