Performance Report 2

I attended Side Show: the Musical on Friday, April 16^th, 2010 on the campus of UTDallas in the University Theatre. The performers were UTDallas students and staff. The performance was a musical. The musical is set in the 1930’s depression era and is loosely based on the real lives of Daisy and Violet Hill, a pair of conjoined twins who worked in circuses then moved to big stages later on. The musical follows them from a circus to main stage and shows their complicated love lives and dreams. Even though they share so much, their dreams are quite different.

The music of the play was often quite thick in texture. An orchestra/band played behind the stage and often accompanied the performers. I could see the orchestra at all times, although some props covered up parts of the ensemble. There were a few solos throughout the performance. There were also quite a few group performances. Daisy and Violet often sang together, while one sang in a higher pitch and one in a lower to complement each other’s voices and give character to the songs. Sometimes they sang in the same pitch. Slower songs usually exemplified sadder songs and the louder, faster songs were usually associated with excitement and happiness. During a few pieces the performers would sing backup behind the curtains while only a few performers would remain on stage.

The performers were mostly college students. I believe one or two performers were identified as teachers or campus staff. The performers had to dance and sing as well as recite lines and there were multiple outfit changes. The two main performers had to remain side by side during most of the performance since they were playing conjoined twins. One of the “twins” was shorter than the other, but with the aid of high heels they helped balance them out. Also the costumes and wigs aided in helping them appear more similar. The other performers costumes seemed time period appropriate as well as interesting and added a lot to the show. The performer’s were able to interact with the audience a lot due to the set up of the stage. The Cannibal King/Jake was able to climb out into the audience, and a lot of the performers entered from the same steps that led to the seating.

The audience was mostly UTDallas students, teachers and staffs. I assumed the several people who were purchasing tickets were friends and family members of the performers. Several people were texting on their phones throughout the performance but most people seemed very interested in the musical. The theatre looked mostly full with only a few empty seats.

The performance on Friday the 16^th was the fifth performance of Side Show at UTDallas. It was also the second to last performance. By this point, most of the kinks had probably been worked out since it was not their first performance and jitters were probably gone by then. The University Theatre has an interesting set up because the stage is flat and level with the first row of seats. So for everyone in the first row, they saw the performance right in front of them without looking up. Everyone above the first row looked at least slightly downward towards the performance. It made me feel like I was more involved in the performance since there wasn’t a separation from stage to seats.

Overall, the performance included a variety of songs, each with a unique sound. Performers were able to interact with and include the audience due to unique staging. The songs performed told most of the story with minimal dialogue in between.