The event I attended was Side Show: The Musical on Thursday April 15th at 8 pm in the University Theatre. This music culture consists of musical numbers put together to create a story, all while singing the words with little dialogue. The story of this particular musical is about true story events of two conjoined twins born in England that moved to San Antonio, Texas to take their talents of singing and dancing to a new level. The twins were abused by their manager and left the side shows to create a show of their own. Both twins end up getting married and divorced because the marriages were probably just a publicity stunt.
The performance repertoire included songs about self-acceptance, love, and musical numbers from the twin’s performances along their journey. The cast’s first number was an introduction to most of the characters in the freak show. All their conversations between each other were sung and there were no transitions or breaks between musical numbers within each act. I observed that numbers with three or less characters were usually a conversation while those numbers including the entire cast were sung towards the audience. Throughout the entire show, I was surprised the band played music the entire time, whether it was accompanying the characters or background music for transitions in between each number. The rhythm and timbre of each number went along with the mood of the lyrics of that song. For example, a song about the devil had a very dark timbre, or the songs about love were long and drawn out. Each song also showed the range of each character depending on who the main cast member was during that musical number.
The performers in this musical included the cast and the pit band. The cast always had expressions or reactions on their face whether they were the center of attention or not. There was only one performer/audience interaction I observed in one of the cast members nearly jumping into the audience. The many costume changes contributed to the visual elements of the performance while creating the setting of the musical. If the cast were not singing, they would be dancing either together or by themselves. They also used lots of body language to get their message across and make their lines more effective. The pit band was positioned on stage but was covered up most of the time.
The audience had a certain buzz to them before the show started. The audience members were made up of half students and most likely half parents. The audience clapped after every number where there was a noticeable stop in the performance. There was a very positive reaction during the intermission and the audience showed an even bigger reaction when they gave a standing ovation during the curtain call.
The space of the theater was set up to where the audience was positioned very close to the stage. I think the day had an effect on the amount of people that showed up because Thursdays were free admission and it was also the opening show of that week.
The elements of music performance were very clear and well brought out. The music itself is there to tell a story all while singing, dancing, and acting. There is a much bigger emphasis on the singing aspect overall. The performers always have an expression on their face when singing or dancing. They also display their emotion on stage using their body language to display their feelings more effectively to the audience. The audience played a factor in how the spirits were on stage by their reaction to the performance. The time and space also made for a packed house and a very successful show.
Works Cited
Side Show. By Bill Russell and Henry Krieger. Dir. Kathryn Evans. Perf. UTD Cast. Con. Winston Stone. University Theatre, Richardson. April 15 2010.
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