Such a thing as being too close

Tom Titus

Togetherness, normally a very positive condition, is a wonderful

thing in friends, lovers or siblings. In some cases, however, it can

be a nightmare.

“Side Show,” the new musical being presented by the Academy for

the Performing Arts at Huntington Beach High School, examines the

nightmarish quality of two Siamese twin sisters, joined at the hip,

who are transformed from freakish attractions at a side show to

vaudeville luminaries.

Daisy and Violet Hilton were real people, conjoined twins born too

early in the century to benefit from advanced surgical procedures.

Their story inspired this intriguing musical from Bill Russell (book

and lyrics) and Henry Krieger (music), which has been given a

masterful staging by the academy’s Tim Nelson.

For a youth production group, even one dedicated to preparing

students for careers in professional theater, this is a monster of a

show to mount successfully. Not only does it demand a huge cast, most

of which project one type or another of deformity, it requires superb

singing voices, particularly in the case of the twin sisters whose

diverse personalities scratch and claw at the love they bear for one

another.

Nelson and his company have conquered these obstacles

spectacularly, in particular with the young actresses who play the

unfortunate twins. Amie Shapiro excels as the more ambitious of the

pair, yearning for show business stardom, while Nicole Gerardi is

equally powerful as a more down-to-earth, homebody type. Both have

the normal yearnings of the heart, and these are met in varying

degrees of devotion by the two young men who take them from the side

show to vaudeville stardom.

“D” Pull is splendid as Terry Connor, the bottom-line agent

fighting his attraction to Daisy (Shapiro), while Matt Bartosch

renders a sincere portrayal of his partner, willing to go through

with a marriage ceremony with Violet (Gerardi), despite his

uncertainties.

Behind these principals, there is a company of nameless side show

attractions, roustabouts and reporters who fill the Huntington Beach

High School stage to overflowing. Anthony Page appears late in the

show as real-life movie director Tod Browning, who will cast the

girls in his cult-status movie “Freaks.”

The orchestra, under the baton of Gregg Gilboe, is a powerful

presence -- often too powerful for the actors’ lyrics to be fully

understood. The show’s musical highlights come in the sisters’

passionate duets -- “Who Will Love Me As I Am?” and the ironic “I

Will Never Leave You.”

Choreographer Diana Makas-Weber brings rhythmic order to the large

and disparate collection of human attractions with some intricate

stage movement. Kathleen Timm has created some uniquely colorful

costumes, especially the outfits Daisy and Violet appear in,

connected only by the force of the actresses’ will.

“Side Show” is an ambitious undertaking, terrifically realized by

the equally ambitious company. Trust me, audiences will love them as

they are.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.