Performance Report 2 (Side Show)

Like the majority of the class, I attended Side Show at the University Theater on campus. Even though we are all attending the same performance in the same theater I believe we’ll find some differences in our experiences due to different dates and days of the week. With that said, I attended opening night on Thursday, April 8^th. I decided to watch the musical in the middle of the week because I thought the theater would be less packed on a weeknight. I found the opposite and had a very different experience from what I had anticipated.

An element of this musical that stood out to me was that the majority of the dialog was sung. I am used to the musicals where the lines are spoken, but then the characters break out in song. The orchestra was very heavily used during the show and the musicians were almost constantly playing. Even when the characters weren’t speaking the orchestra was playing. This was very apparent when there would be dance numbers filled with choreography and the only music that was playing came from the orchestra. The orchestra was also used to help with the general effects of the show. For example, a clarinet solo was played while the character of the snake charmer was taking center stage.

There were two groups of performers. The orchestra was gathered in the background behind the curtain, and the actors and actresses were up at center stage. The actors and actresses were the vocalists for the performance. Every detail of the performers was focused on portraying the look and feel of the 1930’s (the setting of the play). That is why the costumes were designed in the style of the Depression era.

The performers also interacted with the audience. During the opening scene the performers entered through the back and walked past the audience instead of entering through the front of the stage. At one point the Cannibal King/ Jake ran up and through the audience growling at people along the way. The show had a lot of choreography. The cast was relatively small, so some of the performers had to double parts from one act to another. Some of the freaks had to play as backup dancers for Daisy and Violet’s vaudeville show later on in the musical.

On opening night, I found that the majority of the audience consisted of students. There were a few older people and some of the audience looked like parents. I arrived early, so I was able to see that most of the audience attended in groups. There were very few people that showed up alone. This shows that this is a social event for many people. Before the show started many of the students discussed the script and the music of the play.

During the show audience members were not shy about showing their appreciation for the actors/actresses. There were constant bursts of cheer from friends and applause was not rare at all. The audience also openly laughed when something was funny and sat in silence during the more tense scenes. After a while I realized that I was not the only person taking notes. After looking around I realized that almost half of the audience was actively taking notes about the musical.

The environment in the theater was created to have the look and feel of a circus from the 1930’s. The curtains and the floor were painted with red and yellow stripes. The orchestra even played behind panels painted in red and yellow. The lights were used to assist with the feeling of the show by focusing on certain characters and dimming during solemn scenes.

By attending opening night I found that this show was a big social event for the audience. The reactions of audience members gave the impression that they were captivated by the music, acting, and effects that went into creating the look and feel of characters from the 1930’s.