The Hilton Twins

The Plot of Side Show 
Form the CD booklet

"Side Show was inspired by the lives of Daisy and Violet Hilton, stars of vaudeville during the Depression, who also appeared in the films Freaks and Chained For Life.

The Boss (Ken Jennings) introduces the exibitions in his sideshow, including his star attraction, the Siamese Twins ("Come Look at the Freaks").

Buddy Foster (Hugh Panaro), an aspiring musician, brings Terry Connor (Jeff McCarthy), a talent scout for the Orpheum Circuit, to see the Siamese Twins. Buddy thinks he could help them create an act and canvinces Terry to meet them. The two men interrupt a party for the girls ("Happy Birthday to You and to You").

Terry Asks their names and they respond, "I'm Daisy" (Emily Skinner), "I'm Violet" (Alice Ripley). He then asks them their dreams ("Like Everyone Else"). After the Boss rudely refuses Terry's offer to be cut in on the twins' potiential vaudvevill career, Terry devises a scheme where-by Buddy will teach the girls a song. jake (Norm Lewis), an African-American who plays the Cannibal King in the sideshow and is the twins' protector, begs them to consider what they're getting into and the whole sideshow family adds its opinion ("The Devil You Know").

Two weeks later, Terry returns to see teh twins perform and Buddy tells him how the personal dynamics with the girls are getting sticky ("More Than We Bargained For"). Before their secret late-night performance the twins confess to eachother how infatuated they are with the two men who've come into their lives ("Feelings You've Got to Hide").

The Hilton Sisters' secret debut is a great success ("When I'm By Your Side"). But the Boss discovers the subterfuge and physically threatens the twins when they tell him they're leaving the sideshow. Jake comes to their rescue and the other attrections threaten to leave also, causing the boss to back down. Daisy, Violet, and Jake, whom Terry has invited to help backstage on the twins' tour, bid farewell to their sideshow family ("Say Goodbye to the Freak Show"). Before their vaudeville debut, the twins argue about their different ways of expressing interest in men ("Leave Me Alone"). Onstage they sing "We Share Everything" in a production number featuring them as queens of ancient Egypt.

After the twins' performing triumph, Terry and Buddy shower them with kisses. Hostile reporters ask tough questions about the girl's love life. Terry and Buddy deny any romantic inclinations, leaving the twins to wonder if they will ever find romantic fulfillment ("Who Will Love Me As I Am?").

Act II opens with the Hilton Sisters at the height of their success- a Follies-style production number ("Rare Songbirds on Display"). Daisy's dream of stardom has come true but Violet seems no closer to her dream of finding a husband. At a fancy New Years Eve party, Buddy tries to cheer up Violet and ends up proposing marrige ("New Years Day"). Afterwards, Terry imagines what it would be like to be alone with Daisy ("Privaate Conversation"). In an onstage number ("One Plus One Equals Three"), Buddy, Violet,and Daisy issue an upbeat invatation to their wedding. But backstage both Daisy and Buddy express doubts as to how the arrangement will work. Jake overhears Buddy and, in an effort to save Violet from seeming imminent heartbreak, confesses that he has loved her for years ("You Should Be Loved").

The night before Violet and Buddy's wedding as the grand finale of the Texas Centennial, Daisy is feeling left out. To appease her, Terry suggests going where they could be more-or-less alone together ("Tunnel of Love").

The big day arrives. Hawkers sell tickets and souvenirs ("Beautiful Day for a Wedding"). But in the dressing area, complications arise. Jake announces he is leaving. Buddy confesses he's not strong enough to marry Violet. Daisy offers a solution which will ensure a movie contract dependent on the wedding publicity ("Marry Me, Terry").

Terry cannot bring himself to publicly acknowledge what he feels for Daisy. SHe dismisses him and insists that Violet and Buddy go through with the ceremony, which will at least benifit everone's career. left alone, the twins find solace in each other("I Will Never Leave You"). As the wedding proceeds, they reprise "Come Look at the Freaks" with full understanding and acceptance of who they are and what they are doing."

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Articals about Side Show
For the January 1998 issue of DRAMATICS magazine Jeffrey Sweet wrote an artical entitled, "The Uses of Hisory." The following is an excerpt from that artical.
Bill Russell and Henry Krieger's Side Show is based in the lives of Siamese twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, who, after being rescued from a sleazy freak show, had brief careers on the stage and in film. Part of the smartness of the unusual Broadway musical is that the actresses who play the sisters, Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, are not connected by any costuming device. The connection is in the audience's mind entirely through the way Ripley and Skinner are blocked moving together. Most notable about this show is that the audience identifies with the twins more than the putatively normal characters in the show. They seem to be the outward expression of the divided hearts that live in most of our breasts.

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The following is an excerpt from a review of Side Show written by Jim Kierstead

"Side Show" has the ability to touch the audience in such a way that will stay with you for the rest of your life. What a gift the composer and lyracist have to be able to put such deep human emotions into words and music--you feel like you know these people or have felt those emotions yourself at one time or another, but could never have expressed after the fact. Somehow when you watch "Side Show", though, you end up saying "Hey, I know that feeling" or "I would feel that same way if I were in that situation." I think it's that feeling that makes us be able to say "Wow. We're all just people. No matter what we look like, etc, we have the same emotions and feel the same about things deep down. I guess we're not so different after all."

One of the many parts of the show that I felt were absolutely perfect was when they sing "Leave Me Alone." God, what a perfect song that is. Here are these two people who have been together their entire lives and never thought about it being any other way. All of a sudden, Daisy finds herself falling in love with Terry and wants to be with him alone ("I need some time on my own!"). It's such a normal human feeling to want to be alone with someone and it's no different for these Siamese twins (even though it's done in a pretty comical way).

The other thing that always gets me is when the four of them are in the "Tunnel of Love" and Violet realizes that Buddy is pulling back and is not really interested in her romantically, yet at the same time, she realizes that Daisy is getting exactly what Violet is craving. That cry of despair when she screams "Where is mine??!!" is like a knife. You can feel your heart break for her.

It's things like this that make this show a miracle. It's this way that you feel like you know these people that is so special.

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