Side Show is back with a more allegorical treatment

THE 1997 Broadway musical Side Show, written by Bill Russell with music by Henry Krieger, tells the true story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who went from being a sideshow attraction to vaudeville.

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Its original staging was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 1998. The same script will be used for an upcoming staging by The Sandbox Collective which is opening on July 26.

Side Show was most recently staged in Manila in 2018 by Atlantis Productions, though that version was based on the 2014 Broadway revival.

This original staging offers an opportunity to do a politically relevant take on the story, according to director Toff de Venecia, who is also the managing artistic director of The Sandbox Collective.

"This is my favorite version of the show. It’s the one I grew up with, and it’s also the version I got to direct for Ateneo blueREP back in 2010," he said at a June 25 press preview of the musical.

Sandbox has been known to take on “advocacy-driven work,” which motivated their choice to do something “grayer and more political.”

“We like to platform advocacies and we want to talk about social issues, and I think this was the perfect version of the show to be able to do just that,” said Mr. De Venecia.

THE CAST