Girls on the Side

Doing up the “Freak Show”

By Gibson Fay-LeBlanc

Side Show runs through June 3 at The Portland Players in South Portland. Call 799-7337 for more information.

Freaks And Geeks: Side Show is not your average musical.

I hate musicals. As a critic, I am not supposed to tell you this. Perhaps it’s the way that throwaway lines of everyday speech, even greetings, become lines of song. Or it could be the surreal world that musicals create — there is always a dance number and a rousing finale lurking behind the most mundane plots. I find many musicals melodramatic to the point of the absurd. And yet, during various musicals over the years, I have looked down in horror to see my feet tapping or found myself humming a few bars of one of the numbers a week later.

Such was the way with Side Show, the Tony-nominated Broadway production presented by the Portland Players. Just as my critical sneer was forming during Saturday night’s performance, I unconsciously started whispering the sing-song refrain “I’m Daisy . . . I’m Violet . . . We’re Siamese twins!” Just as I began to count the empty seats in the theater, the audience would burst into spontaneous applause during the middle of a musical number. Maybe that’s another reason I don’t like musicals: it’s easy to find yourself having a good time despite yourself.

But Side Show is clearly no regular musical. The show opens with “Come Look at the Freaks, ” complete with a whole set of them. Among others, there are belly dancers; a guy who bites the head off chickens and drinks the blood; a bearded lady; a cannibal; and the “premiere attraction,” the two sisters literally joined at the hip, Daisy and Violet Hilton, played by Tanya Witman and Kelly Caufield.

Predictably, Daisy and Violet want more than the “freak show,” and talent scout Terry Connor (Mark E. Dils) and singing coach Buddy (Timothy Bate) want to help them achieve their dreams. Standing in the way are their ties to “freaks” like Jake the Cannibal (Tony Correia) and “The Boss” (Cathy Counts). Although neither Daisy nor Violet know how to sing or dance, Buddy and Terry find themselves strangely attracted to their “potential.”

From their first song together, “Like Everyone Else,” it’s clear that Witman and Caufield have the voices to do justice to the budding Siamese singers Daisy and Violet. Witman showed no ill effects of the tonsillitis that caused Thursday night’s performance to be cancelled.

As Jake, Correia demonstrates the power of his voice early on with “The Devil You Know,” his attempt to convince the sisters to stay with the freaks. Correia has the kind of voice that makes the audience take notice. Unfortunately, Counts and Dils’ voices are not as strong and cannot carry the attention of the audience in the same way.

The show has some of the same flaws I find with many musicals. The plot moves predictably to Daisy and Violet’s growing stardom on Vaudeville and budding romances with Terry and Buddy , respectively. And lyrics like Violet’s “why do I feel like a swallowed a butterfly . . . why are all my feelings colliding inside” in “Feelings You’ve Got to Hide” can make those of you with a low cheese-o-meter wretch. “Who Will Love Me As I Am” feels like a Celine Dion video.

Nevertheless, Side Show has enough snappy numbers to hold even my attention. “Rare Songbirds On Display” opens Act Two with a humorous twins-as-Cleopatra theme and dance number, well choreographed by Raymond Marc Dumont. With Daisy and Violet and the Vale Sisters singing backup, Buddy’s “One Plus One Equals Three” is a smart tune that sneaks into your ears and won’t leave. Plus, when Jake confesses his long-time love for Violet and Terry admits his squeamishness about loving a Siamese twin, the plot heats up.

The possible romances reach a crucial point during “Tunnel of Love,” wherein each of the four central characters speaks, or rather, sings their innermost thoughts. Like the first, Act Two slows down during solos by Terry and The Boss, but not long enough for things to grind to a halt.

The one thing I can say about this musical is that the few spoken lines, when they finally come, do hold more power over the audience because all the others have been sung. And while it is predictable that Side Show has a finale, its developments are not as predictable as I expected. There is no denying the moving harmony that Witman and Caufield belt out for the closing, “I Will Never Leave You.”

Musical Director Larry “Flash” Allen and his group of musicians deserve credit for each of the strong musical performances as well. Allen also should be praised for recovering from a back injury that had him in the emergency room the day before. In the face of his injury and Witman’s illness, the show went on.

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc can be reached at riverbetweenus@hotmail.com.