Side Show is a musical with book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger based on the real lives of Daisy and Violet Hilton, a pair of Conjoined Twins who gained notability in vaudeville and a few films in the early 20th century.
In the musical, Daisy and Violet are one of the main attractions of a traveling freak show. Daisy is outgoing and desirous of fame and fortune. Violet is the shy one, who just wants to be loved and to be treated like a regular person. One day they are discovered by Terry, a talent scout, and his friend Buddy, an aspiring musician. Overcoming the will of the Boss, Buddy and Terry create an act for the twins and put them on Vaudeville. The twins are a sensation, which pleases Daisy especially, but all is not well. Daisy and Violet have fallen for Terry and Buddy, respectively. Hearts are won, lost, and broken as the men must decide whether they are strong enough to love someone who is simply but undeniably different.
Tropes appearing in the musical:
- Abusive Parents: Auntie and Sir.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Buddy Foster, who is Ambigulously Gay in the 1997 version, is confirmed to be gay in the 2014 version. He still proposes to Violet, as he platonically does love her.
- Amicable Exes: Buddy and Violet, at least, only to each other. They did marry to get the Hilton sisters in a movie, and to keep Buddy's sexuality a secret. Don't worry, they remain close friends.
- Anti-Hero: Terry and Buddy can fit into this. The men did save the girls from their cruel uncle and got them into vaudeville, which is a much better place. However, their motivations are very much questionable, as both are mostly focused on themselves, and not on the twins' well being.
- Bad Boss: The Boss/Sir, who exploits the Hiltons' disability, and barely pays them.
- Betty and Veronica: Violet and Daisy, respectively. While Violet wants a nice, private life, with a husband and family, Daisy wishes for fame. This raises a problem, being that they are conjoined and have entirely different ideals.
- Call-Back: During the flashback scene, when people are contemplating cutting Daisy and Violet apart from each other, they sing I Will Never Leave You. That song also appears right before the wedding, as they reaffirm to themselves that they will always be together, and refuse to be seperated, even if that means having to make compromises
- Chekhov's Gunman: Arguably Ray. This featured character first appears in the beginning of Act Two, as just another song-and-dance man to accompany the Hiltons and Buddy. Seems innocent enough, right? Until, during New Years Eve, Terry implies that Buddy and Ray have been hooking up, which Violet has no knowledge of. This makes One Plus One Equals Three have a certain level of dramatic irony.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: [[Buddy eventually listens to his doubts, and attempts to get out of the wedding. Violet chooses to marry him anyways.]]
- Downer Ending: In the end, the majority of the main characters have to compromise with what they want.
- Daisy chooses not to be with Terry, and instead to remain with her sister
- Violet marries Buddy, although she knows that he can't have any romantic interest in her, because she wants to help her sister become famous and act in movies
- Terry's hope to cut Daisy from Violet never came to be, and he is back to where he once started, only, this time, without Buddy.
- Buddy, despite his doubts, marries Violet, partly for fame and partly because he can't be with the person he truly loves
- Jake moves on with his life and likely never sees the twins again
- Erotic Dream: Terry has one for Daisy during Private Conversation
- Fish out of Water: Especially a theme in the act one finale, Who Will Love Me As I AmLike a fish plucked from the oceanTossed into a foreign streamAlways knew that I was differentOften fled into a dreamI ignored the raging currentRight against the tide I swamBut I floated with the questionWho will love me as I am?
- Foreshadowing: In the beginning of the New Years scene, Terry is seen admiring Daisy, and noticing that she could be a star, if it weren't for her sister.
- Gayngst: Buddy shows a lot of this in Act Two.
- Hidden Depths: Especially with the three main male characters. All three of them are very conflicted. Terry loves Daisy, but knows he can't have her alone, Buddy wants to be in love with Violet, but he's in love with a man instead, and Jake is in love with Violet but is rejected due to being black.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Jake threatens Buddy’s life if he hurts Violet which he then does.
- Nice Guy: At first, it seems to be Terry and Buddy. However, we later learn that both of their motive sare questionable and selfish, and Jake is a much nicer person
- No Name Given: Sir, Auntie, and the rest of the freak acts (Besides the Hiltons and Jake) are never named.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Daisy, Violet, and Jake, along with their other unnamed coworkers (The fortune teller, half man half woman, human pin cushion, geek, etc)
- Sex by Proxy: The musical has a scene where the Conjoined Twins and their respective love interests are on a Tunnel of Love ride. Violet seems to be able to feel Daisy's reaction to being kissed by Terry, and notes that it's much stronger than her own response to being kissed by her fiancé.
- Sibling Rivalry: Although Daisy and Violet love each other, they have entirely different views on life, which the other strongly disagrees with.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Daisy is outgoing and attention seeking, while Violet is reserved and private.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Sorta-kinda subverted, rather touchingly, in the finale - Violet, one half of a Siamese twin pair, is marrying a man who can't cope with her 'other half' in order to preserve everyone's careers. There's a man who loves and accepts her who she has turned down (because she can't bear the stigma of marrying a black man), but "if there is anyone who thinks these two should not be joined together..." is meant to refer to Violet and her sister Daisy, who have just affirmed that no matter what happens, they are (literally and figuratively) bonded forever and love each other. No one stops the wedding.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Terry was sleazy to begin with, especially with the note of him having more than one girl, but he becomes even worse once he falls in love with Daisy, and wants her unconjoined so he can be alone with her.
- Token Minority: Jake is usually the only black lead of the cast. Justified, because Violet rejects Jake because she can't imagine being with a black man, which would also explain why she would choose Buddy over Jake.
- Transparent Closet: It seems that everyone but Buddy's fiance, Violet, knows that Buddy is gay.
- Why Waste a Wedding?: When Violet's big publicity event of a wedding fails to go off, her (conjoined twin) sister Daisy proposes to the man she's in love with on these grounds. He turns her down.
