Come,
look at the freaks! Welcome to Side Show, a collection of circus acts featuring
the likes of the Bearded Lady, Dog Boy, Lizard Man, 3-Legged Man, and many
more. But at the heart of the act are the haunting voices of twins Daisy (Gab
Pangilinan) and Violet (Kayla Rivera) Hilton. Under the exploitative tutelage
of Sir (Wency Cornejo), the conjoined twins have been under his custody since
their aunt died, making him the sole legal guardian. When talent
scout Terry (Markki Stroem) discovers the vocal prowess of the duo, he is
convinced that he has found a runaway hit. After a bit of prodding, he
convinces his vocal coach friend Buddy (David Ezra) to train them for a more
sophisticated audience in Chicago. Will the tandem be able to withstand the
pressures of showbiz given their condition?
You
don’t really get to play around that much with a narrative about Siamese Twins.
There aren’t so many stories in pop culture either. I remember that Thai film
where one of the twins killed the other and then she pretended to be her dead sister all her life.
Needless to say, it was a horror flick. Things don’t get that drastic in Side
Show, but just the same it all boils down to one question: Will the conjoined twins
literally go their separate ways? This is the focal point of the musical, and it does not really veer
far away from that.
Perhaps
what you are curious about is if the entire two hours or so would be focusing
on the freak show, which is often uncomfortable to watch because of the
exploitative theme of the story. Well, the freak show is more or less confined
to the first act. The second act is reserved for the sisters’ ascent to stardom
when they eventually leave their circus roots. Hey, stop pelting me with
tomatoes, that wasn’t a spoiler. In fact I just gave you something to look
forward to, haven’t I?
Well,
it’s interesting because we get to see the girls evolve and reach something
they never thought they would be able to achieve given the circumstances. What
gets you hooked in the long run is the shift in conflict. Cornejo effectively
portrays the main villain Sir, but he is eventually scrapped from the plot. As
the show progresses, the conflict is still Man vs Society, but little by little
it becomes Man vs Himself, as the twins try to figure out how to live their
lives to the fullest without sacrificing one or the other.
As
for the acting, everyone delivers a good show. The cast is heavy on prosthetics
and costume yet most of them can still make you feel their plight. Pangilinan and
Rivera are awesome singers, but perhaps the most important thing to note is
that the two are well-versed in harmonizing their voices. Instead of one
overshadowing the other, the blending yields a pleasant harmony that is both poignant
and not devoid of meaning. So kudos to the casting director for assembling
such an impressive cast.
Curiosity
got the better of me and had me consulting Wikipedia after the curtain call,
eventually discovering that Daisy and Violet Hilton really existed. Yes, they
were part of several freak shows. Yes, they starred in a Hollywood film called
Freaks. Yes, one of them married a gay guy for publicity, the marriage lasting
for 10 days. Their story is much more depressing though, with the duo abandoned
post-fifteen seconds of fame and dying of influenza by the age of 60. Side Show
is definitely way less gloomy.
But
it is still disheartening because it tackles exploitation. As Jake (Arman
Ferrer) argues, the girls are working just as hard in their new fab life in
Chicago, probably even more. Sir was definitely exploitative, but the new setup
with Terry is just as so and maybe even more demeaning because
there is manipulation of feelings involved this time around. What Side Show
does, however, is give the girls a chance to gain the upper hand, or at least a
semblance of that. And don’t we just love it when underdogs get the opportunity to
triumph in life and show the world that they have what it takes to shine?
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