The New York Times - Highly Recommended
"...The rich, melodic score and a passionate cast bring alive the tumultuous yearnings in the characters' hearts. (Out of affection for the libretto as a whole, I'll pass over the potholes in Mr. Russell's lyrics.) Mr. St. Louis's robust baritone soars through his two big numbers. Mr. Silverman plays Terry with a slick edge, but there are suggestions of the unwillingly sensitive soul underneath, revealed in "Private Conversation," the song in which he expresses anguish at not being able to achieve a natural intimacy with Daisy. Mr. Hydzik has less demanding vocal chores, but he exudes boyish charm and appealing warmth as Buddy."
NY Daily News - Somewhat Recommended
"...For a musical about true-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, the strange and stirring "Side Show" has a nagging habit of losing its grip. Chalk it up to dramatic inconsistencies and thin characterizations."
Hollywood Reporter - Highly Recommended
"...Condon has assembled a stellar design team, and one of the constant sources of pleasure is the production's resourceful employment of period-appropriate staging techniques like shadow play. David Rockwell's sets make atmospheric use of painted drops, flats and scrims, subtly enhanced by projections, and Paul Tazewell's lavish costumes are stunning. Among many enchanting touches, the sideshow attractions rely on prosthetic creature makeup and effects (by Dave and Lou Elsey) redolent of vintage movies. The embrace of old-fashioned showbiz sleight of hand is completed by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, magicians of the spotlight, who create a bewitching world of gloom and glitter that never ceases to captivate the eye."
New York Post - Recommended
"...Yet this show also has a strange, slightly demented charm, especially in the vaudeville and carnival scenes. And while it makes its plea for tolerance with a big heart, it's not afraid to unleash even bigger anthems."
Entertainment Weekly - Somewhat Recommended
"...Speaking of connections...original stars Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley became ''conjoined'' by standing side-by-side, hip against hip. The audience imagined their physical bond. (It's a little like the disfigured title character in the musical Violet, in which the lead actress wears no makeup to create a scar-we simply imagine it.) Here, Padgett and Davie are clearly connected another way: extra-strong magnets. And one can't help but wonder, why? Sure, everything is much more fleshed-out in Condon's production: Daisy and Violet's fellow ''freaks''-the Bearded Lady, the Half Man/Half Woman, the 3-Legged Man-all get full American Horror Story treatment (though Dog Boy looks an awful lot like Chewbacca). But in making Daisy and Violet's connection literal, the production robs us of a chance to fully relate to the sisters-even if it is just, as Houdini sings, ''all in the mind.''"
Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Some things work well - the freakish friends of the twins, including their minder Jake (David St. Louis) are played with melancholy and sepia-toned affection. Silverman and Hydzik, both playing self-loathing characters, have a few moments of connection. And you do always feel that Davie and Padgett have a deep affection for their vulnerable characters, whose unique but tricky-to-do physical connection they manifest in a way you can believe. Condon's work is atmospheric and, occasionally, has some richness."
Time Out New York - Somewhat Recommended
"...But while this sincere and stylishly designed production is perhaps the best that Side Show can be, that best, alas, isn't great. Bill Russell's lyrics—the leaden rhymes drilled into Henry Krieger's tunes, the corny banalities of the declarative songs—continually jostle the musical into kitsch. "I will never leave you," sing the inseparable sisters in the show's most famous song. But although their vehicle has been tuned up, I don't expect them to stay for long."
