Download Side Show - La Jolla Playhouse

2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
LaJollaPlayhouse.org
La Jolla Playhouse, in Association with The Kennedy Center,
To Produce Re-Imagined Production of
Henry Krieger and Bill Russell’s
Side Show
Directed by Academy Award® Winner Bill Condon
Musical Will Run at Playhouse in Fall 2013 and at
The Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in Summer 2014
La Jolla, CA — La Jolla Playhouse announced today that it will produce, in association
with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a re-imagining of Henry
Krieger and Bill Russell’s Side Show. Directed by Academy Award®-winning director
Bill Condon, the production will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 2013 and
will play the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater beginning June 2014. The musical
features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger who will revise the
show before its debut at La Jolla. Casting, creative team and additional details will be
announced at a later date. Tickets to Side Show at La Jolla Playhouse will be available
only through subscription beginning in Fall 2012.
Based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton who became stars
during the Depression, Side Show is a moving portrait of two women joined at the hip
whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love. The original 1997
Broadway production of Side Show was directed by Robert Longbottom and received
four Tony® nominations, including a shared nomination for co-stars Alice Ripley and
Emily Skinner, the only time in Tony history where two people were co-nominated for
the Best Actress Award.
Henry Krieger began composing for Off-Off Broadway in his twenties, a venue that led
to his meeting with playwright-lyricist Tom Eyen. Together with director-choreographer
Michael Bennett, they created the long running Broadway hit musical, Dreamgirls, which
opened at the Imperial Theatre on December 20, 1981. Dreamgirls won six Tony
Awards®, and Mr. Krieger was nominated for his now-legendary score, for which he
won the Grammy Award® for Best Original Cast Album. Dreamgirls generated new
success with new audiences as a Dreamworks film written and directed by Bill Condon.
The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including three nominations for
Mr. Krieger for “Love You, I Do,” “Listen,” and “Patience.” He received a Grammy
Award® for, “Love You, I Do.” Side Show, his most recent Broadway musical, was
directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom with book and lyrics by Bill Russell.
The musical received four Tony® nominations, including Best Score. His last
collaboration with Bill Russell resulted in Up in the Air, which made its world premiere at
the Kennedy Center in 2008 under the direction of Amon Miyamoto.
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Bill Russell wrote the book and lyrics for Side Show, receiving a Tony Award®
nomination for book and sharing a nomination with composer Henry Krieger for score.
Mr. Russell co-wrote the book and lyrics for Off-Broadway’s long-running musical
Pageant (with collaborators Frank Kelly, Albert Evans, and Robert Longbottom), and
directed it at the King’s Head Theatre in London. The production transferred to the West
End, received two Olivier Award nominations, and won that prestigious prize for “Best
Supporting Performance in a Musical” for Miles Western’s portrayal of Miss West Coast.
He authored the book and lyrics for Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens
(music by Janet Hood), directing it in New York and in London’s Fringe and West End,
among many others, including a celebrity benefit in New York which was recorded by
Fynsworth Alley. Other credits as bookwriter/lyricist include: Off-Broadway’s Fourtune
and The Texas Chainsaw Musical (co-author), Family Style (Minneapolis), Everything’s
Ducky and Lucky Duck (with Henry Krieger and Jeffrey Hatcher), and Kept with Henry
Krieger and Steven Chbosky. He adapted the book of Call Me Madam for City Center
Encores!. The Last Smoker in America, for which he wrote the book and lyrics with
composer Peter Melnick, will open off-Broadway this summer.
Bill Condon is a celebrated film director and Oscar® winning screenwriter known for
directing actors to critically-acclaimed and award winning performances. His adaptation
of the Broadway smash Dreamgirls won two Academy Awards® and three Golden
Globes, including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy. Condon directed from his own
screenplay and was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award. Condon also
wrote and directed Kinsey, for which he won the 2005 Best Director Award from the
British Directors Guild. He also wrote and directed Gods and Monsters, which earned
him an Academy Award® for Best Adapted Screenplay. Condon wrote the screenplay
for the big-screen version of the musical Chicago, for which he received a second
Oscar® nomination. The film, which starred Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones,
and Richard Gere, won six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture of 2002. Condon
serves as President of Film Independent, as well as the Independent Writers Steering
Committee of the WGA. He is currently in post-production on The Twilight Saga:
Breaking Dawn - Part 2, which Condon shot concurrently with The Twilight Saga:
Breaking Dawn - Part 1.
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About La Jolla Playhouse
The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of
creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was
founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of
the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions
have moved to Broadway, including the currently running Tony Award-winning musicals
Memphis and Jersey Boys, as well as Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33
Variations, Peter and the Starcatcher and Bonnie & Clyde. Located on the UC San Diego
campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell
Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La
Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes
Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing
Director Michael S. Rosenberg.
About the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America’s living memorial to President
Kennedy. It is the nation’s busiest performing arts facility and annually hosts approximately
2,000 performances for audiences totaling nearly two million; Center related touring
productions, television, and radio broadcasts welcome 40 million more. Now in its 41st season,
the Center presents performances of music, dance, and theater; supports artists in the creation
of new work; and serves the nation as a leader in arts education. With its artistic affiliates, the
National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera and VSA, the Center’s
achievements as a commissioner, producer, and nurturer of developing artists have resulted in
more than 200 theatrical productions, dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works. The
Center has produced and co-produced Annie, the American premiere of Les Misérables, and
Titanic. In the past decade, the Center has produced the Sondheim Celebration (six Stephen
Sondheim musicals), Tennessee Williams Explored (three of Williams’ classic plays), Mame,
Carnival!, August Wilson’s 20th Century (Wilson’s complete ten play cycle) and Broadway: Three
Generations, Terrence McNally’s Nights at the Opera featuring three works by the playwright
performed concurrently on three Kennedy Center stages. The Kennedy Center production of
Ragtime transferred to Broadway in 2008 and Follies transferred to Broadway last fall, which
was followed by a successful run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Each year, millions
of people nationwide take part in innovative and effective education programs initiated by the
Center. As part of the Center’s Performing Arts for Everyone outreach program, the Center and
the National Symphony Orchestra stage more than 400 free performances of music, dance, and
theater by artists from throughout the world each year on the Center’s main stages, and every
evening at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Becky Biegelsen
La Jolla Playhouse
(858) 228-3092
[email protected]
Stephanie O’Neill
The Kennedy Center
(202) 416-8446
[email protected]