Performance Report 2 - Side Show the Musical

Time and Space
During the first weekend that Side Show was available for the public eye at the University of Texas at Dallas, that first Saturday night (April 10th) was not a full house. Not even half of the theatre was filled by the time the show officially started. At this time, the first three rows of the theatre seating were completely filled while the fourth and fifth rows had a few people here and there. The show started in a very timely manner, with more people (mostly students) slowly coming in late as the show went on. I found it very interesting that the first row of the audience was on the same level as the stage and the university theatre was smaller than I had imagined.

Music
I have been to live musicals before, but I noticed that in Side Show, the orchestra rarely ever stopped playing. Maybe I had never realized it before because I have never had to analyze a musical or maybe it did not play as often as this one, but the orchestra was playing during scene changes and times where I would normally think it to be a dead time in a play. Though most of the time the orchestra was playing during scene changes, occasionally the singers would sing along as well, while moving objects for the next scene. The music that played in between these scenes normally set the tone for the upcoming scene. For example, it was quick and upbeat right before a lively and fun scene, but it was slower and had less ornamentation when the next scene was on the serious side. The music had a very westernized sound to it. Clarinets, flute, bass, guitar, trumpet, horn, saxophones, tuba, drums, percussion, and oboes made up the orchestra, along with the director, piano, and assistant director. The music was definitely a pulsatile homophony and contained each classification of instruments – chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, idiophones, and electrophones.

Audience
Much of the attendees seemed to be family of those in the performance because I saw many older couples, adults, many family-looking groups with kids that were probably brother and sisters of the performers. There were some students there as well, probably to support their friends, but the families far out-numbered the students. Part of the reason could be that it was on a Saturday night, a student’s prime night for going out. The first three rowed were completely packed with people, with the first row being on the same level as the stage. It was obvious to me that those first few rows were more attentive to the show. I was in the third row and I could see those who were in front of me were absorbed in the play, but when I glanced behind me, many were texting and whispering amongst themselves. Having the first row of seats on the same level as the stage allowed the performers to interact with the crowd on another level that I have never seen before. Because of this, the first couple of rows didn’t really have a choice but to pay attention, because you wouldn’t want to be caught off guard by the performers. In the beginning, it was obvious that the audience was not too sure of when the appropriate time was to clap. They tried to clap after long song, especially by the girls, but many times they were interrupted by another actor who began their line. As the night went on, the timing for applause improved greatly.

Performers
It was difficult to analyze much about the performers because they were put behind the entire scene, almost out of sight from the audience. At the very beginning, I could see about six of the musicians, but soon, even they were covered up and the only players I was able to see consistently was the drummer and the electric guitarist. I realize this is a musical, but I was surprised to see that even simple dialogue, many times, was sung instead of plainly being stated. The interaction with the audience made the atmosphere of the crowd much different than it would have been without it. When the “Cannibal King” came into the crowd when he was introduced, it was as if this musical was daring to be different, and grabbed the audience’s attention very quickly. I also noticed that the actors and actresses seemed to make a lot of eye contact with the audience, which is normally a bad thing when performing in a show, but in my opinion, it just added to the interaction that they had with the audience.

Overall, this musical had many different aspects and a unique atmosphere that I had never experienced before. From the interaction of the performers with the audience to the constant playing of the orchestra, the show was a type of folk performance – it was put on for the enjoyment of their own community. Though the theatre was smaller than imagined, it allowed for a special bond for the audience to take part in.