‘Side Show’ will be reimagined at La Jolla Playhouse

The previously announced La Jolla Playhouse-Kennedy Center production of the 1997 musical “Side Show” will open in La Jolla on Nov. 5 in a reimagined form that will be directed by screenwriter and director Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls”).

“Side Show,” which is scheduled for a six-week run, is based on the lives of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, who advance from a circus act to vaudeville headliners in the 1930s. Bill Russell wrote the book and lyrics; Henry Krieger wrote the music.

The original Broadway production starred Alice Ripley (“Next to Normal”) as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy, and the actresses were nominated together as one performer for lead actress in a musical in the 1998 Tony Awards. “Side Show” received positive reviews but ran for only about three months on Broadway.

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In the new production, the conjoined twins will be played by Erin Davie (“Grey Gardens”) and Emily Padgett (“Rock of Ages”).

Condon, who won an adapted screenplay Oscar for his 1998 movie “Gods and Monsters,” also directed two of the “Twilight” movies and the soon to be released film based on WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, “The Fifth Estate.”

After “Side Show’s” run at the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre until Dec. 15, it will be produced at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater June 14, 2014 to July 13, 2014.

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Twitter: @debvankin