Side Show

Nominated for four Tony Awards, Side Show was inspired by the lives of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins born in Brighton, England, in 1908. While children, they moved to America and became known as "San Antonio’s Siamese Twins." In the 1920’s, the Hilton sisters made a change from side show attraction to star performers on the vaudeville circuit, earning $3,000 a week during the Great Depression. In 1936, Violet was married on the fifty-yard-line of the Cotton Bowl, in front of a paying audience as the finale of the Texas Centennial celebration. On film they appeared in Tod Browning’s Freaks and the ’50s B-film Chained for Life. Daisy and Violet died penniless and alone of influenza within hours of each other in North Carolina in 1969.

A unique musical that explores what makes us all different and how beauty is truly only skin deep, Side Show tells the amazing story of how these talented and extraordinary women navigate their feelings, dream of life and love beyond the freak show and long to be like everyone else. Learn about their lives as side show attractions, beloved vaudeville stars, and two sisters attached for life.