With all the admonitions of experienced directors, costumers, and friends, saying things like "Are you Crazy, that is a huge show!" the daunting task of getting the costumes ready for "The Producers" has begun. Why am I not panicking?
I'm not sure. I do have a lot of raw materials, which in itself is a very time consuming part of the job. I think I have most of the materials I need to make costumes, and the patterns and designs in mind, but still have some purchased and rental garments I need to arrange for.
I designed my Little Old Ladies costumes to have a plain skirt, a boucle jacket, a jacquard design blouse, hat and gloves. Since there are 15 LOL's dancing with walkers, we had a pretty big fabric purchase to make them all--in this show, they are all dressed alike. I didn't know where I would find enough fabric to make all the outfits, but I did find some boucle that matched perfectly with some other fabrics I found that was so cheap, under $2 a yard. When you need lots of fabric, often you have to pay a premium price for it, but this was on the VALUE FABRIC table at various Hancock stores. Hooray for Hancock!
I did 5 skirts so far, really 6 because my prototype was made Sunday, and after I tried it on one of the dancers, it seemed too skimpy. So I enlarged it. It is an 8 gore skirt with 6 godets at the bottom to make it fuller for dancing. I think it will work out well.
The fabric for the skirts is from my special bag of tricks. When I need lots of cheap fabric, I look for sheets. I am famous for sheet skirts. They work so well for period shows, just sew a casing and a hem, and you have a great colorful skirt in about 15 minutes. These took about 30 minutes to do, but still very simple. I think they will work out well.
I had a few ounces of creativity left after the 5 skirts were made, and back spasms hadn't set in yet, so I made a prototype hat for the LOL's, I think it will work OK. It's a little circle of velveteen with a huge ugly flower attached. Should be very funny.
So 5 skirts and a hat for a night, if I can keep this up, I'll be OK. It is just keeping on track and making myself meet my short term goals that I need to focus on. I hope to get my 15 sheet skirts done by this Friday.
Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label costumes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label costumes. Show all posts
Monday, June 14, 2010
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tornado Alley
Please don't report me to the "hoarder" police! I don't need an intervention from Oprah! And there have been no actual tornados reported in our area for quite some time. This is the result of a COSTUME TORNADO that swept through this house this weekend.
Bedroom wrecked by the tornado. There were 5 hanging racks in this room until one of the cheapies I just bought collapsed under the pressure of a full load. Now that load is on the bed or the floor.
Every flat surface in this room was covered with costumes yesterday, until I bundled up about 15 bundles to take to practice yesterday to try on my ladies. Luckily, most fit and there isn't a lot to redo.
The men's stuff, yet to be sorted completely. Lots needs to be done here before next weekend!
My theatre group has had the luxury of having a very fine lady store the costumes for the group in her basement for years. Why she ever agreed to this, I'll never know, but she had an unfinished basement, and nothing else???? to be stored there, so it worked out OK. About a year ago, she informed them that she would be selling her home within the year, and the theatre group had to make other arrangements for the costumes.
In the meantime, I've been storing things that the group has used for the past 2+ seasons. Since I was the costumer of record for all of these shows, when they were finished, I took them out of the theatre, and had no where to go with them, so I made a niche in my garage to store them.
The theatre group responded to my friend's plea to get a space for the costumes in her house. They agreed and they moved the stuff from her home to a storage locker nearby. They were going to get the stuff from me, but alas, what she had filled the entire locker, and I was just out of luck!
As we started to costume "A Christmas Carol", she bequeathed on me the entire collection we used for Christmas Carol 2007, plus some choice odds and ends that could be used for the show.
So here it is!
First, it was all stored in the bedroom so we could eat Thanksgiving dinner using the dining room table. Then one of my racks collapsed under the weight, and the stuff ended up on the floor or the bed. Then I had to sort the stuff, pull together elements that were in this box or that tub, and put them in bundles for each actress and actor. Yesterday, the actresses tried on their stuff, and that is still in the back of my car! Tonight, I'll do some trying on for the men.
It is a mess. The group has promised me a second rental storage area with hanging racks built and ready to recieve this stuff on Dec. 19. It will be such a relief to get my garage space and bedroom space back.
Right now, my car is outside! This has got to stop! And someday soon, hopefully I'll get my house back!
Bedroom wrecked by the tornado. There were 5 hanging racks in this room until one of the cheapies I just bought collapsed under the pressure of a full load. Now that load is on the bed or the floor.
Every flat surface in this room was covered with costumes yesterday, until I bundled up about 15 bundles to take to practice yesterday to try on my ladies. Luckily, most fit and there isn't a lot to redo.
The men's stuff, yet to be sorted completely. Lots needs to be done here before next weekend!My theatre group has had the luxury of having a very fine lady store the costumes for the group in her basement for years. Why she ever agreed to this, I'll never know, but she had an unfinished basement, and nothing else???? to be stored there, so it worked out OK. About a year ago, she informed them that she would be selling her home within the year, and the theatre group had to make other arrangements for the costumes.
In the meantime, I've been storing things that the group has used for the past 2+ seasons. Since I was the costumer of record for all of these shows, when they were finished, I took them out of the theatre, and had no where to go with them, so I made a niche in my garage to store them.
The theatre group responded to my friend's plea to get a space for the costumes in her house. They agreed and they moved the stuff from her home to a storage locker nearby. They were going to get the stuff from me, but alas, what she had filled the entire locker, and I was just out of luck!
As we started to costume "A Christmas Carol", she bequeathed on me the entire collection we used for Christmas Carol 2007, plus some choice odds and ends that could be used for the show.
So here it is!
First, it was all stored in the bedroom so we could eat Thanksgiving dinner using the dining room table. Then one of my racks collapsed under the weight, and the stuff ended up on the floor or the bed. Then I had to sort the stuff, pull together elements that were in this box or that tub, and put them in bundles for each actress and actor. Yesterday, the actresses tried on their stuff, and that is still in the back of my car! Tonight, I'll do some trying on for the men.
It is a mess. The group has promised me a second rental storage area with hanging racks built and ready to recieve this stuff on Dec. 19. It will be such a relief to get my garage space and bedroom space back.
Right now, my car is outside! This has got to stop! And someday soon, hopefully I'll get my house back!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Speaking of Mr. Dickens.....
Hats created for "A Christmas Carol" presented by Hawthorne Players, Dec. 2007
This was my fancy hat, my first attempt, the feathers cover up a multitude of sins!
Simpler design, fits well, cheap to make, takes a hour to put together, and the new default design for 2009!Our theatre group is working on "A Christmas Carol". Dates for the performances are Dec. 18-20. We are doing 4 performances, a matinee on Saturday and Sunday, and evening performances on Friday and Saturday.
The group has done this show before, having first done it in 2007. I was costumer for the 2007 show. It was a big job (about 35 performers, most needing at least two costume changes), and I had just come off my task of costuming "The Music Man" with a cast of 55.
One of the things I found about doing a Dicken's show is that the ladies all needed period hats. It was fairly easy to find patterns for these hats, because many folks are doing re-enactments and shows using this style of period clothing. I had never made hats before, but was intrigued with the idea of doing so. As you can see, I got quite into the craft, and made many very cute, colorful and quite lovely chapeaus for my ladies! These were only matched by the wonderful top hats that the men wore!
One of our actresses is a very sought after performer, and she is in many shows during the year. She has a wonderful voice, she is a great actress, and she loves spending her spare time working in musicals. We were lucky to be able to snag her between other gigs for the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last summer.
When she did Christmas Carol in 2007, she came with her own Dickensonian costume! She is in much demand during the Christmas season working as a songstress doing Christmas Carols for various local events. I was very thankful that she could dress herself for her caroling role, and when she told me what she paid for the hat she was wearing, I was shocked! Many, many pesos! And it is the simplest design! I recreated it the other night for $4 worth of materials and about 1 hour of time! It frames the face beautifully, and fits well. I'd model it myself, but you can get the jist of it from the picture.
From now on, if I need to make more Dicken's style hats, this is the style I'm making! The details of the fancier hats are lost in the translation, and even though they were totally fun to make, they aren't necessary.
My young girls will wear mop caps, and I have a nice collection of those. The actresses who are returning will get their fancy hats, but the newcomes will get the 2009 stripped down, maribou trimmed simple hats, and no one will be the wiser! My men will have several new cool top hats to choose from, and we'll all look fine!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Antique Hat meets Modern Head
That beautiful antique top hat I found at the antique mall would have been just perfect for Scrooge for the photo shoot today, EXCEPT THAT......
it is about 5 sizes too small!
Scrooge looked like he was wearing a birthday cake on his head, or he was posing as the mad hatter and or the chimney sweep, about to clean chimneys. Come to think of it, the Mad Hatter's hat is way too big, so that image doesn't work.
We had a hard time finding one hat in our collection that did fit Scrooge! It's back to the drawing board on this one.
I should have known, the antique hat fits me. I have a pin head, so naturally, it was going to be too small for a man.
It was too good to be true!
it is about 5 sizes too small!
Scrooge looked like he was wearing a birthday cake on his head, or he was posing as the mad hatter and or the chimney sweep, about to clean chimneys. Come to think of it, the Mad Hatter's hat is way too big, so that image doesn't work.
We had a hard time finding one hat in our collection that did fit Scrooge! It's back to the drawing board on this one.
I should have known, the antique hat fits me. I have a pin head, so naturally, it was going to be too small for a man.
It was too good to be true!
The Cowgirl, Elf and the Curmudgeon
There is no rest for the wicked. I guess that puts me in the "wicked" category!
This weekend has been an ongoing costuming session, fulfilling commitments I made to folks I love to make special things for them for Christmas occasions.
A precious little girl needed a "western theme" costume for her school's Christmas program, a cute little broomstick skirt and matching vest would be just the thing. It will also be one of her costumes for "A Christmas Carol"....
A dear wonderful BFF of my daughter's, great blogger, scrapbooker, DIYer, and wonderful philanthropist, is playing "Santa's Elf" to deliver Christmas baskets that she and her co-workers are collecting for needy families...Of course, she needs to be well dressed to play her role in spreading Christmas joy....
And the curmudgeon, a.k.a. Ebeneezer Scrooge, needs to show his grumpy face for a photo shoot for publicity shots for "A Christmas Carol"..oh, I almost forgot, so does his little benefactor, Tiny Tim!
BUT, HERE'S THE CATCH...this was the weekend they ALL needed their costumes! So, that has been what I've been doing for the past two days.
Got the little cowgirl all fixed up on Friday. Got the elf started and basted and tried on during the day yesterday,because she doesn't really need it until next week. Then I created Tiny Tim's outfit and Scrooge's duds by picking through stuff I own, going to the thrift store for a grungy shirt for TT, and making an overcoat/cape for Scrooge. I have a wonderful Scrooge hat I found at the antique mall, a gently used "made in Paris" top hat, very vintage. I thought of a way that they could take the publicity shots using no people, just hats, canes and crutches, then I wouldn't have to dress anyone! Too bad I don't have all four elements, or I'd do it myself! Similar to the photo in this blog!
So today, no sewing, except for a snap or button on the overcoat. On the agenda today is "Doubt", which closes today, we do strike, then on to Christmas Carol rehearsal and photo shoot.
When Monday morning rolls around, I guess I will have earned my day off in the office grading papers, because this weekend was anything but a restful couple of days off!
P.S., If the photo shoot were tomorrow, I would have Scrooge's rental costumes, they will be ready tomorrow. Then I wouldn't have had to fool with him at all! Ah, deadlines, they mess up everyone's life!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Pictures from "On Borrowed Time"
Mr. Brink, (aka "death"),is a dapper fellow who gently tells the characters, "It's time to come with me now"..where the woodbine twineth...Gramps resists and tricks Mr. Brink to climb an old apple tree to get him an apple before he goes with Mr. Brink. Gramps had made a wish that anyone climbing the apple tree had to stay there until he said they could come down. The wish really comes true, and Mr. Brink (and death) is stuck in the apple tree!
All of this trickery is designed to keep Gramps here on earth a little longer to be with his beloved grandson Pud, whose parents were killed in an auto accident. Aunt Demetria has designs on Pud, more on the money his family willed him, rather than on her desire to show love and care for the boy.
Gramps is declared insane by reason of his claim to have death caught up in the tree. Dr. Evans, the Sheriff, Mr. Philbeam and Marci try to convince him to relent, and let Mr. Brink down, which finally happens when Brink tricks Pud to climb the tree, and as a result, the boy dies. Gramps decides to go with Mr. Brink also, to that wonderful place into eternity, to meet his dear wife Miss Nellie, who still chastizes him in eternity for swearing!
An endearing story, and played very well by the Hawthorne Players! Thought the subject is somber, it is treated in a light-hearted way, and as a result, no sniffles at the end, only happiness that Gramps and Granny and their dear PUD are together once again!
Mr. Brink tricks Pud to climb the tree
Mr. Brink's first encounter with Julian, and Julian resists the call to "come with me now"
Aunt Demetria--flowered dress from vintage pattern (see earler post for pattern details)
Aunt Demetria in another vintage dress.
I found many of the costumes in closets, at thrift stores, and I built several for the women. Aunt Demetria looks fabulous in her costumes! She liked them so much, she purchased them for her own collection! The little boys wanted their thrift store shirts and my famous boxer shorts as a remembrance, so we let them take them home. I found Dr. Evan's checked coat and vest at Goodwill, perfect fit and style, and although he whined about looking like Herb Tarlick, I think he looked great, so did his girlfriend and many others!
It was fun to do the costuming for this show, despite the fact that I was doing two shows at the same time, but neither of the two were that demanding, so it worked out OK.
All of this trickery is designed to keep Gramps here on earth a little longer to be with his beloved grandson Pud, whose parents were killed in an auto accident. Aunt Demetria has designs on Pud, more on the money his family willed him, rather than on her desire to show love and care for the boy.
Gramps is declared insane by reason of his claim to have death caught up in the tree. Dr. Evans, the Sheriff, Mr. Philbeam and Marci try to convince him to relent, and let Mr. Brink down, which finally happens when Brink tricks Pud to climb the tree, and as a result, the boy dies. Gramps decides to go with Mr. Brink also, to that wonderful place into eternity, to meet his dear wife Miss Nellie, who still chastizes him in eternity for swearing!
An endearing story, and played very well by the Hawthorne Players! Thought the subject is somber, it is treated in a light-hearted way, and as a result, no sniffles at the end, only happiness that Gramps and Granny and their dear PUD are together once again!
Mr. Brink tricks Pud to climb the tree
Mr. Brink's first encounter with Julian, and Julian resists the call to "come with me now"
Aunt Demetria--flowered dress from vintage pattern (see earler post for pattern details)
Aunt Demetria in another vintage dress.
I found many of the costumes in closets, at thrift stores, and I built several for the women. Aunt Demetria looks fabulous in her costumes! She liked them so much, she purchased them for her own collection! The little boys wanted their thrift store shirts and my famous boxer shorts as a remembrance, so we let them take them home. I found Dr. Evan's checked coat and vest at Goodwill, perfect fit and style, and although he whined about looking like Herb Tarlick, I think he looked great, so did his girlfriend and many others!
It was fun to do the costuming for this show, despite the fact that I was doing two shows at the same time, but neither of the two were that demanding, so it worked out OK.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Ok, Ok, I did it
Ok, I did it. I beat myself on the back to get me down to the sewing room, and I actually cut out and started to sew a suit for one of my actresses in On Borrowed Time. I hope it turns out good.
It was hard to choose which of the wonderful vintage patterns I wanted to make. They all have such exquisite details. Most have shirring of some sort on the garments, they also have interesting yokes and neck details. This one is a simple suit or two piece dress, I'm making it out of a tiny olive green check. HOpe it turns out well.
Need to get some more zippers, and possibly some more fabric to go with this suit, then she can wear the jacket with a dress, and also the dress by itself. We need mix and match, for sure.
After class, if I don't suffer from the Thursday afternoon blahs, I'm going to finish it! Then on to the next one.
It was hard to choose which of the wonderful vintage patterns I wanted to make. They all have such exquisite details. Most have shirring of some sort on the garments, they also have interesting yokes and neck details. This one is a simple suit or two piece dress, I'm making it out of a tiny olive green check. HOpe it turns out well.
Need to get some more zippers, and possibly some more fabric to go with this suit, then she can wear the jacket with a dress, and also the dress by itself. We need mix and match, for sure.
After class, if I don't suffer from the Thursday afternoon blahs, I'm going to finish it! Then on to the next one.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Basic Black
What your well dressed priest will be wearing this season
This pattern is quite authentic, down to the oversized pockets and 24 front buttons. It is also a very difficult pattern to find!
My next costuming gig will be all about basic black. Oh, there will be a splash of color here and there, such as Mass Vestments, but basically, I will be using most of the 20+ yards of BASIC BLACK fabric I purchased Friday to make the priest's outfit, and the habits for two nuns. This if for the play "Doubt: A Parable", starting in mid-November.
I investigated the real thing that priests' wear--these are called cassocks--I guess other ministers wear them also. I went to the store that sells them and saw the range of styles, details, fabrics, and PRICES that these things cost! The basic cotton one was a wrap-around, cost about $175. The Cadillac of cassocks was wool, made in Belguim, and cost $545! Dummy me, why am I not making these for real people instead of actors?
I tried to borrow one of these from my local parish priest. He said he hasn't owned one for a long time. He said, "Oh, I had one for a while, but then I got too fat for it, so I never bought another one." I guess we all have that problem, and it really would be a problem if you sunk $545 into a garment you outgrew! By the way, Father C, you aren't fat by any stretch of the imagination!
The design choices for this type of garment are simple, the devil is in the details. Should it be buttons or no buttons? If you choose no buttons, a lot of snaps and a belt are in order. So, I chose to make the 24 buttonholes and try to find the 24 buttons alike--this is not as easy as it seems. I've already looked on 3 stores button boards, and have come up empty. Most of them stock 12 or 15, but not 24 alike. I thought I scored the bonanzy at my last store I went to, they had more than 24 of the perfect size and style, and then when I went to count them out, THEY WERE NAVY BLUE, not black! Back to hunting again.
The other thing that is interesting is the pocket. On the more expensive cassocks, they have a very deep side slit pocket. On this pattern, not only do they have a very deep pocket, but they have a pass through, so the guy can reach into his pants pocket as well as the cassock pocket. I always wondered where they carried their handkerchiefs and note pads. Now I know.
As I said before, finding the pattern for this garment was difficult. I needed to make one for a January show, and I had to hunt in the back of the pattern drawers for this pattern. I actually had to shop at least 3 stores before I found one in stock. Then, when I unwrapped the pattern, it was missing some very vital pieces, they wrapped up two sheets of the same thing, and left out a very important piece! I had to improvise big time to overcome that problem.
Keep this one in the drawers, Butterick, you are always my 'GO TO' pattern company to find costume patterns that I need. I'm noticing that your books are getting thinner, please hang in there and keep producing good patterns, true sizing, and other good stuff!
I'll show the finished product once I get the fancy sleeves installed (very deep cuff, more storage options!), and the 24 buttons sewed on!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Joseph Pictures
All pictures on this page are copyrighted by Gerry Love 2009. Thanks Gerry for doing such a great job of photography!
This is a sample of the girls Canaan costumes--tie dyed skirts, peasant blouses. Each skirt is made of 4 yards of muslin, then dyed. Each skirt is different, using the same colors but different blending of colors. We had a ball tie dyeing these skirts and the men's shirts.
Egyptian women--polyester interlock stretch fabric, accessorized with gold sequin trim and gold braid at shoulders. They have to change quickly, so no zippers! You can see several of the young children in the background, wearing eyelet dresses. One boy child is in white shorts and a tee shirt, with a colored belt around his waist. Each child has a different rainbow colored ribbon or belt.
Joseph in his "tear apart" coat. Put together with about 50 snaps and 5 yards of velcro. The sleeves tore off too quickly several times, now they are reinforced, and it takes special techniques to tear them off, but at least they stay put while he is wearing this coat!
This is the finale coat. He wears it all of 30 seconds before the lights go out! Darn! Lots of work went into this one, more than the first one. I think the bottom and the top don't go together, some day I will change it, but not before tonight! My design team agrees with me, but there isn't time to change it now.
As Joseph sings, "I'm a walking work of art..." They all are, and I am pleased with the results.
This is a sample of the girls Canaan costumes--tie dyed skirts, peasant blouses. Each skirt is made of 4 yards of muslin, then dyed. Each skirt is different, using the same colors but different blending of colors. We had a ball tie dyeing these skirts and the men's shirts.
Egyptian women--polyester interlock stretch fabric, accessorized with gold sequin trim and gold braid at shoulders. They have to change quickly, so no zippers! You can see several of the young children in the background, wearing eyelet dresses. One boy child is in white shorts and a tee shirt, with a colored belt around his waist. Each child has a different rainbow colored ribbon or belt.
Joseph in his "tear apart" coat. Put together with about 50 snaps and 5 yards of velcro. The sleeves tore off too quickly several times, now they are reinforced, and it takes special techniques to tear them off, but at least they stay put while he is wearing this coat!
This is the finale coat. He wears it all of 30 seconds before the lights go out! Darn! Lots of work went into this one, more than the first one. I think the bottom and the top don't go together, some day I will change it, but not before tonight! My design team agrees with me, but there isn't time to change it now.
As Joseph sings, "I'm a walking work of art..." They all are, and I am pleased with the results.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
If you can't say something nice, don't say.....
...anything at all--you knew the ending to that phrase.
Community theatre groups work on their plays with passion and energy to put on the best production their time, space, and funds will allow. Actors and actresses will spend hundreds of dollars on just the right pair of boots, or a wig to make them look the part that they are playing.
Our town has a lot of community theatre groups. I seem to recall that my own mother and father met in a community theatre group. So maybe that's why I've always wanted to get involved in community theatre in some capacity.
Being a widow, with no one to complain how late I arrive home, I've had lots of chances to work with community theatre groups. You either have to be a single or have a very understanding spouse, or two theatre nuts have to be married to make this theatre commitment work. Many of the people I have met are in the same situation as I am, single. I've met couples involved in the work together. One lady who played Joanna in "Move Over Mrs. Markham" showed up at our opening night last week, unable to see her husband, who played Phillip in the same play in his opening night performance on another play. Compromises need to be made in this case.
Community theatre groups always think what they have done is the be-all, end-all to any production on the boards at that given time. When I put my heart and soul into making 120 costume pieces for a play, (like I did in "The Music Man"), I think it should get a good critical review. The review was not raving, not terrible, and definitely pointed out some chinks in the armor of that play. This opened my eyes to the role that local critics play in judging the quality of plays that they see.
Our local "critic's panel" works for a radio station that fosters the arts, KDHX-St. Louis. For our latest play that was revued, "Prelude to a Kiss" the lead actors were lauded, several of the side actors and actresses were mentioned, and I got a nod from a very picky critic. "Costumes (SewWhat) were appropriate." Now was that a ringing endorsement or a simple nod that they were OK?
When I costumed Oklahoma last summer, the critic mentioned that the pig farmer's shoes were too clean--no other mention of the costumes. I think for The Music Man, some mention of colorful costumes was made. So I guess the work appropriate may be a high compliment, according to these very picky critics.
I like to say something nice about each thing I critique, no matter how small it may be. When the critics say they yawned through the entire thing, or they had a bad attitude about even coming (Last summer's Oklahoma's critique started out, WHY DID THEY EVEN PICK THIS PLAY TO DO?) And this was for a show that had two sold out houses in a 600 seat theatre! Or they couldn't even muster up a laugh when the audience was cracking up, I say it's time to turn over the critic job to someone else, you are definitely overworked and have really become jaded.
But if you want a real true estimate of the merit and flaws of what the production value of your play, these critics seem to nail it. Maybe we don't like to see the warts, just the beauty. But we are learning our craft, and pointing out flaws helps us to know what needs to be changed the next time we do productions.
But as I said, if you can't say something nice, maybe you should just shut up.
Read critique of "Prelude to a Kiss" on KDHX-St. Louis website. Go to "Community" then to "Current Reviews" page through to Prelude... Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2009
Community theatre groups work on their plays with passion and energy to put on the best production their time, space, and funds will allow. Actors and actresses will spend hundreds of dollars on just the right pair of boots, or a wig to make them look the part that they are playing.
Our town has a lot of community theatre groups. I seem to recall that my own mother and father met in a community theatre group. So maybe that's why I've always wanted to get involved in community theatre in some capacity.
Being a widow, with no one to complain how late I arrive home, I've had lots of chances to work with community theatre groups. You either have to be a single or have a very understanding spouse, or two theatre nuts have to be married to make this theatre commitment work. Many of the people I have met are in the same situation as I am, single. I've met couples involved in the work together. One lady who played Joanna in "Move Over Mrs. Markham" showed up at our opening night last week, unable to see her husband, who played Phillip in the same play in his opening night performance on another play. Compromises need to be made in this case.
Community theatre groups always think what they have done is the be-all, end-all to any production on the boards at that given time. When I put my heart and soul into making 120 costume pieces for a play, (like I did in "The Music Man"), I think it should get a good critical review. The review was not raving, not terrible, and definitely pointed out some chinks in the armor of that play. This opened my eyes to the role that local critics play in judging the quality of plays that they see.
Our local "critic's panel" works for a radio station that fosters the arts, KDHX-St. Louis. For our latest play that was revued, "Prelude to a Kiss" the lead actors were lauded, several of the side actors and actresses were mentioned, and I got a nod from a very picky critic. "Costumes (SewWhat) were appropriate." Now was that a ringing endorsement or a simple nod that they were OK?
When I costumed Oklahoma last summer, the critic mentioned that the pig farmer's shoes were too clean--no other mention of the costumes. I think for The Music Man, some mention of colorful costumes was made. So I guess the work appropriate may be a high compliment, according to these very picky critics.
I like to say something nice about each thing I critique, no matter how small it may be. When the critics say they yawned through the entire thing, or they had a bad attitude about even coming (Last summer's Oklahoma's critique started out, WHY DID THEY EVEN PICK THIS PLAY TO DO?) And this was for a show that had two sold out houses in a 600 seat theatre! Or they couldn't even muster up a laugh when the audience was cracking up, I say it's time to turn over the critic job to someone else, you are definitely overworked and have really become jaded.
But if you want a real true estimate of the merit and flaws of what the production value of your play, these critics seem to nail it. Maybe we don't like to see the warts, just the beauty. But we are learning our craft, and pointing out flaws helps us to know what needs to be changed the next time we do productions.
But as I said, if you can't say something nice, maybe you should just shut up.
Read critique of "Prelude to a Kiss" on KDHX-St. Louis website. Go to "Community" then to "Current Reviews" page through to Prelude... Jan. 23-Feb. 1, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Edelweiss, Edelweiss.....
I'm thinking they are darling!
You remember in "The Sound of Music" Maria dresses the 7 vonTrapp children in fabric she steals from the curtains in the room. Well, this is the curtain fabric we found to do this job. The fabric itself is quite lovely, and it sure made into a cute outfit.
It was a little bland without some contrast. So I found some cream colored upholstery fabric stashed in my extensive multi-closet fabric stash that I made the weskits out of. These are for the little girls, who are flighty and can't focus, so the tops are velcroed closed in the back and the weskits are part of the whole top assembly. I think this will work best for them, because they have some quick costume changes in and out of this scene.
Today, in between 2 visits to other sets of my two other plays, I need to try to finish the big girls tops. I can make the suspenders during the week, and do the alterations to the wedding garments when I can snatch a minute. But right now, 6:59 a.m., I need to get going on sewing, I have 1 hour till I need to get ready for church to sew. Hope I can get a lot done in an hour!
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