On Golden Pond - It's all over now

The show closed Saturday night. I have to say it was some of the best theater I've been involved in thus far. A local reviewer also reviewed me! Go figure. The costumer never gets mentioned:

http://altdaily.com/local-review-on-golden-pond-by-the-williamsburg-players/

The costumes followed the months as they flowed in time on stage. From long sleeves to short sleeves, and subtle changes along the way helped with the passage of time. Charlie, the mailman, wore a pith helmet per the director's suggestions. I found images on the internet, printed them on fabric, and stitched the patches to two shirts (one long sleeved and one short sleeved). Norman, the husband of the couple at the center of the play, was envisioned as a crusty curmudgeon with casual clothes save for the one scene where he needed a tie. For that one, I took a long sleeve Oxford and cut it down to short sleeved. We picked out a bright, salmon colored tie. Ethel, the wife, was seen as someone who would wear button up shirts over tees. She did switch to overalls for her strawberry picking scene. I wanted a floppy hat, but that idea was shot down. Chelsea, the daughter, was dressed in travel casual dresses, and at the end, she wore one of her own skirts and top. I saw the skirt on her at a rehearsal and it was perfect for her at-home wear toward the end of the show.

Bill, Chelsea's shy, dentist boyfriend, was seen to wear an Oxford shirt and tie. He was such a buttoned up character! I put him in a polo shirt for the end scene. Billy, Bill's son, basically wore his down clothes save for the fishing vest and hat I procured. I did have him scruff up his hair to look a bit more rambunctious. The telephone operator dressed herself. She also worked back stage, so hers was an outfit that needed to transition to black backstage wear easily.

Bill, Chelsea, Ethel, on meeting Bill.  

Billy going fishing. 

Better view of Billy's fishing vest.

Charlie and Ethel on porch. 

Charlie's short sleeve shirt. Ethel wore a different robe for the show that we had embellished to look like a frumpy, but strong woman's robe with ruffles. 

Meeting Billy. 

Chelsea's second look. The dress was hanging in the wardrobe rooms unfinished. I finished it and put the label in the front instead of the back. Oh well!

Norman's second shirt. A little warmer now, sleeves rolled up. 

Ethel's first outfit. 

Ethel's last outfit.

Bill ended up in a polo shirt at the end, not this button down shirt. 

Curtain call. Norman wore a dark blue windbreaker for the show and again, Bill wore a polo, not a button down. 

Norman's fishing outfit. Again, I took a long sleeved shirt out of wardrobe and cut it down to short sleeved.

Norman and Billy getting ready to go fishing, from the wings on a show night. 

I didn't really "make" any costumes for the show, but I altered a lot of what I picked out. I'm still not sure whether I like costuming or not, but for this show, I did!

I hope to work with this director again next season. We'll see!

On Golden Pond Costuming - Let's get started

I am fortunate enough to have been asked to costume On Golden Pond for the Williamsburg Players. They're in early rehearsals now, so I'm in the planning and early making stages myself. Right now, I have two formerly white dress shirts in the dryer. They're now blue and one will be a short sleeved USPS shirt and the other a long sleeved USPS shirt. To go with them, the director wants a certain hat, so I'm currently hand sewing a fabric printed emblem onto the hat:

Don't want to show too much just yet! My daughter helped with the artwork search and then I printed what will be all the patches for Charlie's uniform on fabric. The shirts have a couple emblems as well. This is the fun part!

I have a long way to go and I'll take you with me through the process. Tonight, I'll get my bio information together for the program and work on mapping out the characters and when they'll wear certain clothes.

Double bonus for this show, I get to work back stage too! Already got my black pants and tees ready to rock and roll. All of mine are about 10 years old and in really bad shape. A girl needs new black stuff, right?

If you're local, get your tickets early. It's gonna be a great show.

Jack, the hearty laughing sailor (Sleuth costuming)

Jack's done!  I put shoes on him last night, stapling them onto his legs. Hey, you do what you can do, right? They're my daughter's old Busch Gardens work tennies. They look like something a sailor might have worn. I also cut his neck off about 1-1/2 inches, so he doesn't look so giraffe-like, and during the run of rehearsal last night, his head didn't fall off, so that's also a good thing. I stapled the rest of his clothing in place to the column, the wall, and pressed his legs a little closer to the column. I think he's ready for prime time now.

I took the hem out of Sgt. Doppler's pants, but they still are way too short, so it's back to the drawing room on them. Under the lights, the "tweed" looked awful. Too polyester looking. Jim is going to try to pick up a pair of darker gray slacks and we'll reimburse him. I've provided two pair and they both sucked :)
The clown suit is primary colors. It needed some pockets, so I cut some pockets out of primary color striped fabric and stitched them on. They look like they were made just for that suit. Got that done yesterday. Also, the clown's tophat is now fixed. It has elastic to hold it on, thank goodness. That was a chore!

For the Sleuth to-do list, I have the monk's robe to make out of a bathrobe. I stole rope from the theater last night to serve as the belt for the monk's robe. The fat suit for Doppler has to be made, but I have it fleshed out in my head now, so know what I'm doing. We played with makeup last night for Doppler. I think I have a good feel for what we're doing. I picked up some gray eye shadow last night to do some creases and eye sinking with. And then there's the smoke machine. Argh. Tonight I'll play with that a bit and see if I can get it to work right. Oh, and the smoking jacket - David/Andrew Wyke found a great scarf that is like the spectral opposite of the brocade in the jacket and he's using that for his ascot. It matches like a dream.

And next - Alyson's log cabin quilt. I need to get back to that as soon as I can and finish it. I'm really into it, but had to set it aside to finish costumes for Sleuth.

Onward! Stitch, stitch, stitch.

Updated 05/19/11