[stlgurl702]

My costume is 30 lbs. and I must say, OW! I am in so much pain. Who really decided it would be a good idea to make people play objects. It was a bad idea.


Have any stories about your costumes?

[Robinflamingo]

You mean besides the one I had for Gymnasia that was slit up to here, and cut down to there...that broke and my boobs popped out at dress rehearsal?

Nope.

[ActingDude17]

As an Enchanted Object, I was a Sugar Bowl. I had this giant blue thing that went all around me about a few feet in every direction. They stuffed newspapers inside to give it a fuller look.

Every time I sat down I would crinkle.

[Celeste_SM]

I watched one of the wardrobe crew wring out the Beast's gloves after a quick change. A good cup of sweat came out of those things. Ew.

[ConverseSneaker]

Aww, I'm sorry. My best friend also played the wardrobe and I got the lucky job of following her around, keeping all of her poles attacted, giving her shoulders massages.....

The worst costume piece, was my oil hat. Gigantic, made of styofoam that I had to balance on my head the whole time. And it had a piece of elastic attached to keep in on my head, but it was too small so it was choking me while I tried to sing!

[musikal_geek]

I had the most inconvenient- but super cool- costume for "Just So," as the Kangaroo. Everyone's heard the story a million times, though.

Basically, I had shoes that were at least 1 1/2 feet tall, and I had HUGE balloons in my skin-tight pants.

[Beagle On Stage]

We objects hated our costumes, but it's also part of what makes the show fun. I was Cogsworth, and I had this corset that was built into a plywood form under the costume to give it its shape. I was the only one who had to be on my feet for the whole show. The wardrobe could fall straight back onto a couch and rest, and Mrs. Potts could lift her teapot straight up and sit on a backless stool. But I couldn't bend my legs at all because of the plywood, so the best I could do was lean sideways into an open doorframe. It only gave me a tilt of about 15 degrees, but it was enough to take the weight off of one foot at a time.

[PappyCat]

Beagle, my costume was nearly impossible to sit with as well! (I was Cogsworth as well.) I could technically sit on a stool, but that required pushing up the costume under my chin, which hurt more than having to stand for 2 hours.

[Beagle On Stage]

lol! We objects had such love-hate relationships with our costumes. I imagine that's pretty universal to all productions. It was always such a relief to twirl through that puff of fog at the end of the show and not be dressed as a clock.

[stlgurl702]

[PappyCat]

I remember our Wardrobe had to stand ther perfectly still while Belle sang "Home" and I know that was hard for her. We actually made her costume entirely out of Cardboard, but it looked nice.

We were very low budget.

Here is me as Cogsy. I AM indeed a girl, however, I played Cogsworth as a man:

[MusicalGal1194]

Ahhh Pappy I love your costume! Yeah, for our production I was a feather duster, and I as well had a slit up to here and a neckline down to there, plus I had feathers spilling out everywhere. And not soft, comfy, downy feathers either. Like rough fake feathers. When I would take my costume off at the end of a performance, I'd have scratches all over from the feathers!

[ConverseSneaker]

Why is it always the hat?

Yesterday I recieved the final part of my costume for OUAM. A cone shaped headpiece with fabric down to my waist. Annoying! Everytime my knight twirled me, his arm would knock against the hat which was held into place by bobby pins, so ouch would go my hair. Whenever I sat down, the fabric always got under me and then another ouch. And when I danced, the thing would start bobbing and come close to falling out as the pins got jostled around.

[carrot cait]

We don't get out BatB costumes until Saturday, so I guess I can't complain about them until then...

Other than that, I haven't had anything truly horrible. I had to wear a ridiculous black wig for Mikado. Every other girl in the show had dark hair other than me, so I was the only one who had to. It didn't even look that bad, but it was difficult to get on and I somehow got into the habit of compulsive bobby-pinning. Every time I had a break, I would run into the changing room and put more in; I got up to about 100 one night.

Ooh, and my Jupiter costume from Cymbeline... It looked pretty awesome, but our costumer was ridiculously indecisive, so it changed literally every night. She would make all these crazy alterations and add new material and take off decorations and stuff, so I was never allowed to put it on myself. I had to have our assistant costumer dress me every single night.

Jupiter costume:



(Wow, I look really young! And really angry...)

[stagefrightdied]

One of my dresses for Belle has the most incredible boning in it! It is SOOOOOOOOO tight, lol, and when I put it on I literally have to hold on to the door so that I'll hold stilll enough to get zipped lol. I cant even bend over in it! And then when I sing "Home"... lol, lets just say its interesting!

And in Sound of Music on opening night one of my dresses' zipper completely busted like 3 minutes before my cue... then out of no where the stage manager came in with safety pins and saved me!!!!!! Ahhh, I love all of of y'all! What would we do without you?

[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear Beauty and the Beast Fans,

You should all have special, emergency stashes of safety pins in your theatre's green rooms.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[wom]

LOL We don't have a green room. We don't get to set up our sets until the night before the show. There are no dressing rooms. We have to put up curtains off to the side. Oh, did I mention there is no back stage either? Oh, and no wings. Just a stage built on the end of a gym with stairs on either side. So pretty much techies have to all have a stash of safety pins on them at all times for emergencies. Oh, I forgot, we have tech rehearsal/dress rehearsal the day of the show. This is about to be eliminated, though, because the school sees it as unnecessary.

[MusicalGal1194]

My featherduster headdress was mildly ridiculous. I wore a black wig (I am naturally fair skinned and red-blonde of hair) and this gigantic black sparkly feather headdress was plopped atop my head. It took 3 dress rehersals to figure out how to get it onto my head correctly without it falling off. I looked like 'Cher! In Concert-Vegas'

[AltoRose]

Oh, man. BatB at my theatre was so much fun, but the costumes were SUCH A PAIN.

We put on the show at a really small theatre with almost no room backstage. I played Mrs. Potts, and getting around backstage in my HUGE costume and getting Chip's cart where it needed to be was horrendously difficult. I couldn't sit down at all during the show because a) my teapot came down to my ankles; and b) I couldn't fit through ANY doors. Aieeee.

After "Home Reprise," I actually had to hang out onstage (behind the tavern backdrop during "Gaston") because I literally COULD NOT LEAVE. I wouldn't fit anywhere! Our Cogsworth and Wardrobe had it pretty bad, too, haha.

Here's a photo of the teapot costume:

[The Guard]

I was Cogsworth. We rented the traveling Broadway costumes, as I recall. Forty pounds of thick carpetlike "clock" framework, heavy pants, and the requisite "puffs" on my feet which didn't help with ventilation. I also had a 10-15 pound "hatpiece" that was about two and a half feet high, which retained quite a bit of heat. I couldn't see my feet because of the costume or feel them because of the constricting pants and puffs, and I couldn't move anything but my arms, and not very well. I had to walk like a clock for two months. Add to that the fact that the director thought it was a good idea to have a two tiered, moving break-apart set with WINDING STAIRS that were about eight inches wide and curving. I had to run up and down that a couple times. Backstage, myself and Mrs. Potts were given ground-mounted fans that we stood above, so that we could get some air between scenes. Mrs. Potts had it worse, and anyone who's played her knows why.