Saturday 20 December 2014

One Good Pantomime!

 

Robin Hood- the Panto

Nestled near the tracks of the town of Hudson Quebec is the restored Hudson train Station now residing as the Hudson Village Theatre.   Here a good old fashioned British Pantomime has become an annual tradition.
This year I had the pleasure of working with the Hudson Village Players for the  Holiday fable of Robin Hood & His Merry Men, directed by Mary Vuorela.
The production hosted two sets of talent which meant a tone of green tights and of course in true  Panto fashion, boobs and bums.  All the fabric was donated.  Have a look below:

Thank you to my good friend, Valerie Baylis for helping with sewing and design and Karen Pearce for supplement costumes of those not made but still required.

Photographer: James McCafferty, jamesmccafferty@live.ca
(514) 207-5770


The Leads

Robin's vest and accessories dress him up over the 
other Merry Men

Marion is dressed as a Medieval Royal
using green fabric to show she her desire to be a Merry Man.
















Robin's Crew


In getting to know these guys, it was capturing each of their individual personalities.  

They are funny and added some great entertainment for the audience's enjoyment.



The Friar: Glen's robe was made from burlap dyed darker to show better on stage.  He naturally has no hair, so the wig with the bald top was made just for him.
Little John: Adam is a Big guy and his costume was made to look like his character, a bit behind the others.
Will Scarlets: Dressed in red, Marc and Calvin were dressed to be a bit showy crediting his name.



The Merry Ladies


 Ellen-a-Dale is an entertainer so her costume  allows her to show off her artistic flair.
The actors each chose the colours and design elements from suggested ideas.  It was easy to see how they brought their characters alive through their choices.
Gymkhana Thatch was dressed to emphasize her desire to join the "Men".  Her colours and tunic were designed to allow her to blend in as one of the boys.

                                                                 

The Kids

My Fav was dressing this little guy.  His costume included a wig with elf ears.  His character was a reference to Lord of Rings.


The Law
The Sheriff's were quite dolled up.  


Chris wanted his character to be mashed up wth the wild west.  He wore a fringed shirt with a Medieval pant and tight.  His hat was a cowboy hat fascinator and of course he wore a cape.

Don played his Sheriff as an old fashioned villain.  His costume was more traditional, dark and adorned with silver jewelry so show status. 
Don's hat was more militant in a beret.
He was very snidely





The Ladies

Phil and Steve played the Nanny to Maid Marion.
Their costumes came with a two piece girdles to enhance their womanly features.
The dress is all one piece all attached.
The hair was sewn into the nanny bonnet.
Overall she was meant to look scattered and not at all put together.


On Stage 
Of Course there's a Cow!




T














his was my first attempt at making an animal.  It's played by two people and meant to look like a cartoon that could lend it's self to some mishaps.
I love the eyes and the snout.
The head is two layers of foam all stitched together with the top brown faux fur.


Merriment all together
The King and his Sheriff






















The King was dressed to look ridiculous as if he did not fit the clothes.  The fabric we found was a stretch royal blue velveteen.  Trimmed with gold and white tights, he's surely not a respectable man.  




Friday 30 May 2014

Glee "Oh what a Delight"

May 2014, It's Glee Season........who knew??


A good friend of mine, Karen, is a supreme  costume mistress.  She has turned a love and hobby into a warehouse of costumes like no other I've seen!  

This spring she is has been hired to outfit a private school in Mount Royal for their annual Glee season. 

My project included outfitting 8 adults for an Abba montage and 50 + teens for the song Jai Ho.

Who doesn't love ABBA??

With measurements provided I had 3 mens outfits and 5 women.  This was FUN!

For the Ladies:  Dressing all the girls but the front runner in a one piece stretch with frills and swag, the costumes were all made out of vibrant and eye-catching combos.  Oh and Bell Bottoms all the way baby!  Most of them were adorned with metallic ruffle, inserts or accessories giving them a feminine touch.

You can see here, my girls having little fun in them before they go to stage.

PS I  think "The King" was actually part of a Cinderella Pantomime I was working on at the same time, so he made it into the girls fashion/dance show.  LOL.



Now for the Fellas:  There were only three, so creativity was a must.  They each had a base of a basic elastic waist pant and a pull over in stretch.  From there they got all blinged out with Bell-Bottom inserts, metallic to match the ladies and one what fringed on shoulders, down the back and along the hem line.  My all time fav though was the one fella that wore the plunging "V" in nude mesh and applicade chest hair.  Oh how I couldn't stop laughing at how funny I thought I was.

And....Here's the the real show

I think they all carried the vibe quite well.

Jai Ho (from Slumdog Millionaire)

The theme of this task for me was "speed assembly."  I didn't actually have traditional fabric for the Sari plus we wrestled with the idea of teen-Glee girls wearing the cropped top and the logistics of draping a long piece of fabric to:
A) stay in tact as they were dancing, 
B) be able to remember the sequence of assembling a Sari between numbers.
The solution was to assemble a circle skirt from donated organza with a metallic band around each bottom and at the waist.    The kids could all supply a matching T-shirt and a matching scarf was sashed shoulder to hip.
For the boys, it was easy to knock up a number of mix and match vests and sashes that were worn around their waists as a belt.  They each supplied a black legging and away they went.

I have to say, I love the concept on stage that begins with one or two entertainers and grows into a crowd. The power of the performance for the song, dance, whatever gives me shivers when everyone blends their individual contributions into one amazing message.
Easier to feel in a live performance, here's a glimpse of what this number grew into:

These kids were absolutely amazing.  I was mesmerized!