'Anything Goes'

We are now post-show, and what a show it was! Anything Goes with Bournemouth Musical Theatre Productions at the Regent Centre in Christchurch, we had a four day five show run last week closing on Saturday and it was a triumph! I was back on board as costume assistant and wardrobe mistress (some designing and making, a lot of alterations and repairs, and again prepping and running the wardrobe and dresser team for the run!) There were plenty of quick changes, the shortest of which was 15 seconds, rivalling the 12 second Spamalot quick change.

Before I get into backstage though, the costumes. I was working again with the wonderful BMTP head of costume Lisa Stead. The majority of the costumes were hired from a wonderful company in Guildford that has been active for 30 years, however not everything we needed could be found there. After the read through I drew up a selection of costume designs, late 20's and early 30's, just in case we couldn't find what we needed from hires and buys, and I am so proud that two of my designs were selected by Lisa - a wedding dress design and a day dress design - to be made for the show, with the day dress design being used for four matching day dresses for Reno's Angels, used by them for the majority of their scenes. Not only that but I was also asked to make the iconic Palazzo trousers for Reno and her Angels! I had a four page to-do list of alterations and repairs that accumulated in the weeks before the show, but there were so many small bits I wont go into detail, and instead stick with the designing and making!

The onstage photos are provided by Paul Thompson of Oakphotography.

Day Dresses;

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a close-up professional photo of all the Angels on stage together in their day dresses, however I got one of them all together backstage, and two professional photos of them during scenes. My initial design was shorter, and a dark blue that I had envisioned for Erma's character as an evening dress, however making it knee length and a pale blue brought them into daywear. In order to keep them more period specific and to better accommodate the fabric we were using for them I bias cut the dresses, which when standing correctly as onstage in the below photos suited them wonderfully!

Above - Angels in day dresses, front right stairs, third back left stairs

Above - Angels in their day dresses on the left stairs

 Above - Angels in their day dresses backstage

Above, photo during the making process, before the second fitting to correct the length and before the sleeves are hemmed.

The Wedding Dress;

The wedding dress was a labour of love, I absolutely loved both designing and making this dress! A 1930's bias cut, which is something I have never done before but surprisingly enjoyed. Originally I designed this as a V-neck but due to concerns of the performer I changed it to a higher, round neck which was also period and suited better. I originally also designed it with a line of buttons up the front as a mock fastening and point of interest, however after seeing it on I decided to leave it without the front buttons as the clean lines were so elegant.

The Finale! Wedding dress to the right of the photograph

  Our Hope in her wedding dress on set between Saturdays Matinee and Evening shows

 

A little shot of detailing on the sleeve cuff - I added three buttons to each cuff and elastic mock rouleau loops

The Palazzo Trousers;
Due to a photoshoot to promote the show a few weeks before we opened, the white Reno palazzo trousers were the first ones that I made! After examining the way they hung and where they were fitted I decided not to cut them on the bias, and instead to put long zips and where necessary additional Velcro on the side of the trousers. For the front, I found the most effective and simple way to do the front section was to do a stitched pleat each side of the centre line going into the pressed line down the centre of the leg, adding the buttons on to make them look as though there is an additional panel. I repeated this for the dark blue trousers as well, as with the other costumes making each to the measurements of the performer. The white trousers are the only ones with the mock turn ups, made by stitching a tube of fabric to the bottom of the trouser legs and securing it up with a swing catch at each side - yes it is the return of the rare swing catch! The fabric used for the trousers, both white and blue, is the same as the light blue day dresses, and it was due to the photoshoot that we discovered that, unlike the light blue fabric, the white was partially see-through and definitely needed lining! This was simple enough to add and below you can see photos of the white lined trousers on-stage.

Unlike the other costumes there were some fantastic professional photos of the trousers!

 Anything Goes! The Angels and Reno in the Palazzo trousers on stage

The Angels backstage in their Palazzo Trousers

 The white Palazzo trousers just after I finished them, before pressing

As wardrobe mistress, this show was a different animal from Wizard of Oz and Spamalot where the majority of costume changes were for specific songs, instead there were a lot of multiple quick changes for the same performers during single scenes, and quick changes to accommodate the dance sections of certain numbers, and the fastest and most prolific set of changes during a certain scene in the first act, including a change of just under a minute out of two layered costumes to the third base layer, with another layer again added over the top to be stripped out of on-stage! For this I had my largest dresser team yet, with myself and five others on rotation of three or four at a time, who are currently students at the Arts University Bournemouth.

The next Bournemouth Musical Theatre Productions is already chosen, but I will not announce it on here yet as I don't want to ruin the surprise!