Behind-the-Scenes: Shrek on Broadway!
May. 5th, 2009 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labricoleuseNow that Shrek: the Musical has opened on Broadway and images of many of the costumes are out there in stage shots in the press, i think--and especially since Threadbanger trucked through there with cameras recently--i can now share some of the "behind the scenes" photographs i took while working on it at Parsons-Meares, Ltd., in NYC this past summer! The costumes for Shrek were designed by Tim Hatley.
First, to get a look at several of the costumes onstage, check out this NY Times slide show, paying particular notice to Farquaad's soldiers, Humpty Dumpty, and the pigs!
Long-view of the main workroom at Parsons-Meares
Parsons-Meares, Ltd., has been in business since 1980--name a huge Broadway show from the intervening 30 years and chances are, they've done something for it: from Cats to The Lion King, the Rockettes, and beyond. About 60 people work there at any given time--drapers, tailors, first hands, crafters, dyers, painters, finishers, and operators (as in, sewing machine operators). The shop is run by founder Sally Ann Parsons, who is active in construction of new contracts (she led the team who constructed the Wolf for Shrek, for example).
No one shop handles a single Broadway show--usually, the work gets split among several facilities according to the type of costumes they typically handle (for example, some places do only millinery, and they compete for the hat/headdress contracts). Parsons is only one of several shops that worked on Shrek, not only in NYC but also some in the UK and in Los Angeles. Not only do i have images of some of our work at Parsons, but also some of other shops' work that came over for fittings.
Here are some images of costumes in the workroom:
Farquaad's soldiers have cast latex hair,
but vent-holes under their helmets so they don't overheat!
They have vacuformed armor as well, more of which you can see on
Costume Armour's custom site.
Humpty's brick pants mid-painting!
Humpty was made at Killer's Studio and painted at Parsons-Meares.
Pig shirt fabric in the paint room, being stenciled.
One of Parsons-Meares crafts artisans, on the day this pig was finished.
(He's a skinny man--all the pigs are fat-suited.)
The Wolf tries on a mockup of his coat!
Parsons-Meares also made Pinocchio, the gnome couple, Farquaad from the waist up, and a first round of all the "Dragonettes" (the dragon design i worked on, which was scrapped after the premiere run in Seattle and remade entirely differently after i left). I haven't seen the show, but it's still running, which is something to say in this economy.I'm excited to see whether it gets a Tony nomination for these costumes. Well, that answers that! Now that we've been nominated, i've got more of a reason than usual to watch the awards live...though my loyalties are split, since i have a lot of former colleagues who worked on the revival of Hair, too. :D
And, speaking of Tony Awards, congrats to the "early winners," including regional theatre winner Signature Theatre of Arlington, VA!
First, to get a look at several of the costumes onstage, check out this NY Times slide show, paying particular notice to Farquaad's soldiers, Humpty Dumpty, and the pigs!
Long-view of the main workroom at Parsons-Meares
Parsons-Meares, Ltd., has been in business since 1980--name a huge Broadway show from the intervening 30 years and chances are, they've done something for it: from Cats to The Lion King, the Rockettes, and beyond. About 60 people work there at any given time--drapers, tailors, first hands, crafters, dyers, painters, finishers, and operators (as in, sewing machine operators). The shop is run by founder Sally Ann Parsons, who is active in construction of new contracts (she led the team who constructed the Wolf for Shrek, for example).
No one shop handles a single Broadway show--usually, the work gets split among several facilities according to the type of costumes they typically handle (for example, some places do only millinery, and they compete for the hat/headdress contracts). Parsons is only one of several shops that worked on Shrek, not only in NYC but also some in the UK and in Los Angeles. Not only do i have images of some of our work at Parsons, but also some of other shops' work that came over for fittings.
Here are some images of costumes in the workroom:
Farquaad's soldiers have cast latex hair,
but vent-holes under their helmets so they don't overheat!
They have vacuformed armor as well, more of which you can see on
Costume Armour's custom site.
Humpty's brick pants mid-painting!
Humpty was made at Killer's Studio and painted at Parsons-Meares.
Pig shirt fabric in the paint room, being stenciled.
One of Parsons-Meares crafts artisans, on the day this pig was finished.
(He's a skinny man--all the pigs are fat-suited.)
The Wolf tries on a mockup of his coat!
Parsons-Meares also made Pinocchio, the gnome couple, Farquaad from the waist up, and a first round of all the "Dragonettes" (the dragon design i worked on, which was scrapped after the premiere run in Seattle and remade entirely differently after i left). I haven't seen the show, but it's still running, which is something to say in this economy.
And, speaking of Tony Awards, congrats to the "early winners," including regional theatre winner Signature Theatre of Arlington, VA!
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-06 11:35 am (UTC)Congrats on the nomination, I'll be pulling for you! Thanks for sharing the photos!
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Date: 2009-05-06 12:22 pm (UTC)In fact, i wish that someone would put together an image archive for workrooms, much in the same spirit as Dickinson College's Costume Storage Archive (http://labricoleuse.livejournal.com/85879.html).
(Then again, some places probably wouldn't want the photos out there where someone from OSHA might see them...)
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Date: 2009-05-07 01:52 am (UTC)