Dreamgirls Costume Change (Original Production)- Page 2

[HollidayForever]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 7:13am

Well does anyone know how they do the witch's quick change in "Into the Woods" and has anyone figured out how they do the Beast's quick change in....Beauty and the Beast?

I heard that the cast is sworn to secrecy in their contracts.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 9:25am

The witch's change is very simple. The witch doesn't come on for a long amount of time until her transformation and during that time is having her makeup removed and her "beautiful" witch costume put on. In the revival, Vanessa Williams merely wore a mask and a cape with an incredibly long hood so you couldn't really get a good glimpse of her face. But in reality, she was pretty much wearing everything she needed under that long cape and big hood. When she transformed she merely took off the mask and cape. In the original production, I believe another actress went on in the witch's makeup and costume and did the scene (with the real actress doing the voice-over) while the real one waited behind a tree until the transformation.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 1:10pm

Well, we all know the Beasts change in B&TB was Disney Magic.....

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 2:14pm

Wickedfan-
Williams wasn't onstage for most of it, it was a double, with Willaims doing the lines from behind a tree.

The Bernadette Peters was a LOT different, especially if you watch the DVD, she is onstage the entire time. I want to say hers was done with the velcro/magnet/soft face mask effect (at least, that's what we did).

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 3:47pm

Bernadette wasn't normally there. That was added for the video that was made. If Williams' change was what you say it is, then Bernadette's is pretty much just the same effect. As for Williams, my source has now been corrected, thank you.

[timote316]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 4:04pm

In The Apple Tree, while accepting her award, Kristin is wearing the Ella dress under the big fur coat. When she came running onstage the other day, you could see the tattered dress under the coat. They either need more fastening material on it, or it came undone.

[sondhead]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 4:18pm

"The Bernadette Peters was a LOT different, especially if you watch the DVD, she is onstage the entire time."

That re-shot stuff without an audience so that Berny was there the entire time. That's not how it played on stage.

[DryMartini]

Posted: 1/12/07 at 5:02pm

There's a great website that shows all kinds of stuff from the original Dreamgirls production and the tours.

Link below:
Dreamgirls the musical

[caskey]

Posted: 1/20/17 at 10:28pm

Sandy in Sable said: "The scene transitions from club to club (whether it's supposed to be the same club or not I don't know)"

Yes! It's the same club. I just saw this production last night, so it's very fresh in my mind. At the top of the song, she's in the club, auditioning. The stage, piano, chairs, everything is there. Lighting plays a big factor in the change. The whole thing is actually really simple. The effect is just so beautifully done that it seems more impressive than what they're doing in reality. During the whole top of the song, the lights are very slowly, subtly getting darker and darker, with a spotlight on Effie. As it continues to get dark, the spotlight stays bright and focuses smaller and smaller to just her face. Then once it's totally dark, the ensemble quickly (they probably had 15-20 seconds, which is way more than they would have even needed) to run out and populate the club. Amber slowly moves her hand up to her chest (which she did as an acting choice during the song several times already to help make the motion seem normal) and gently pulled the release and then BOOM. The lights come up very differently than the daytime scene and there you are...awesome giant visual change with very little actual effort being done, just clever planning and lighting/costume design. The dress was likely not that complicated. Her audition costume was a knee length skirt and a large bulky top with sleeves that easily hid the final sparkly gown inside it. All she had to do was pull and the shoulders came apart and fell down. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/20/17 at 10:53pm

did you see that this thread is ten years old

[caskey]

Posted: 1/20/17 at 10:57pm

gypsy101 said: "did you see that this thread is ten years old"

 

I think it's pretty clear that I didn't.

However, if anyone is wondering, that's how the change happens in the new West End production.

This is what comes from reading discussion boards at 4am when you should be sleeping.

Updated On: 1/20/17 at 10:57 PM

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/21/17 at 1:09am

Here is the shot described where you can see the glitter in her sleeve:



The after:



(and as for the speculation about slow dancing couples, they aren't exactly slow dancing but there are people there)

Ten years later but hey.

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 1/21/17 at 2:36am

ahh i see now you probably thought the last responses were from January 12th of this year

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 1/21/17 at 8:30pm

I typed this out before I saw this had already been answered upthread, but I spent like five minutes on it getting the details right, so here goes:

In the original cast of Woods a body double was used. This was fudged for the filmed version of the show, where it's Bernadette Peters throughout, but onstage, the double (Maureen Davis, who played Sleeping Beauty) did the first half off the scene miming to Peters' offstage voice.  I'm a little fuzzy on the mechanics of the swap, but if I recall correctly, as the Mysterious Man dies, Davis stepped behind a tree where Peters was waiting in an identical cloak to continue on the other side, and Davis made her exit via trapdoor. This same method was used in the broadway revival.

I'm less familiar with the ins and outs of the transformation In Beauty and the Beast but if I recall correctly: First off, the scene is helped with very dim lighting -  I can't recall if a body double was used for the fight or not but I think there might have been. By the time of the "home" reprise, the Beast is covered with a cloak, allowing the wires to be attached and allowing him to remove the outer layer of his costume as well his. He is wearing a vastly-simplified, mask-like version of his make-up and wig, which has been removed during "The Mob Song" - the make-up allows for mouth movement but is not attached with any particular firmness. During the actual transformations, as the lights go nuts, all he has to remove his wig, gloves, and "mask" under the cover of flipping around, strobe lighting, and a quick blackout. I remember Jeff McCarthy telling a horror story of missing the wig one night and having to remove his horns once he landed. 

Updated On: 1/21/17 at 08:30 PM

[luvcaroline]

Posted: 1/21/17 at 9:33pm

I just love threads like this, thank you for reviving it. God, how I miss Margo....

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 1/22/17 at 3:41pm

Mentions of the great Theoni Aldredge remind me of the days working on the original La Cage aux Folles in 1983. Albin's transformation into Zaza the first time during "A Little More Mascara" took careful planning between wardrobe and set design: As Albin takes his place on the makeup stool to begin the number, Dresser #1 is working away beneath the makeup table's skirt to draw the sequined gown up and around Albin's middle. He swaps Albin's mules for his bedazzled dance shoes and continues to ease the gown up his body until the moment Albin flips the shoulderstraps into place. As Albin stands, his back is to the open wardrobe closet full of fluffy costumes from whence Dresser #2 sneaks his hands forward to zip up the back of the gown. Albin grabs his boa and steps forward to a small slice of forward decking, as the rest of the dressing room sails upstage. A staircase emerges from Albin's perch and as he descends -- Voila! Zaza is here!!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/22/17 at 8:18pm

MargoChanning said: "Best12 --

I figured someone must have done a similar kind of lightning fast quick change before (probably going back to the days of vaudeville at least), but my knowledge of the history of costume design is rather sketchy at best. I imagine it would be quite enlightening to sit down with someone like Aldredge or Jane Greenwood and ask them about some of the tricks of the trade that they picked up over the course of their long careers. "

Margo, there's an entire art form of "quick change" acts, one that appears to be especially popular in Eastern Europe. (Though I saw audiences go mad for a couple at the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies about 10 years ago; such acts have also played Vegas.)

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT had a quick-change couple go pretty far last year or the year before.

All such acts are based on the same principle: underdressing, underdressing and more underdressing, with each bodice falling to become the skirt of the next outfit. (I'm sure there are other tricks of which I am unaware.)

Please believe I in no way deny Aldredge's genius when I say she did not invent the technique.

[Famebroadway2]

Posted: 1/22/17 at 10:14pm

One of the sad things about this thread being 10 years old is seeing some of the posters, like Margo Channing, who have since passed away. 

Updated On: 1/22/17 at 10:14 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/22/17 at 10:58pm

I didn't know that about Margo. I am so sad, but thank you for mentioning her.

[bud2]

Posted: 1/23/17 at 1:21pm

Do you recall how they did the costume change at the curtain call of the original production of La Cage Au Folles when Les Cagelles were on stage in full costume and make up and they all turned around as I recall and were suddenly wearing khakis and blue shirts sans wigs, etc.? That blew me away!