Snippets

Busy? Oh my goodness...

"A Christmas Story" opened Friday. All went well and almost all performances are sold out. V. was going to take O on Sunday, but they had another engagement with Granna, who was in town, so he and I went together- admiring his set, which I helped decorate, the costumes and our turkey.

I don't think I've mentioned the turkey: our director was hauling around a bag of great big styrofoam balls out of which he had to construct a prop turkey. So I volunteered Sarah, to relieve him of one job, and we all collaborated on the most luscious, golden brown fake turkey ever to grace the stage at TC.
I made the basic body out of carboard, large papiermache eggs and a cut up styrofoam ball to fill in the open spots and Sarah covered it with papiermache. V. made the drumsticks, out of medium p-m eggs and dowel rods. We taped those on and I swathed the whole thing in muslin. Once it had dried, I put on a base coat that I liked, but V. decided it was too orange. So he put on a glaze of brown and he was exactly right- it looked perfect! They loved it at the theater and we always enjoy it when they pull it out of the oven.
If I'd thought, we should have recorded the whole process in photos.

It occurs to me, that perhaps little boys do not hang up their costumes because they don't know how to hang up clothing. Don't laugh- one of our actors had never worn a shirt that buttoned before. I think there will have to be a lesson, as well as the usual CTJ about respecting the costume.

Holiday Store is underway. We open outrageously early - the 13th- because of Christmas falling on a Friday this year and depriving us of a weekend of distribution. That means that we will have to continue to fill food boxes during distribution, which means that the box-building station will have to stay up, along with enough back stock for however many boxes we need. We can estimate that fairly accurately, but it still entails taking up a lot of space we wouldn't otherwise.
A new wrinkle- we have lost our freezers, so we are giving out gift cards for poultry, instead of the actual birds.
The good news is that donations are not down, in spite of the economy.
And all the items we got as year-end tax write-off from corporations are good stuff.

More later- must go organize food sorter.

More Gratitude

- That Sarah has the best sister in the world. Target has offered her her pick of the furniture she has in storage: "as long as you give it back and don't break it". So, she can use the money she would have spent on a bed, etc. on rent.

-This site. What a great writer. Send all your potential converts here.

-Good theater parents. One mom has sent me three e-mails with a zillion links to possible jammies for her kid.

-That the Yarbs garage sale went well. They made some $$$ and got everything else off the premises- a big load off their minds

-That when you slip up- like yelling at someone you love over a character trait you've consciously chosen to ignore- you can repent and start over again...and again...

-That I never have to play Mario Kart ever- the pace gives me vertigo and I fall off the couch. Someone else will have to deal with the obsession.

-That Bubs can read the whole alphabet and understands symbols, like the "No" sign. There was a little incident in which he asked his dad how to spell "Mom", which he wrote on the door blackboard and then added the symbol. He was mad at her about something- but grasping how that works- genius.

-That there was a spot at St. Catherine's pre-school for Bubs.

-That flannel looks like wool from a distance

and other things too numerous to mention.

CS update
Finished the Flying Monkey, except for the hat elastic. It is great- of course I stole from the best.
Found a leather ladies's jacket and some brown pants at the GW, so Ralphie's Soldier of Fortune costume will be Indiana Jones. One of the theater mainstays brought in a spare overcoat for The Old Man and a canvas fedora. We'll use the hat, add a white school uniform shirt, properly distressed, and - Instant Costume!

Scut Farkas is mostly done- I altered a fleece lumberjack shirt for his jacket and we have a coonskin cap. He'll get some thrift store jeans for himself. I found an ugly plaid fleece remnant at JA, which I might use for his muffler. We'll see- I might find something better.

Took up a coat that was left over from "Steel Magnolias" for an overcoat for Helen. So, she's complete, except for eyeglasses and a decision on her hair.

I'm using a lot of felt this show, in the fantasy sequences and the department store Santa scene- it has the right cheesy Depression-era feel to it.

Esther Jane, our ingenue character, was a challenge. I was resigned to making her a dress, and was making myself nuts searching for the right print, until I looked into the closet in the sewing room, of all places, where hung the perfect pale blue hand-knit pullover with a navy, white and pink Fair Isle yoke. I think it might have been a thrift purchase of Target's. It's a little large for her, but so what I wanted that we'll cope. She will have a blue flannel skirt to match, a dickey with a ruffled collar and a pink beret and scarf. A pastel heartbreaker.
I'm considering ringlets, but that may be more trouble than it's worth.

Today's goals- JA for fleece, flannel, corduroy, broadcloth, silky solid. Storage for mobcap and Sike's coat and any other useful shirts. Party City for glasses (?) and a white Cowboy hat.
Does Ralph need a western vest? Yes, for his big scene, as Red Ryder, I think.

Days of Gratitude: Catching Up
The Fort Hood atrocity (like Robert Avrech of Seraphic Secret, I refuse to call it a 'tragedy') and the House vote on healthcare slowed me down. But still, I am grateful for:

• Americans who have not succumbed to PC. Please see the One Cosmos archives for the best take-down of this pathology available.
• Americans who will not surrender their personal liberties without a fight.
• Smart people, who are also wise people. I am blessed to know so many on the Net. You know who you are...
• Even though we have theological differences, being united with Evangelicals and non-lefty Protestants in the Culture War. I am especially grateful for their many excellent women's sites, which are so encouraging.
• Goodwill, where I found a lot of useful stuff for the show.
• No divas.
• That the neighbors, after the death of their ancient kitty, who we would watch when they left town, have a new cat.
• The creativity and handiness of Sissy- who put together a wonderful personal prop for me for the show. Her unerring eye is invaluable.
• Every time I leave the house to get into the car, the garden lifts my spirits with its vibrant fall growth. (It also makes me feel a little neglectful, but that's a thought for another day.)
• Getting to spend a couple of hours with just Miss O. We went to Joann's - oh, fun!- but she likes crafts and loves to discuss Mimi's costuming. She is simply the dearest little girl on earth.
• Her sister, OTOH, is the funniest. How I treasure our walk up the block on Friday. She is tip-toeing over the acorns on the sidewalk in her little bare feet. (It wasn't that cool, and I refused to wrestle with their heinous baby-gate to go get her shoes. Yes, I'm a terrible grandmother.) "Morgan, let Mimi carry you." "NO!" "Sweetie, you're going to hurt your footies." "NO!" She can do that "NO!" thing for twenty minutes at a time. Miss Independence.

In Proper Order

What I've learned in the costuming biz, is that there is a Sensible Path from here to there.

First- search costume storage

Second- ransack the thrift stores

Third- Discount stores (Ross, Marshall's, et. al.) and Party City

Fourth- construct from scratch

Rentals are always an option, before Four. And there is Borrowing, but that is usually more trouble than it's worth.

So, I've completed One and am off to the Goodwill today.

From the photo album from the last production of this and what one of the previous cast said, it seems as if the last time they put this on, it was pretty cobbled together, re: costumes. We have a little more time this year and hope to do a better job.

So far, The Old Man and Ralph, who are repeating their roles and costuming themselves for the most part, are done. Ralph, whose daughter was Helen last time, generously donated her outfits, which fit and suit our present Helen perfectly. She needs a pair of glasses and a coat and I can cross her off the list.

There were lots of shirts, coats, hats, scarves and gloves in storage, so outfitting Ralphie and friends will be mostly running up some knickers and picking up some more sweater vests and pullovers. They will have to wear tights, I think, under their knickers, to prevent sock creepage, which they will hate, but Suffer for your art, boys!

Or maybe ladies's trouser socks. We'll see...

There were Elf costumes in storage, but they were not so great and huge. It's a long enough scene that I'm comfortable running up some new ones. Felt, so they look slightly cheesy, as befits a Depression-era department store.

Only one of the fantasy scenes needs a costume from scratch. I found a ladies jacket that will be a wonderful coat for the soap-blindness scene. He will also have a derby and will look like a little Magritte. Leftovers from Prince and the Pauper will be his Shakespeare costume, with a cape and a hat added. We're undecided if his Soldier of Fortune outfit should be Jungle Jim or Indiana Jones, but that can be assembled. So, the only thing we need to construct is the Cowboy suit. This will be only chaps and a Buffalo Bill jacket, but the extensive trimming will be the time-consuming part. This will be fun, and I may see if Joan wants to do it- it's right up her alley- if she has time after re-upholstering the little love seat.

There is a scene in which the Mom appears as a Flying Monkey, so she will need the little jacket and pillbox. I briefly thought about re-cycling the Sword Swallower items from Oliver!, but the vest won't fit: matron vs. teen boy. After four top hats and Luke's Luigi cap, I feel like I've got this hat business down. All in purple and black felt, because the witch is purple and black and the felt was in the materials closet.

Gratitude: November 4

1) Found encouraging amounts of usable items for the show in storage. Thanks, former costumers!
2) The ability to go to Mass any day of the week, if I want to. Went to the 12 noon one at St. Ann's today, since I was in the area.
3) Having know, on-line, this Raccoon. Rest in peace, Ximeze. You will be missed.

Time to get cracking

on the H'ween costumes!

Umm, Sal, you say, it's not even the end of September yet.

Yeah. So?

As you may remember, last year we did an Animal Planet theme: flamingo, elephant and bumblebee.

This year, we're being more eclectic: Ni is an angel, Bubs is Luigi, the Mario brother and Morgie is a pumpkin, which is just an excuse for her to wear a big fluffy orange net and organza tutu with a green ruffled Empire bodice and an enormous-ass green bow in her hair. Which her mama has already finished, by the way. Because our otherwise most sensible daughter is a Halloween Crazy Lady.

and I'm her enabler.

I'm making Ni's costume, using this pattern, the bottom left view:

out of white satin, organza and tulle. The vest is a silver net backed with organza and she will have purchased wings and a halo.

And I'm also responsible for Luigi's cap. That should be fun- I love a challenge!

Snippets

I have the Oliver! photos, but don't want to post them until certain people have seen the show.

Target and Davy had tickets for Sunday, along with Sissy, Ni and friends. I had a frank talk with him at family dinner: "Look, sweetheart, if you're just going to this to be polite to the mom, it's really not necessary. I won't be offended and I can re-sell the tickets." Which I knew would be an important point, since one of his former careers was being a ticket-scalper in Chicago.
"No, no- I really do want to go. I was in Oliver! in like fifth grade. I got beat out for Oliver by a kid whose name was Oliver, but I was a gang member and know all the songs."
Well, okay, then.

Bubs found some of Ni's deadly magnet-n-rod toys, which I took home and threw away. Apropos of that, Marge told the story of how, when she was an R.A. for Governor's School at Hendrix, which is like summer play-college for high school students, one of the young men decided it would be a good idea to insert his testicles between two super strong magnets from the physics lab. It took a trip to the ER to remove them, after six hours or so. Good times.

I had just figured out how to operate the ice/water controls on the Yarb's new fridge and was getting some crushed ice when Bubs walked by.
'That's enough, Mimi" he decreed.

While decluttering the house after neglecting it for weeks, I found an American Scholar on the bedroom bookcase. I read an article on two author's correspondence and part of the critical article that followed. The next day, while browsing near the Dickens section at H-P Books, I found a slim volume by the same author on books and reading- a combination common-place book and book list. Synchronicity demanded that I buy it, along with an Annie Dillard and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Now I have to buy a lot of other new books, as well, as recommended by Mr. Dirda.
These buying sprees go in cycles- one idea trips another and off I go on Amazon and ABE, tracking down the pertinent texts.

Before that, I went to the Tea Party Gov't. Health Care protest at our representative's office in Irving. After the protest, we were invited in for some refreshments and had a long and informative talk with some of his aides.
What I wish? That in groups like the above, we could all just agree that indeed, we all think very decidely about whatever subject and just leave it at that. There's no prize for hating socialism, or Obama, or abortion or anything else more than everyone else present. Really. Conserve the energy and use it more constructively, I say.
This reminds me of why I was never a very good 'Traditional' Catholic- just couldn't get into the competitive angst.

De-cluttering the garden, as well, but that goes on the other blog. What I've decided is that though I've enjoyed the last few years costuming the musical, I'd really rather garden and mess with the children. Both activites have their own vitality and I love them both, but for right now, I lean more towards the introverted and contemplative. The times seem to require that, somehow.

Opening Night
went beautifully. With the exception of one set glitch but these things happen...
The theater was sold out. The orphans softened the audience up and Bumble, Corney and the live kitteh warmed them up and it all went great from then on.

Bits and pieces:
One of the older Gang members, in full raggedy costume and top hat, playing a Bach cantata on the director's keyboard that he'd brought in for warm-ups.
A passle of orphans, giving our menacing Bill Sikes with his beard and banged-up face, a big group hug.
Fagin- delighted that I'd added more tie to his costume, in lieu of not noticing in the design stage that what he needed was more vests.
That V. didn't recognize a guy he'd worked beside on sets for weeks, thanks to make-up and hair color. And that Greg was so gratified that V. noticed he'd been borrowing a little from Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow, for Fagin.
How excited, yet well-behaved, the little ones were. Last dress rehearsal is usually a morass of notes for everyone and utter frustration and disgust for the director and it does make an impression on them. At least for opening night.
Always and everytime- being amazed at the talent of ordinary people: students and software designers and nurses and teachers and salesmen and housewives getting togther to accomplish something as complicated as good musical theater. No false pride here- if they ever made me a personal t-shirt, like they did for Jas's dad, it would include the phrase "Sometimes, I really am a genius."
Never seen a cast happier with their costumes- with the possible exception of Tom, in that sauna of a great coat. Suffer for your art, pal. But that's not really fair, because he was asked (begged) to take the role. And he took it, since he's a pillar of the community.

All in all, a success.
Pictures, as soon as the CD is available.

"...and I hate your @$$ costumes!"*
No, of course I don't- we're just both so tired we don't know which end is up. Doing this is a little
like having a baby or wallpapering a room by yourself- you get into the big middle of it and wonder why you ever thought that was a good idea. But the results are so worthwhile that a type of amnesia sets in until you find yourself doing it all again.

This was my To-do list yesterday:
Sew remaining buttons of Bumble's coat
Baste cape to Bumble's coat
Change a button on Dodger's vest
Top-stitch the front facings of Dodger's coat
Baste false hair into two workhouse caps.
Add a hook and eye to a necktie as he can't get it over his head with his make-up on
Add ribbon ties to a hat (and I did the wrong one, because I didn't write it down, so Joan repaired it.)
Run elastic through the waist of two skirts, try them on the actress and stitch them down.
Sew buttons of the front of the Sword Swallower's vest and attach a braid closure
Let down the hem in one pair of rental pants and take up the hem in ditto
Add some ragged, flimsy fabric to the hem of Fagin's coat, so that it looks as though the lining is coming out
Put a pocket inside one of the gang vests
Distress orphan costumes. This involved laying them out on the drive outside, spraying them with grey spray paint and then dry-brushing them with brown paint, turning them over and repeating the process. I only did half of them, because I wanted to see the effect under the lights (they need a darker brown, it turns out) and because it was too darn hot out there.
Collect all costume pieces we rejected for Fagin's Gang and hang them on the spare rack.
Ditto for Women's Chorus.
Move petticoats from dressing room to the wonderful dressing area Joan and her husband rigged up in the Green Room for the women with those plastic latch strips, a curtain rod and rings and an old knit sheet.
And that was before the rehearsal began...

If you're wondering why all those things hadn't been done earlier in the process, some problems just don't show up until you see a costume under the lights or an actor rehearses in them. We just can't keep the actions of forty-one people in mind at all times and need the actor to let us know what little fiddles the costume needs. And, when we see the whole ensemble on stage, we often have to fill in items: this grouping is too pale, he needs a different neckercheif, she needs something on her head or off her head, a color looks weird under the lights, an actress needs her skirt taken up because she has to climb stairs with her hands full of props- things like that.

My To-Do for today:
Spend the morning with Bubs not thinking about theater at all.
Distress orphans
Take up pants hem
Tack other pants hem to legs
Tighten elastic in an underdress sleeve
Make a workhouse top
Start Good Show notes
Order flowers for volunteer moms

So, not so bad.

And the feedback we're getting is very gratifying. One of our Mr. Brownlow's said to me last night "I want to be Fagin, just so I can wear that costume."
Nice...

* paraphrased from Waiting for Guffman, the best community theater movie there is.

Nickels and Dimes
That's what we're working on now. The last little details: bonnets and neckercheifs and shawls and distressing. Someone needs their sleeve shortened. Someone needs the sleeves removed from their shirt so they don't die of heat stroke under their black cordouroy coat. Mobcaps need to be assigned, ditto the top hats I found in storage. I discover that I gave Charlie's workhouse pants to Tim, but can give Charlie Sike's old knee pants because I never liked them and he wants to wear boots that look better with trousers, so everybody is happy. We have to make decisions on hair. I have to send out the Green Room Rules e-mail for the parents to impress upon their children and must try to not sound like a big old B in the process. Toni needs a ruffle on the back of her Old Sally cap to hide her hair. David needs a Sowerberry cravat and knife handles for his leather (suedecloth) Knife Grinder apron. I don't have to make those, but I do have to sew them into the pocket.

I have two-three large projects still to finish: Bumble's blue coat, to make a dress for one of the little girls and to shorten the sleeves on an underdress and to finish the hem on Dodger's coat- we wanted to see it in action before making a decision on the length.

Then, some housekeeping: reinforced Ziplocks for the kids' bits and pieces, moving clothing racks, stocking up on Febreze, final labeling of costumes pieces and taking the rejects back to storage. Not to mention Good Show notes for the cast and thank-you's for my wonderful volunteers.

The Home Stretch
Tech Rehearsal is next Sunday, July 5. That means we have six days to have everything completed. Thanks to our wonderful volunteer moms, we are able to hand off some items- Madeleine is sewing the housekeeper's dress and Becky is running up some simple skirts and petticoats for the women's chorus. Joan is continuing to turn out the fabulous street dresses and bonnets.
I have two major projects left: completing Sikes and sewing all of Bumble. And two minor projects: doing the last little finishing items for Oliver and the Dodger.
Right now, awash in the minutiae of so many things still remaining, it's hard to recall our initial enthusiasm. But it will all return when an actor tries on their costume and their face lights up because they love it and it will help their characterization. And when they take to the stage and we can see the whole company as a whole, it will all be worth it.

Snippets

I was feeling very guilty because Morgan McGyver Yarbs put a screwdriver in her mouth while they were here on Saturday - I was tightening the bolts in my IKEA chair, turned around and discovered that she had crawled behind me in her ninja stealthy way and helped herself to a large regular- until her mother confessed that Morgie had climbed up the stairs ALONE and was in the bathroom unrolling the toilet paper while she was in the kitchen and thought Jas was watching her.
She is THAT kid- the one who must have a constant keeper. Someone has to be on assigned 'Morgan watch' at all times, or she'll be on top of the refrigerator.

Pete was not happy about the Mr. Bumble costume offered by the costume rental place, so I offered to make him one. This is one of the pitfalls of costuming- the lure of the new. One must guard against it vigilantly or else you're going "Hmmm- you know, I've never made a 19th century greatcoat with a capelet and a bicorne hat..." and that way lies Crazy Town.

Our Oliver continues to grow- I had to open the back armholes of his 'poor' jacket so he could move his arms. Lucky for us, his 'rich' jacket is made of stretch suede cloth- it may last him through the show. The musical director has had to transpose some of his songs to a lower key- he's not Bryn Terfel yet, but he's losing the pure boy soprano you associate with little Oliver.

Orphans turned out very well, circus girls all look good, too. Tess's material was lying there, staring at me until I went "All right-FINE! I'll sew you!" and got it out of the way.
Fagin's Gang need a bunch of pants alterations and two more vests to liven things up- it was getting very brown, grey and black around there, but they are coming along.

As Geoffrey Rush kept saying in Shakespeare in Love: 'It will be fine.'

Professor Mimi
will be giving her lecture on costumes to TC's summer theater camp kids tomorrow. It includes a brief talk on what costumes are supposed to do and how we try to accomplish that, and a short sermon on 'respecting the costume' and how we remember who does and who doesn't. IOW, it goes on your permanent record. The one in my mind, anyway.
Then, we'll break into pairs and draw slips assigning them a character to design for. They are not allowed to choose one for themselves because theater does not work that way. I give them scratch paper, pencils and crayons for doodling ideas and a big sketch pad page with a croquis traced on it for their finished project. I may include a batch of swatches that they can look through for their creations, as well. We mount these in the lobby for the parents to see on the last day of camp when they perform the show they've worked on.
This went well last year and I hope to improve on it this year.

Today is Oliver Day. My goal: to get him almost completely finished.
Sike's hat is teh bomb, if I do say so myself.

Progress So Far The orphans are almost finished, thanks to Amelia's mom and grandmother. Their swatches are on the left. The color value is poor on the bottom one, it is more yellow, less green. My helpers put patches on them of the co-ordinating fabrics, one of which is the top sample. I threw the muslin items, along with half of the Gang shirts, into a tan dye bath, with a little grey added. I'm adding plackets at the front opening of some, closed with one of the antique buttons from our trip to the Hill Country (where Fagin's patches came from, as well.)
Some of the orphans may get jackets of the second from the bottom swatch- we'll see.

The swatches on the right are for the Artful Dodger. From bottom to top, they are: trousers, vest, coat, coat collar and pocket flaps, and hat. I wanted to keep them in the same color family- I don't like the Artful Dodger as Clown look, where they make him the Cat in the Hat. These look quite sharp and dapper now, but they will all be distressed.

We worry that Joan will be perturbed when we take a paintbrush to her wonderful creations for Nancy and Bet, but they must be in character and we're not planning to re-use them for anything else. She does the most wonderful work- I'm making V. buy me my own camera, so I can take photos of the processes and the finished product.

Her Mrs. Sowerberry is genius- a great concoction of all types of black textures.
We discussed ideas for the women street vendors for 'Who Will Buy' and she found perfect calicos and solids for them: a yellow and rose print for the Rose Seller's skirt over a yellow underdress, a spring green and pink overskirt over a strawberry pink for the Strawberry Seller and almost a white and blue toile with a blue skirt for the dairymaid. What a picture they will make on stage together.

My other volunteer mom did an excellent and imaginative job on the circus girls and has offered to put together the Strongman, if I will kit it up for her. The little girls have a longer dance than we had originally thought and I'm glad they're fairly gaudy.

One of our Gang suffered a tae kwan do injury- a sprained ankle. His mother, who's also in the cast, thinks he will be recovered by the time we open. I suggested having the set crew make him one of those Tiny Tim crutches, just in case, and he could be the Crippled Beggar Pickpocket.

V. ordered me David Lean's 1948 Oliver Twist, which I've been watching in snatches on YouTube. There are wonderful ideas in it, but we can't go quite that dark. I assured Connie, the set painter, that he had used almost the same view of the London skyline that she had chosen- great minds, etc.
V. has been working on the set crew and finds it fascinating, especially the part where Robert appears, announces "We need to do something different with this" and begins to splash black paint on a perfectly painted piece of furniture. I explained that that happens more often than you might think- Oliver's pants are a good example.

In the "You're killin' me, Smalls!" dept.- Oliver must be wearing his street clothes, except for the jacket, under a nightshirt. So the nightshirt must be opaque enough for his lovely plaid pants not to show through. The little gal at the Hobby Lobby found this an interesting problem and helped me decide on a white-on-white calico.

Today is Bill Sikes Day and I should go sew.

In which I get well at the Goodwill,
Ross, Party City and Queen Beauty Supply.
Before I began costuming, I only considered thrift stores a good place to find the occasional odd book I wanted to read or a denim jumper for summer.

Now I see it them as an Aladdin's cave of wonderful things that I can acquire for practically nothing and use pretty much as is and do not have to sew. (Though it's a good source of garments to cut up for the material, as well.)
Today, I bought trousers for all the men's chorus- two pairs for Charlie, who has to be the workhouse flunky, as well as other characters, four jackets and four pairs of pants for Fagin's Gang. Now, two of the jackets and all four of the pants were originally women's clothes, but no one will complain if they know what's good for them. Most of them were on sale at 50% off, too.

Party City had two cheap-o felt top hats and while Ross didn't have any XXL grey blouses, they did have straw sun hats. I bought three- one for the Rose Seller to wear as is and two to transform into bonnets, as well as a navy newsboy cap.

I picked up a package of grey hair made out of some mysterious fiber not found in nature at Queen, as well as some scarves to use as neckties.

The mom who's making the circus girl dresses offered the Gang a bunch of school uniform shirts too damaged to re-sell and I jumped on that like a duck on a june bug. I'll throw the shirts in the washer with the muslin orphan items and dye them all at the same time. Then they'll need about five vivid vests, some more neckties, a couple of watch caps and they'll be about done.
So, if I can finish my principal men, then I can give Joan a hand with the women's chorus.

The Orphans will look well, I think. They're subtle, but largely so, if that makes any sense.
A picture would help, but Sis has the camera. We discovered that the actress playing Nancy is the daughter of Nini's first grade teacher- isn't that interesting?
And Ro stage-managed 'Rumors' with a prop mistress who's the sister of one of the chorus gals, who was also in a show I costumed last year for TC.

Bill Sikes came up to watch the rehearsal- he's anxious to get started, but Pete had to work around conflicts and they won't use him for another week or so. I described his costume in detail and he seemed pleased. But, as we agreed, any role where you don't have to wear a bra full of millet and size 13 purple suede heels is an absolute improvement.

I was on Mom Duty Friday through Saturday- Marge dragged herself up from Oak Cliff with a terrible bone-aching flu and slept on the couch until Sunday, when she felt well enough to go home and I baby-sat for Sis Saturday afternoon while they finalized their contract with the re-modeler. So maybe all my successful shopping today is virtue's reward...

Today's Project: Kits
for the lovely moms who have volunteered to sew for us.
First- circus girls for Madeleine: tulle, net and organza skirt to sew to satin tops. And decorate with whatever snippets of sequins and fringe I found in the supplies closet. This a distinctly low-ball and recycle project. Colorful, though: royal blue and aqua, gold and orange, hot pink and fuschia.
Second- the rest of the workhouse orphans for Becky: shirts and pants of muslin and some unidentified homespun-looking fabric from the mill ends table. And assorted scraps for patches.
When they're finished, I'm tea-dying the muslin items to give them a little punch and dirty them up a bit and fray the unfinished edges.
Connie, the associate set designer who does all the backdrop paintings, showed me some of her designs last night. I need to jazz up some costumes so they don't disappear, but not so much that they compete.
Well, I put together a jacket for Oliver using my new patterns and though I carefully compared measurements- it did not fit. The pants did, though- so I'm inclined to think his chest measurement may have been off, which is a chance you take with letting parents measure. NB: don't do that next time, for principals anyway.
But I found better fabric for the jacket, anyway and will cut the new one larger. And give the old one to a Gang member. That's the go-to solution for anything that doesn't work out-"Someone in Fagin's gang can wear it!"
Oliver's 'rich boy' pants may go there, as well. The checks blend and they look a little green. So, I may re-do them in a larger plaid. It will not look garish and loud on stage.
Dodger's pants are ready to try on and his vest is complete. Aging his coat is freaking me out, but I'll figure it out.

I Don't Need Dilemmas at 10:00 pm.

First, the good stuff. Had a very productive sewing day and when I made a trip to Jo-Ann's for circus fabric, I found this, which will save me so much work, I'm practically giddy.

No more cutting down adult patterns to fit middle school youngsters, never mind adapting things for the really little ones. This comes in ALL sizes. I bought two, the largest child and the smallest adult.

How did I miss this going through the books? Must have been all the red, white and blue that threw me off.

I must say, the Dodger's pants, previously an altered scrubs pattern, look so much better when re-cut by this. Please notice that in addition to a frock coat (Lincoln) and a tail coat (Uncle Sam), there are knee britches (Washington). And it's all in costume design, not re-enactment mode with its thousand authentic construction details.

Giddy, I tell you.

Because that's one of the biggest time issues for the small theater- altering patterns to fit your variously sized cast members. Patterns are expensive and you can't buy even all the multi-sized versions of a design. Even if you draw your own simple shapes, you must do the figuring from their measurements and draw it out on pattern paper.

Collected a pile of nylon net and tulle in vivid colors for the circus gals. Oddly enough, there was no animal print fleece at all, so I got a leopard print silky dress fabric for the strongman. Sounds peculiar, but it will be fine. There was enough rust-colored lining remnant for poofy pants, with a good bit left over for other bits and pieces- I cut the collar for Dodgers vest out of it, actually.

I think I've finally found a use for some trim that I bought for Forum. I fell in love with it and tried to incorporate it in the blue costumes (our houses were color-coded) and it wouldn't work in any of them, no matter what I tried. But I think it will meet its destiny on the rust vest.

But- the director phoned after rehearsal with a problem: Widow Corney isn't plump enough to match the lyrics of the song she sings with the beadle. Can we do something to make her look fatter?

Technically, of course we could, but her dress is almost completed, it can't be altered to be larger and I really don't want to ask Joan to scrap a costume she slaved over just because the actress's butt doesn't look big enough. We have too big a cast and not enough time for projects like that.

But I will consult with her before I give him a definite answer. She may not mind or we might be able to let another actress wear it in a different scene or we may think of a solution- a bum roll or a quilted shawl or a padded apron or something. But she is too valuable a worker to alienate over a little detail like this.

Maybe we could just trust the audience to use their imagination?

It's Official

Sunday and Monday were my first official Freak Out Days. These happen when you get past the excitement of design and picking out fabrics and seeing the cast for the first time and fathom just exactly how many there are- 41!- and that almost all of them are double/triple roles.
The realization of the sheer volume of work you've attempted under a deadline...Yikes.

That was bad enough, but when I arrived at the theater last night, Pete gave me the character list for 'Consider Yourself'. "And Anne wants five of them to be circus performers."
Circus performers? On top of their two already assigned costumes?
As Sissy would say: are you freakin' kidding me?

But on second, calmer thought, I like it. It mixes it up. And since the young woman was in Cabaret last year, I can use her Kit-Kat Klub tunic as a base. The rest: satin poofy pants and a felt vest for the sword swallower, an animal skin fleece tunic for the strongman, and satin and net/tulle ballet dresses for the two little girls, probably also made from Cabaret items. There were plenty of sequin and fringe scraps in the supply closet. It'll be fine.

And though he's having understudies for Oliver and the Dodger- a departure from the usual practice- I don't have to costume them.
Freak Out over.

Widow Corney's plum dress? My co-costumer is a genius. It looks wonderful.

Had to scrap Fagin's hat crown and begin again. But, I think the old crown could be made into a cap of some sort for a Gang kid. Like a smoking cap- we'll see. Otherwise, he's almost completed- just details like buttonholes and buttons. Still debating the tie/muffler. Will ask the actor.

Busy Saturday

The theater director took Joan and me to the storage units, gave us the gate and lock codes, showed us around and left us to go through the contents. There was light, but no fans- we'll bring some next time- and it was hot enough that we locked up, drove to the gas station and got Joan a drink in the middle of the search. I, of course, had my trademark vat of Sonic tea.

I'm taking V's car to rehearsal today to haul the tubs of stuff we found and could not fit in the Focus, to the theater. Once we get whatever items LHS loans us, we'll sort everything into gender groups: one in the dressing room, one in the front room- and mix and match the chorus.
We had much better luck with the men than the women, for some reason.

The set designer, who also acts occasionally, brought in the black frock coat he made himself and word in "Tom Sawyer". We were duly impressed. It is an almost perfect fit for Sowerberry, which will save us renting for him. It's a very dull black and Dave is concerned his black slacks might be too shiny, but we will see. He's not even getting a vest- just a dickey- as he never takes the coat off. He needs a temporary inside breast pocket, for some business with a lily and Joan is saving me some scraps from Mrs S's dress, so I can jazz up his collar and lapels. That's one of those twiddly ideas that will or will not get done depending on time.

Today's object: finalize Orphan measurements and talk to my sewing volunteer mom about those costumes. I need to do a detailed sketch after Mass.

Tonight, I'm watching the babies while Sis and Jake attend Fan Target's boyfriend's show. He and his brothee are doing a two-month tour of the U.S. and the Texas week ends up here in Dallas. I'll be sorry not to get to see him, or meet his brother, but there's just no time.

Various things I said today:
"You know what we need? Slut lace."
"Calla lilies- you know, cartoon dead guy lilies."