Chicago by John Kander, Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse
Directed by Joe Taylor
February 27-29
7:30 pm
BPAC
Directed by Joe Taylor
February 27-29
7:30 pm
BPAC
Research Slideshow
Production Meeting
Wednesday, Dec. 4th
Joe's concept is "Vaudeville meets Art Deco". The way we are interpreting that through costumes is that the whole show will be set in the late Twenties and reflect fashions of that time. However, any scene with dialogue and no big dance number will be treated as happening in the real world and will be costumed as such: matte fabrics, natural colors, ordinary clothes; but any scene with a big splashy dance number will be costumed in shiny fabrics, bright colors, and Deco inspired "costumes". Specifics that were agreed upon today are:
1. 7 female chorus members: provide their own 3" black character shoes preferably T-straps, will wear flesh colored tights and leotards as a second skin. Over that will be black fishnet stockings attached either by garter belt or garters. All other costumes will be worn over this base.
2. 7 male chorus members: provide their own black hard-soled jazz shoes, will wear black socks, wide-legged pants, long sleeved shirts with white collars and french cuffs, sleeve garters, suspenders, and ties as a base costume. Vests, hats, etc. will be used as pieces to indicate other characters. The reporters will all wear sweater vests.
3. Ensemble for "All that Jazz" will be dressed as sexily as we can get away with, but not trashy and no midriffs showing.
4. Girls ensemble will wear striped prison dresses that we will have to build for "Cell Block Tango".
5. Girls ensemble will need 12 giant pink ostrich feather fans for "All I Care About is Love" and matching costumes.
6. Boys ensemble will need white tie and tails for "Roxie". Roxie will wear an Art Deco inspired dress for that number.
7. Billy Flynn will get a new 3 piece suit, two tone wingtip shoes, and a hat.
8. Amos will always be in regular clothing except for maybe "Mr. Cellophane", we're still discussing.
9. Mary Sunshine will be performed straight rather than as a drag queen. If we don't have a male capable of the singing, Joe is willing to cast a female to Victor/Victoria it.
10. Mama Morton will be in a prison guard dress the whole show, unless we give her something more Deco costume-y for "Mama".
Joe's concept is "Vaudeville meets Art Deco". The way we are interpreting that through costumes is that the whole show will be set in the late Twenties and reflect fashions of that time. However, any scene with dialogue and no big dance number will be treated as happening in the real world and will be costumed as such: matte fabrics, natural colors, ordinary clothes; but any scene with a big splashy dance number will be costumed in shiny fabrics, bright colors, and Deco inspired "costumes". Specifics that were agreed upon today are:
1. 7 female chorus members: provide their own 3" black character shoes preferably T-straps, will wear flesh colored tights and leotards as a second skin. Over that will be black fishnet stockings attached either by garter belt or garters. All other costumes will be worn over this base.
2. 7 male chorus members: provide their own black hard-soled jazz shoes, will wear black socks, wide-legged pants, long sleeved shirts with white collars and french cuffs, sleeve garters, suspenders, and ties as a base costume. Vests, hats, etc. will be used as pieces to indicate other characters. The reporters will all wear sweater vests.
3. Ensemble for "All that Jazz" will be dressed as sexily as we can get away with, but not trashy and no midriffs showing.
4. Girls ensemble will wear striped prison dresses that we will have to build for "Cell Block Tango".
5. Girls ensemble will need 12 giant pink ostrich feather fans for "All I Care About is Love" and matching costumes.
6. Boys ensemble will need white tie and tails for "Roxie". Roxie will wear an Art Deco inspired dress for that number.
7. Billy Flynn will get a new 3 piece suit, two tone wingtip shoes, and a hat.
8. Amos will always be in regular clothing except for maybe "Mr. Cellophane", we're still discussing.
9. Mary Sunshine will be performed straight rather than as a drag queen. If we don't have a male capable of the singing, Joe is willing to cast a female to Victor/Victoria it.
10. Mama Morton will be in a prison guard dress the whole show, unless we give her something more Deco costume-y for "Mama".
Chicago Cast
Costume Design ideas
Production Meeting Thurs. Dec. 12
We had a costume specific production meeting during finals week that lasted four hours. We fine-tuned the costume choices in regards to Roxie's numbers to make the vaudeville part of the concept more apparent. Velma is clearly the Burlesque character and will get all the glitzy costumes; Roxie is the vaudeville character and her numbers will reflect that, including Amos' "Mr. Cellophane" number. Only at the end of the show will Roxie become more like Velma and get the glitzy burlesque costumes, once they unite as a double act.
We made some more changes:
We made some more changes:
- We are making the cast buy their own shoes and "second skin" so that we don't spend our whole budget on underwear.
- We chose to take the budget-busting ostrich fans out of the "All he cares about is Love" number and replace them with top hats and canes for the girls. The fans will be in Razzle Dazzle but instead of 12 we'll only need 5 and they'll be smaller, so it won't break the bank.
- Mama Morton will not be in a grey prison guard uniform like the movie, we've agreed on a more sexy approach to her character.
- Everyone will get a different look for the finale/curtain call with half the cast in gold like Roxie and the other half in silver like Velma.
- I was able to pull a lot of things for the chorus of reporters that will double as newsboys in "Roxie" as well as the vaudeville act that we're making out of "Me and My Baby", featuring Victorian swimwear. sailors, and a painted ocean waves gimmick.
- Because we cast Mary Sunshine with a female, instead of a male, when the big reveal happens at the end of the show, Mary's costume will be a tear away shirt/skirt combo that will open CF to reveal a Men's A shirt, boxers, sock garters, and thin black dress socks.
The Build
We only built a few things from scratch: the seven prison uniforms, Roxie's feature costume, and all the newsie bags. However there were a lot of alterations to be done.
Alterations
Mackenzie Smith was cast as Mama Morton. I couldn't find anything in her size, so I had to buy two of each garment and then splice them together. The forest green poly/lycra skirt and blouse didn't pose too much of a problem. However the emerald green beaded/fringed dress was a much greater challenge. I had to take both dresses apart at the side seams as well as seam rip the shoulder seams on one of the dresses. I cut along the V shaped neckline of the duplicate dress and removed about 2" all the way around. Then I cut the remaining front and back panels of the duplicate dress in a chevron following the beaded bust line. After that it was a matter of removing all the beading on the stitching lines so I could sew the panels into the side seams of the original dress. I also inserted the shoulder straps of the duplicate at the shoulder seams of the original to lengthen them as well as enlarge the armholes. This process was extremely time consuming and nerve wracking. And once I was finished I had to do it all over again for her finale dress which was the exact same dress just in black and gold instead of green.
I had to do some alterations for several of Roxie's costumes as well. The dress that she wears to the first press conference, I bought on Etsy. It was beautifully made and I felt horrible that I had to take it all apart but it needed to be a rip away dress so that Roxie could take it off quickly and easily on stage to reveal her "Roxie" dress underneath. For "My Baby and Me" I had to buy a child's sized XL sailor dress because they didn't have any adult sizes in that style. The waist fit Kyndal but it wasn't large enough in the bust. So I had to take the lining out which was preventing it from stretching and then resew the collar back down. I put a red ribbon around the waist to give it more color. For Roxie's costume for the trial I bought a bright plaid blazer. The sleeves were too long and had to be hemmed up about 2 inches, and I had to take it in at the center back seam. It was double-breasted and I converted into single-breasted. The jacket length was also disproportionately long to Kyndal's frame and had to be cut off right below the flap pockets.
The last set of major alterations was for the black tail coats that the girls wore for "All He Cares About is Love". I had to buy them in boy's sizes but even so, the sleeves were still too long. So all six of them had to be hemmed. The silver sequined tops were all the right size (they were stretchy in the back) but they were all too long, so we had to hem them up between six and eight inches so that they wouldn't show below the hot pink cummerbunds. The other huge problem was that the matching bowties did not come pre-tied so we had to tie them ourselves, stitch the bow in place, and then cut them in the back and add our own snaps so that they could be changed into quickly.
I had to do some alterations for several of Roxie's costumes as well. The dress that she wears to the first press conference, I bought on Etsy. It was beautifully made and I felt horrible that I had to take it all apart but it needed to be a rip away dress so that Roxie could take it off quickly and easily on stage to reveal her "Roxie" dress underneath. For "My Baby and Me" I had to buy a child's sized XL sailor dress because they didn't have any adult sizes in that style. The waist fit Kyndal but it wasn't large enough in the bust. So I had to take the lining out which was preventing it from stretching and then resew the collar back down. I put a red ribbon around the waist to give it more color. For Roxie's costume for the trial I bought a bright plaid blazer. The sleeves were too long and had to be hemmed up about 2 inches, and I had to take it in at the center back seam. It was double-breasted and I converted into single-breasted. The jacket length was also disproportionately long to Kyndal's frame and had to be cut off right below the flap pockets.
The last set of major alterations was for the black tail coats that the girls wore for "All He Cares About is Love". I had to buy them in boy's sizes but even so, the sleeves were still too long. So all six of them had to be hemmed. The silver sequined tops were all the right size (they were stretchy in the back) but they were all too long, so we had to hem them up between six and eight inches so that they wouldn't show below the hot pink cummerbunds. The other huge problem was that the matching bowties did not come pre-tied so we had to tie them ourselves, stitch the bow in place, and then cut them in the back and add our own snaps so that they could be changed into quickly.
The Fans
We had decided to use ostrich feather fans for "Razzle Dazzle" instead of "All He Cares About is Love". We had two turquoise fans and two red fans from George M. I dyed the red pair blue so that they would turn out purple and I dyed the turquoise pair a darker blue. The red feathers were glued to plastic staves and mostly stayed glued. The blue feathers were glued to paper backed wooden staves and all came unglued when the paper disintegrated in the warm water. I immediately ordered more blue fans on Amazon, but as they were being shipped from China, I didn't really count on them getting here in time since China was in the epicenter of what was soon to become a global pandemic. So, with a week left to go in the build, I took my daughter and her hairdryer to school with me that night and we proceeded to fluff up the now purple pair and reglue the feathers they had lost. Then, after drying all the darker blue feathers, I had to go and cut out paper backing for the wooden staves, glue those to both sides of each stave, and then reattach the feathers. The result was not looking good because the fans had been cheap to begin with ($60 each) and the feathers were only a single layer glued to one side of the fans. So I went to Joanne's the next morning and bought more short feathers and then rummaged through my feather stash for more long ones. Luckily I had a ton of white chicken feathers left over from Indians, a show we did my first year at MCC in 1997. I died half of them blue and glued them to the "backs" of the fans to give them added stability. Then I glued the shorter feathers in layers all over the both sides of the staves to hide the paper and give them more fluff. Once I did the blue pair, they looked so much fuller than the purple, I had to go back and fill in the purple pair as well.
Hair Accessories
We had several hair accessories to make for the show. We made feather headbands for the girls in "Razzle Dazzle" as well as Mama Morton and Roxie.
Previews
Prouction Photos
Photos by Doug Fitzjarrel.
‘Chicago’ brings all that jazz to MCC in short run
Velma Kelly (Avery Carlisle, left) and Roxy Hart (Kyndal Rinewalt) hope to make the most of their murder charges in the McLennan Theatre production of the musical “Chicago.”
Staff photo — Jerry Larson
Carl Hoover
February 19, 2020
McLennan Community College choreographer and theater instructor Joe Taylor didn’t realize the theater department had chosen the musical for its 2019-20 season when he used the song “All That Jazz” as a teaching exercise with students during his interview for the MCC position.
Told that McLennan Theatre would be staging “Chicago,” from which “All That Jazz” comes, Taylor took it as a sign that things were meant to be: He’d be hired (he was) and he’d be directing “Chicago” (he is), whose MCC three-performance run opens Feb. 27.
The 1975 Tony Award winning John Kander and Fred Ebb musical, with original choreography by Bob Fosse, plays with the Roaring ’20s of a century ago with its story of Chicago housewife Roxy Hart (Kyndal Rinewalt) who kills her lover, then sees her murder trial as a platform for the fame she’d dreamed of. Defending her is slick, media-savvy attorney Billy Flynn (Hunter Barnett) while Hart’s death row neighbor and vaudevillian Velma Kelly (Avery Carlisle) sees her own star as celebrated murderess threatened.
Taylor, working with seven lead actors and a 13-actor ensemble, said he drew inspiration from the show’s initial imagining as a series of vaudeville sketches and its real-world origin for characters Roxy, who actually shot her husband; Velma, a cabaret performer charged with murder; and Billy, a composite of two high-profile Chicago lawyers.
His choreography suggests those different back stories with dances involving Roxy having a vaudeville flavor, more burlesque for Velma and a 1930s MGM smoothness for Flynn. “Combining these styles have worked really well,” he said.
The McLennan production hasn’t changed the musical’s core elements of murder, scandal, sex and celebrity, or, as Taylor put it, “jazz, liquor and scandals held together by some amazing choreography and music.” Still, some language has been toned down and costuming is more traditional with an eye to the 1920s than the leotards-and-tights costuming of the 1996 revival, he said.
Taylor and MCC theater instructor Kelly Parker share directing duties with Daniel Farris as music director leading an 11-piece orchestra complete with two pianos and a tenor banjo.
The three-performance run was nearing a sellout earlier in the week, although tickets for the Hearts in the Arts Gala on Feb. 27 were still available. Deadline for gala reservations, made through the MCC Foundation, is Thursday.
February 19, 2020
McLennan Community College choreographer and theater instructor Joe Taylor didn’t realize the theater department had chosen the musical for its 2019-20 season when he used the song “All That Jazz” as a teaching exercise with students during his interview for the MCC position.
Told that McLennan Theatre would be staging “Chicago,” from which “All That Jazz” comes, Taylor took it as a sign that things were meant to be: He’d be hired (he was) and he’d be directing “Chicago” (he is), whose MCC three-performance run opens Feb. 27.
The 1975 Tony Award winning John Kander and Fred Ebb musical, with original choreography by Bob Fosse, plays with the Roaring ’20s of a century ago with its story of Chicago housewife Roxy Hart (Kyndal Rinewalt) who kills her lover, then sees her murder trial as a platform for the fame she’d dreamed of. Defending her is slick, media-savvy attorney Billy Flynn (Hunter Barnett) while Hart’s death row neighbor and vaudevillian Velma Kelly (Avery Carlisle) sees her own star as celebrated murderess threatened.
Taylor, working with seven lead actors and a 13-actor ensemble, said he drew inspiration from the show’s initial imagining as a series of vaudeville sketches and its real-world origin for characters Roxy, who actually shot her husband; Velma, a cabaret performer charged with murder; and Billy, a composite of two high-profile Chicago lawyers.
His choreography suggests those different back stories with dances involving Roxy having a vaudeville flavor, more burlesque for Velma and a 1930s MGM smoothness for Flynn. “Combining these styles have worked really well,” he said.
The McLennan production hasn’t changed the musical’s core elements of murder, scandal, sex and celebrity, or, as Taylor put it, “jazz, liquor and scandals held together by some amazing choreography and music.” Still, some language has been toned down and costuming is more traditional with an eye to the 1920s than the leotards-and-tights costuming of the 1996 revival, he said.
Taylor and MCC theater instructor Kelly Parker share directing duties with Daniel Farris as music director leading an 11-piece orchestra complete with two pianos and a tenor banjo.
The three-performance run was nearing a sellout earlier in the week, although tickets for the Hearts in the Arts Gala on Feb. 27 were still available. Deadline for gala reservations, made through the MCC Foundation, is Thursday.
