Friday, July 21, 2017
Dressing a Tale as Old as Time: An Exclusive Interview with the Costume Designer of Disney Cruise Line’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Disney Parks Blog: Our all-star creative team is hard at work to bring the beloved story of “Beauty and the Beast” to life in a whole new way on stage aboard the Disney Dream this November. I had the honor of meeting up with Broadway costume designer Sarah Cubbage recently to get the inside scoop on what it takes to design the elaborate costumes for a brand-new stage production of this classic tale.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I was instantly drawn to this article because it allowed me to recall my intense childhood love for fairytales and Disney princesses. I remember sitting in front of my living room television for hours, obsessing over the beautiful gowns of the characters. This article discusses how the animated film played a part in the design of the costumes for a new production of Beauty and the Beast. The live action film was more useful, however, because the figures were three dimensional, so the garments conveyed more movement and texture. I appreciate how the costume designer also focused on the actual wardrobe for peasants in the area of France where the story would have occurred. This ties in an authentic taste for the pieces, rather than just the fairytale charm. I also liked how the designer was challenged to design a production that would be seen so up close because of the intimacy of the cruise ship setting. This allows her to integrate intense details, while still accounting for a multitude of costumes.
It is really exciting to see that Disney's Cruise Line is putting on Beauty and the Beast in live theatre. Like the designer said, this theatrical production will definitely bring more life and vivacity to the costume aspect of the classic story. The most iconic scene in the story is arguably the dance between Belle and the Beast. Despite the fact that their costumes look beautiful already in both the animation and the live-action movie, the visual impact will become even more stunning for the audience in the theatrical production. The beautiful yellow ball gown and the elegant tux of Belle and the Beast will be presented to the audience in real life before their eyes, truly giving the audience a sense of the beauty of their love and enhancing the chemistry of their romance. It is a pity that I am not be able to see the costumes in person on the cruise; however, I cannot wait to see the photographs of the production once they are released on the internet. The designer's effort in ensuring the costumes are appropriate to the characters and the culture of France will, in my opinion, definitely not fail her in creating beautiful and memorable costume pieces. It will be a visual fiesta for the audience, who are watching the production so close-up. I wish I could immerse myself into such a valuable experience.
This article is amazing. Last year when my school put on a production of Beauty and the Beast, I costumed it and to read about someone else's experience is really cool. This is such a large scale show so transferring all the costumes from the movie to the cruise must have been really hard. Also, cruises generally have less storage space than most theaters, so making sure that you have all the costumes but don't overcrowd the boat is another thing to take into consideration. From the photos, I can tell that a lot of thought went into each design. The have a general 18th century silhouette, but still look modern and fantasy. I think that being able to create the fantasy of the pieces is something that takes so much care and effort. Each piece has to be meticulously created to give off the effect that the designer wants. If I saw this show in person, I would love to see how they constructed everything and how the light catches each of the pieces. In this show especially, the way the light reflects off the costumes is very important and I would love to see how it is executed.
Post a Comment