This week we're chatting with Lauren Gallitelli, who is Santino Fontana's dresser at TOOTSIE on Broadway! Gallitelli has worked on Broadway at shows such as Cinderella, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Sister Act, and more!
What does a typical day look like for a Broadway dresser?
7 comments:
What a fun and surprising article to read. I didn’t realize how involved Lauren Gallitelli is in the process of Santino Fontana getting ready for each show. Some of these tasks like running lines and doing a coffee run seem so far out of the definition of what an IA dresser is. I’m sure this is because he is such a big name star on stage but I wonder if all dressers do this for all the actors they work with. I am not shocked at all when Gallinelli talks about how important being close to the city was when she was starting out. I have heard this over and over again from people in the industry. Her advice about using your benefits of the union is a smart one and I feel like something that CMU does a great job of teaching about this. I am also not surprised about here advice of having a positive personality. The best bosses I have had, all have an element of positivity in their personality.
I love seeing little insights into the lesser- talked- about jobs on Broadway. It was especially interesting to me to see how personal of a relationship she seems to have with Fontana, from running lines for auditions to walking him to the stage door after the show. It truly does take a village to put on a show, and it would be interesting to see how relationships, jobs, and tasks evolve throughout the run of a show, especially on Broadway. I’m sure that the fact that their working relationship extends off of the stage and beyond helping him with his clothes and quick changes only makes their tracks during the show stronger, and extends the level of trust they have in each others’ ability and timing. Gallitelli’s comments about landing a job on Broadway were useful and insightful into how the industry works, and just how interconnected it all is in terms of knowing people who know people.
This was a really entertaining read! I think a lot of us see Broadway as the dream and reading about someone's journey and how they got to Broadway was really exciting. One aspect of a dresser's job that I've always found very sweet is just how connected they become with the actors! I love jobs where you interact with actors because I think it's really incredible for perspective. I worked a lot as an A2 in high school and mic placement definitely got me up and close with the performers; I can't imagine a job in theatre that doesn't have that intersection. I thought it was really sweet how Lauren Gallitelli ran lines with Santino Fontana and knew about all his little quirks (like the 6 bottles of water thing).
Her advice on how to get your name out there and how to be smart about money (like getting started on a 401k immediately) were very insightful, not just to dressers I think, but to anyone who wants to eventually pursue a job on Broadway. I really want to read more interviews like this with all kinds of Broadway jobs! I do think this article was relevant to me right now, though, because I just started my costumes mini and am learning about all these costume roles in theatre!
I am so glad that the Broadway community is shedding light on the importance of Broadway dressers. The dressers on Broadway have such an important job because they are the ones that take care of all the costumes and help the actors get ready for their shows every night. Dressers also take care of all of the quick changes and do laundry at the end of each performance. The dressers also develop really good relationships with the actors and become the people they feel like they can talk to if they have an issue. Hopefully the actors appreciate how much the dressers do for them. In this article Lauren talks about how she even organizes the actor’s fan mail, fills his water bottles, and goes on coffee runs for him. These dressers do so much and they have to balance all of this at work with their own personal lives.
YES YES YES!! Let's talk more about dressers!!! Dressing is one of my favorite jobs in the costume world and it is a dream of mine to dress a large-scale show like Broadway. The precision and organization necessary in order to pull off these intense quick changes fuels my soul. But the talent and skills necessary to be a dresser on one of these shows, or any show to be honest, are hardly ever spoken about in the technical theatre world. Truthfully, in low-level productions, dresser-roles end up being filled by the crew members with the least experience and least skills, which is why true quick-changes are often adjusted or cut entirely from the productions. But quick changes are one of the key elements of a show that gives it that “theatre magic” and good quick changes can increase the production value of a show enormously. We need more justice for dressers in this world.
I love reading about jobs of people on Broadway, and what It all entails. This was such a fun article to read! I love that this article highlights one of the less known jobs on Broadway- but such an important one. I thought it was so interesting that she does so much more than actually dressing him, but also getting coffee and filling water bottles. I think what's so cool about dressers is that they get to interact so intimately with the actors. This makes me feel like they have a particular set of skills with people. Also this show is so interesting because he has to go through such intense and fast changes from Michael to Dorothy. Like the amount of people it takes to change him over from being in a suit to being in full makeup is insane. I saw tootsie earlier this year and was so curious to learn about the quick changes, so I loved this article! Props to Lauren for being dope!!
Granted, I am not highly connected to Broadway, but dropping your resume off at a stage door seems like a risky move. The interviewee herself got her first job (and presumably most or all of her jobs after that) via a personal connection, and that also reflects the majority of my professional experience as well. I can imagine that such an aggressive maneuver could backfire and get you branded as pushy and difficult. That said, I suppose it is all about how you approach the situation and how you present yourself. The interviewee mentions bringing a positive attitude to work and showing others that she wants to be there; I think that carries across to getting jobs. In my experience, people hire and recommend people who have a reputation of being friendly and good to work with. If someone is incredibly skilled but complains constantly, for example, I think they are less likely to get hired than someone who might be less skilled but is a better attitude.
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