kansascitymag.com: “The Snow Queen tutu is probably my nemesis,” says Kansas City Ballet’s costume director Jennifer Carroll about one of the most famous costumes in all of ballet.
Carroll and her two team members are getting ready for one of KC’s most beloved holiday traditions: The Nutcracker. Carroll says that with seven casts and more than 200 costumes, Nutcracker prep is really a year-round endeavor.
2 comments:
I have been involved with nutcrackers for nearly all of my life and I am no secret to the immense amount of work that goes into producing the show. The costumes on this show are by far the most extravagant part. Just thinking about the second act alone is overwhelming. The other thing about costuming for ballet is that they love to cast numerous people in one role. That means that even if you can handle the sheer amount of costumes that come with producing the Nutcracker you also have to fit, alter, and clean all of the costumes between shows. It makes sense that the nutcracker is an event that lasts all year for the costume department. I love how the costume director has her arch nemesis costume. That is so funny to me. In stage manager land I have arch nemesis parts of the show so its fun to hear that costume managers also have similar thoughts.
With the theme of Christmas because of the Nutcracker, the costume designers remind me of the elves that work for Santa. I remember reading stories of Santa working year round when I was younger, similar to how companies would begin making candy for easter and halloween a full year before the holiday. Back to the Nutcracker, tulle seems like a really hard fabric to keep clean in theater, especially for active plays such as the Nutcracker. They discuss how it often rips or unravels after a performance. I wonder how often performances are. They might even have to create multiple of the same skirt to keep up with all of the upkeep of the costumes. Also there is a such a stark contrast between the working environment of these three costume designers and the costume designers here at Carnegie Mellon University. The article mentioned that they are working in the basement, where as students here work in the natural light.
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