Backstage at the Hobby Center

Costume magic: Colorful award-winning designs are the star of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Poof! With a wave of her magic wand, the fairy godmother turned Cinderella’s rags into a ball gown. It happened in an instant — and on stage — for everyone in the audience to witness.

How could such a dramatic and complete transformation in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella take place in plain sight? The answer is a well-guarded secret that lies within the seams and stitches plotted by legendary costume designer William Ivey Long.

Long won his sixth Tony Award for his brilliant set of ornate palace garb, period peasant wear and lavish dresses trimmed with ribbons and lace and embroidery. But beyond conceptualizing the more than 330 beautiful costumes for the cast, Long infused innovative elements into some of his creations, especially the costumes worn by Cinderella and her fairy godmother. The technical and practical details allow the two characters to essentially change costumes on stage, adding an unexpected and delightful dimension to the presentation, a truly magical moment.

A large part of the magic of this show is the costumes. "It’s a lot of fun because the people have come to see the magic,” says Kecia Lewis who plays Marie, the fairy godmother, in the musical based on the classic fairy tale. Theater Under The Stars is presenting the show at the Hobby Center through June 7.

"I transform from a beggar woman, Crazy Marie, a crazy lady, into the fairy godmother – and you see me do it but you don’t know how I did it. Being a part of something where I get to magically transform in front of your eyes, even just rehearsing that was very thrilling,” says Lewis.

“That’s probably the scariest part of performing the show, not the flying. I fly in the show and that’s fun but the scariest part of the show is the transformation because the transformation has to be right everyday.”

Backstage costume tour

With all the hype surrounding the costumes, I wanted a closer look. And I wanted to investigate with the biggest fan of musical theater I know — my 7-year-old daughter Sasha.

A few hours before we were scheduled to watch the show, we got a chance to admire the costumes backstage at the Hobby Center, courtesy of TUTS.

“Some of these dresses weigh up to 25 pounds. So imagine trying to move gracefully on stage with that heavy load,” Lewis says.

Our costume tour guide was the fairy godmother herself, Kecia Lewis. With her rich and resonant voice, she shared theater stories in her wise, fairy godmotherly way and Sasha was immediately under her spell.

Lewis showed us the fancy dresses that sparkled and shimmered on the racks — bursts of turquoise, orange, lilac and lime that we would later see swirling in the castle ballroom scene. Sasha was enamored with the gorgeous gowns.

Lewis also showed us the glamorous wardrobes of Cinderella’s stepsisters and stepmother complete with the panniers and hip pads that would be layered underneath. “Some of these dresses weigh up to 25 pounds. So imagine trying to move gracefully on stage with that heavy load,” she says.

Lewis explained the long process to the final fitting. “William Ivey Long spends time with you and gets to know your personality and color preferences. He wants to incorporate what makes you feel good on stage into the costumes,” Lewis says.

With the new insight from a theater insider, Sasha and I took our seats that night, prepared to catch Cinderella and her fairy godmother during their transformations. We reminded ourselves not to blink.

At the stroke of midnight, after an evening of dancing with the prince, Cinderella spins and her ball gown turns back into a peasant dress.

“How did they do that, Momma?” Sasha asked in wondrous disbelief. Then she decided, “I know, I will audition for Cinderella, and even if I’m not Cinderella, I will rehearse with her so I can find out their secret.”

How it happened remains a mystery – even to us. Poof!

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Bernadette Verzosa is founder and editor of ParentsPost.

The production of Cinderella at the Hobby Center has more than 350 costumes.

Photo courtesy of TUTS

The production of Cinderella at the Hobby Center has more than 350 costumes.

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Movie Review

Feuding couple fights for survival in dark comedy Over Your Dead Body

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

Jason Segel and Samara Weaving on Over Your Dead Body.

When dysfunctional couples are depicted in movies, about the worst that typically happens is an acrimonious divorce. But in the new comedy/thriller Over Your Dead Body, the husband-and-wife have already gone way past that point by the time they’re introduced to the audience, with their plans leaning toward murder.

Dan (Jason Segel) is a low-level filmmaker relegated to directing pop-up ads, while Lisa (Samara Weaving) is an actor making do in small theater productions. The film finds them heading toward a rare getaway to a remote lake cabin, but it’s clear from the start that the married couple has been at odds for months, if not years. As the film begins, Dan clumsily drops hints at an alibi for his planned murder of Lisa to his ailing dad (Paul Guilfoyle) and others.

His shoddy planning was already sussed out by Lisa, who turns the tables on him when he tries to attack her, revealing a plan of her own. The situation naturally heightens their shared enmity of each other, but their blind hatred turns out to reveal the presence of Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Todd (Keith Jardine), two escapees from a nearby prison who were helped by guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis). What was once a shared murder plan turns into a fight for survival, forcing Dan and Lisa to work together.

Directed by Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island) and written by former SNL writers Nick Kocher and Briand McElhaney, the film aims to mine comedy out of darkness. Dan and Lisa’s ire for each other is palpable, and their interactions early in the film are uncomfortable. As the film turns increasingly violent with the introduction of other unsavory characters, most of the humor is derived from the creative ways people are attacked and the ultraviolence that results from them going after each other.

It’s a little tough to get fully invested in the story when the filmmakers throw the audience directly into the plot with almost zero setup. There’s not even a cursory montage of Dan and Lisa being in love, so it’s hard to care a lot about their current hate for each other. Likewise, the presence of the prison guard and escapees is completely random, and the three of them aren’t utilized well in the story despite having a couple of well-known actors portraying them.

The saving grace of the film, though, is the twists and turns it takes in the final act. Everyone on screen is put through the wringer, with each of them suffering multiple injuries or worse. The mayhem becomes so chaotic that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going to happen next, which slightly makes up for the fact that the story as a whole is lackluster. Even though the audience knows they’re being manipulated, the sequences are entertaining enough to overcome that fact.

The cast as a whole is solid. Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Shrinking) uses his comic sensibility to keep the proceedings light. Weaving (Ready or Not) has done multiple movies in this vein, so she knows how to navigate the comedy/thriller waters. Olyphant feels a little out of place, but he has a presence that elevates his part. Lewis goes a little too manic in her part, and Jardine ably embodies the dumb brute.

The comedy history of Taccone, Segel, and Weaving keeps Over Your Dead Body as a positive experience even when the story doesn’t quite measure up. The film never becomes fully predictable, giving the audience a great dose of pandemonium that lifts it up despite its other faults.

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Over Your Dead Body is now playing in theaters.

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