Phantom Friday

Last Friday I got to see my favorite musical live for the first time. The Phantom of the Opera. We've had it booked for months and I'd been counting down the days, along with our friends who were also going with us.

Before we went, more like right after we booked our tickets, I started doing some research on the US tour to get an idea of how it compared to the Broadway version. The reviews I read were not the best so I was a little worried I would be let down, especially after watching the 25th Anniversary over a dozen times.

But let me tell you, I was not disappointed in the least! Okay, I was a little disappointed that the mirror bride wasn't in it, but hey. The cast, the sets, the props were all phenomenal!

A couple hours before the show we got to go to Behind the Mask, which was a Q&A with a couple of actors and the manager of the show. It was really neat to get to learn more about how the show worked and get to hear from some of the actors who weren't the main actors (although I would have loved that too!)

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

The sets were definitely different than the Broadway sets. The main set was this huge revolving piece that would open up to ever part of the opera house. I did feel that one or two of the set ups were a little bit awkward, but overall I thought it worked really well.

I do have to say, that as a costumer I did notice a difference in the quality of the costumes. I could tell that they weren't made with the same quality, mainly on the Hannibal costumes and any that had any large supports (such as Elisa's Hannibal dress and the Aminta dress from Point of no Return).

The Phantom (or Erik) had completely different makeup than in the Broadway version. In the Behind the Mask they told us that it was silicone and all one piece (and apparently quite disgusting) which is cool, but from the audience you'd have to be in the front row to really be able to see it. Our seats were only around 20 rows back and you really couldn't see the deformity. I wish they had done some sort of makeup on his lips too, because that would have helped a lot. The only reason I know what the deformity looks like is because of the picture in the Program I bought.

In the Q&A they told us to look for Erik in places he shouldn't be. The whole time I was looking around for him, but unfortunately I never saw him anywhere that he shouldn't have been.

On to my absolute favorite part, the chandelier! The chandelier has 2 very important parts, the overture and the end of act one. I got chills watching that chandelier that weighs 1 ton rising up in the beginning. It was absolutely amazing!

The whole transformation of the opera house from the auction scene to the dress rehearsal was flawless. One moment Carlotta's dress is standing on a mannequin as an item in the auction and the next she's actually in the dress dancing.

After we got our seats we went up to the stage to take a closer look at the orchestra pit, the stage set up, and the chandelier.

 

On to the second part that the chandelier plays, the end of act 1. In the 25th Anniversary at this part, you can see Erik up in one of the boxes (probably box 5 but I'm not sure) and he points a stick towards the chandelier, sparks go flying, and the chandelier falls. Well, pretty much the same thing happened, except the chandelier actually fell. And it was epic!

Talk about an epic way to end the first act!

The view from our seats - this was just after the end of act I

Apparently that chandelier falls at a rate of 10 tons and they have to reinforce the theater to make it safe since it is after all, falling directly over the audience.

The Phantom. Chris Mann is an amazing Phantom. His voice is like a combination of Ramin Karimloo and Hugh Panaro, which are my 2 favorite Phantoms, so it was perfect. Plus, he's an amazing actor!

Something I really liked about this version, is when he took the mask off (no, Christine didn't get to pull it off) it was obvious that his deformity was more than just hard to look at. It hurt him and that made me sympathize with him even more.

Chris Mann - The Phantom/Erik

Christine. Katie Travis is a wonderful singer and a fantastic actress! My favorite part of her's though was the end of "Wishing you were Somehow Here Again".

With Katie Travis - Christine

Oh, and let's not forget the title song, "The Phantom of the Opera". It was perfect. Katie Travis can hit those low notes just as good as she can it the high ones. And like I already said, Chris Mann's voice is perfect.

Roul. Storm Linberg was also fantastic! I knew when I first heard him in the auction scene that he was a winner.

With Storm Linberg - Roul

One of my favorite additions was the fight scene between Roul and the Phantom in/during "Wandering Child". The way they choreographed it was perfect and it fit so well, unlike that totally out of place fight in the 2004 movie. Where did that even come from?

As was expected, the ending was extremely heart breaking. They didn't have the Phantom hide under a blanket on a chair though, it was a little different but just as amazing.

The cast got a standing ovation, which was very, very much deserved. When the curtain fell the whole theater just about exploded with applause. I thought Cinderella had a loud audience, but Phantom was even bigger. That's part of why it's Broadway's longest running show. And the fact that if I could have watched it again right then and there, I would have.

When the show was over we headed out to the stage door even though we weren't sure the cast would come out since it was a matinee. But they did and we got to meet the actors who played Carlotta, one of the swings/the gunmen in the pit (who was also at Behind the Mask), Meg, Roul, Christine, and the Phantom himself. All of which were super nice. And one of the best parts was when Chris Mann told me he liked my Phantom mask necklace. :D

With Morgan Cowling - Meg

With Nick Cartell - Swing/gunmen in the pit. He was also part of the Behind the Mask.

With Jaquelynne Fontaine - Carlotta

The next time the show comes into town I'm definitely going to see it, and if I can swing it I'm planning on going to the show twice.

Q&A With Kaedra from Enchanted Sea Studio

Today I have a very special Q&A with one of my favorite costumers, Kaedra. Kaedra is an amazing costumer and runs her own costume business, Enchanted Sea Studio . She's best known for her fantastic Phantom of the Opera costumes, in particular the Wishing Dress and the Star Princess , which are both amazing!

Her work inspires me with the amount of detail she puts into each costume and the accuracy in each one. Her work is really phenomenal! Please check out her website, Enchanted Sea Studio.

"Star Princess" Costume from the Masquerade scene in the stage production of The Phantom of the Opera.

When and how did you start making costumes?

I was always a fan of watching people sew garments on Project Runway.  I first started sewing in 2009 after I saw other Phantom of the Opera fans online making replica costumes.  After I saw their work, and started studying the costumes from the show in detail (thanks tohttp://potocostumes.webs.com!), I was so inspired to make them myself.

I started teaching myself with easy sewing patterns, and learning new skills.  If I had questions, I asked other seamstresses online for help.  The first “finished” costume I ever made was Christine Daae’s dressing gown.

From then on, I kept teaching myself from trial and error.  I also volunteered at a local theatre (Actors’ Summit in Akron, OH), and learned a lot of tips and tricks from the head seamstress.

Christine's Dressing Gown

You recreate so many amazing costumes from Phantom of the Opera. When did you get interested in Phantom and making costumes from it?

The first time I was exposed to the world of Phantom was actually the Yeston/Kopit production I saw in 2002 at a local dinner theatre!  A few years later I discovered the Andrew Lloyd Webber version.  Phantom was the first musical (and fandom, I suppose) that really touched me and stayed in my heart for a long time. 

I connected with a lot of other fans on online message boards over the years.  As I mentioned before, coming across other talented ladies making replica Phantom costumes really inspired me to start.  So I suppose Phantom and sewing went hand in hand for a very long time.  At first I was only interested in creating replicas from Phantom, which is why I have so many under my belt.  But my interests soon branched out into other movies, shows, and even making my own original costumes.

What's your favorite costume you've ever made?

I’m torn between two of them.  For replica costumes, I would probably say the UK Wishing Gown.  It was a huge challenge and I used so many techniques (and learned new ones) while making it.  Embroidery, custom trims, dyeing, pleating – this costume had it all.  Cutting the fabric was the most difficult part, but was so satisfying when I got it right.  For an original costume, it would be my Elvira from Blithe Spirit.  The dress was flowy, mystical, and unearthly – and I had my actress in a gray bodysuit, makeup, and wig.  She was the most beautiful ghost I’d ever seen.

Christine's Wishing Dress

Who inspires you in the costuming world?

The person I credit for first inspiring me to sew is my good friend Anéa (many people may know her as Operafantomet).  Her website was a continuous source of inspiration and help – from all of the reference photos and information on the original phantom costumes, and her detailed journals of her own sewing adventures.  Without that resource (and her encouragement), I don’t know if I’d be where I am today.

Naturally Maria Bjornson, the woman who designed all of Phantom’s costumes, is a huge inspiration.  I am a lover of detail, and Maria’s costumes (and other work) are exceptionally luxurious and intricate.  They are well thought-out pieces of art that inspired the beginning of my career.

The head of the costume department (and co-artistic director) at Actors’ Summit Theatre, Mary Jo Alexander, was a huge influence on me.  She taught me a lot of construction tips and shortcuts that are extremely helpful!  I also learned a lot about alterations, as we had to alter many costumes for a variety of actors.  Budgeting, repurposing costumes, and being creative with materials you already have are also things I took away from working there.  I loved working in that theatre so much!

Lastly I’d say that Colleen Atwood is a major inspiration.  Her costumes are so unique and well-thought out.  I think she inspires a lot of people and gets them excited about costumery.

What's your favorite part of making a new costume?

The very beginning, and the very end. I love shopping for all the materials and seeing them all together!  I also love seeing the finished product on the mannequin or the person it’s made for.  If it’s a costume in the theatre that I’ve created or had a part in making, I get chills seeing it on stage the first time.

As for the middle time period of actually constructing the costume – I really like hand-detailing.  Beading, embroidery, etc – hand sewing relaxes me and I just love intricate details.

Phantom of the Opera, AKA Erik, ensemble

What's your favorite costume from Phantom?

Aminta, hands down. I love all things with a Spanish flair, and the color combinations are so romantic and fun.  I particularly like the versions with a lot of red mixed into the black and peach (like the European ones).  I think the classic ones with lace instead of embroidery are also my favorites.  It’s a sexy, spunky, and passionate costume.

What's your all time favorite costume? It could be from a movie, stage production, or even something you designed yourself.

That’s a hard one! Aminta is one of my top favorites, but I have others. I’m in love with Emma’s light blue “Swan” ball gown from Once Upon a Time and Khaleesi’s wedding dress (Game of Thrones). The first time I think I ever noticed costumes/wigs/special makeup was the mermaid scene in Hook – I love those mermaids and they’re also in my favorites!

Favorite costume design as a whole for movies would be Moulin Rouge, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Titanic, The Mummy, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Prestige, The Hunger Games and Hook.  For TV it’d be Carnivàle, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time, and Downton Abbey. 

Ariel's end dress from Disney's The Little Mermaid

You do a lot more than just make costumes, you also make jewelry, do stage makeup, set design and more. How did you get interested in all that?

Before I started sewing, I took a lot of professional art classes starting at age 13.  I did artwork as a hobby, but this helped me out a LOT later in life:

All the theatrical things that I do started when I began my theatre education.  I had already been in college for 3 years getting a computer networking degree, but after getting my Associate’s, I switched into a theatre program at The University of Akron. 

Little Red Riding Hood from Once Upon a Time

Our theatre program was very small, and it was a generalized theatre degree (Theatre Arts).  We could have an emphasis in the degree (sort of like a minor), but all students had to take a variety of theatre classes.  Actors had to take technical classes, and technicians had to take acting & movement classes.  Everyone was very well-rounded in our program.  It exposed me to a lot of different facets of theatre.

I had a technical/design emphasis for my Bachelor’s degree, which meant I took many great classes like scenic design, stage lighting design, stage makeup, costume design, and set construction.  The funny thing is that we never had an actual sewing class, but I continued to sew in my free time.  I fell in love with everything I learned in that program.  I had incredible professors and wonderful classmates.  It was easily the best time of my life!

You can see her full portfolio at kaedralynn.com and her costume-specific stuff  at enchantedsea.wordpress.com.

Thank you so much for doing this with me, Kaedra! It was really fun to get to know a little bit more about you and your costuming journey!

Masquerade Inspiration

Next year I'll be graduating high school, and since I'm homeschooled I'll be having my own graduation party. I've decided that I want to have a Phantom of the Opera themed Masquerade! I'm so excited!

I've already been planning what I want to do for my costume. I was originally wanting to do Christine's Masquerade dress from the 2004 POTO movie, but because our house is so small we're going to have the party outside and I don't want to spend all that time and money on a dress that's going to get dirty and possibly ruined.

My next thought was to do the stage version of the Masquerade dress, but I don't really want to spend all the time dying the fabric and hand sewing everything on the bodice. Besides, it would require a ton of tulle which I don't really like working with. Which is a shame because it's so cheap!

I've decided that I should do like my sister keeps telling me and to design my own dress. I've mostly been pinning inspiration on Pinterest, but I need to actually start sketching some ideas out soon.

But here's some of my inspiration I've gotten from Pinterest.

Please Note: All images link back to original source if I have one.

This was a mask from the gift shop when we went to the Seattle Opera.

As you can tell by the variety of inspiration, I really have no clue as to what I want to do. Well, I guess I have plenty of time to figure it out. 

Costume Analysis {Christine Daae}

This post is going to be a costume analysis of Christine Daae's "Wishing Dress" from the stage versions of Phantom of the Opera. I want to do a second post sharing my favorite reproductions of this dress, becuase I've found so many amazing and helpful links! But because this post contains a huge amount of photo's already, I'll save that for another day.

First off there have been so many different productions of Phantom of the Opera (which from now on I will reference as POTO) since the Original Long Cast back in 1986. Even though each production's dress is different, they are all very similar. For the most part they're all identical except for things like trims and slight differences in material.

I came across this website which has reference pictures from all the different stage versions of POTO. I went and actually printed out almost 100 pages of reference photo's at the library via this site. I've gone through all the different version to try and pick a version I like best and reproduce that one. But beucase they were all so similar I decided on just basing it on the newer US version and taking pieces from the other versions that I liked better and add them.

My research book.

Original UK version.

When I was looking through my photos I found something interesting in this photo. Along the bottom of the skirt are seven lines going around the skirt. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but I have a theory. I believe this photo was taken during a dress rehearsal and the skirt wasn't finished yet and I believe this may may be the underskirt.

Original UK Version.

You can see there's a bit of a difference on the detail of the vest part of the bodice between the original UK and the newer UK versions.

Newer UK version.

There's a more tassels/fringe on the German version, which I personally don't care for.

Germany.

Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and Argentina.

I love the bustle on the newer US version! Isn't it gorgeous?!

Newer US Version.

Newer US version.

If you look at the center of the apron part of the dress you'll see a seam and how the fabric is angled in so the pattern creates a "V".

25th Anniversary Special

 In this one it goes straight. No seam in the center. I think this is the only version that they did that with. I think it looks better in the other versions myself.

I believe this is from the newer US version, but I'm not sure.

Australian version.

 This is a great view of the skirt without the train. To save fabric they used their lining fabric on the part of the skirt that's covered by the over skirt/apron. Definitely a good thing to know!

Not sure which production.

Here's my list of the things that are difference in the various productions and which versions I will be using as a reference.

Collar and Cuffs Details - Newer UK

Neckline - Newer US

Apron - Original UK or 25th Anniversary version.

Bustle - Newer US

Wig - Newer US, Germany, or 25th Anniversary

Now lets talk patterns. I've searched high and low for decent patterns for dresses from around the period. Here's what I found.

For the corset I'm planning on using Truly Victorian 1880's Corset. For the petticoat I'll be using either Truly Victorian's 1870's Petticoat, or their Victorian Petticoat. I'm still undecided. And I still haven't figured out what I'm going to use for the bustle, but I'll probably keep it simple and just use a bustle pillow pad. I'll figure that out once I made the mock up.

For the bodice I decided to go with Truly Victorian's Ladies 1880's Dinner Bodice, which I purchased on Ebay since I couldn't find it on the Truly Victorian website. It'll need a bit of modification on the front, but it's the closest pattern I've found.

I still haven't found anything for the skirt. If I have to I'll draft my own pattern. And for the over skirt/apron I think I'm just going to draft it myself.

And the bustle. I've heard the style of bustle/train called a waterfall bustle, but I haven't been able to find any patterns or tutorials on how to make it. If anyone knows of anything even remotely similar, I would love to hear from you!

Shoes. I would love to purchase American Duchess's Tavistock boots. I've wanted a pair of these since she first announced she was working on them! But I doubt I'll be able to afford them so I'm going to be keeping an eye out in stores and places like Ebay for something suitable.

The hair. Oh gosh. To get a wig that long is going to be hard! I haven't done much shopping around yet, so I can't say what I'm going to do yet.

A Look at 1880's Undergarments

I recently saw Phantom of the Opera for the first time a few weeks ago, and it's sort of become another obsession both as a musical and because of the amazing costumes! Just to clarify, I'm talking about the 25th Anniversary special, not the 2004 movie. While some of the costumes in that were spectacular, the movie as a whole wasn't that great.

My favorite out of all of Christine's dresses is her blue dress more commonly know among costumers as the "Wishing Dress".

I'm going to write up a more full overview of the dress later, but right now I want to focus on what would be underneath an actual 1880's dress.

Now, since this is a stage costume it probably doesn't have historically accurate underpinnings. But when I make this dress I want to make period accurate undergarments. I figure that the closest era for this dress is between 1885-88 based on some research I've done. I don't know a ton about the later Victorian era since in the past I've been mostly interested in the 1860's.

Starting from the bottom and working our way up. First off is the chemise.  A chemise would be worn underneath the corset and tucked into the ladies drawers. Even though they were never seen by the women wearing them, some were very elegant.

Ca. 1887 made of Cotton via The Met. 

Ca. 1880's made of Linnen via The Met.

Next is everybody's favorite, the corset! In the 1880's ladies waist's got even smaller than before.

Ca. 1885 via The Met,

Ca. 1880 via The Met.

Ca. 1885 via The Met.

Next we have split drawers. These would be worn over the chemise to add a little bit of modesty underneath the dress. I've actually gotten to wear a pair of drawers from the early 1900's, and I have to say they're kinda fun!

Ca. 1885 via The Met.

Ca. 1887 via The Met.

It's not necessary, but over top of the corset women would wear a corset cover.

Ca. 1880 via The Met.

Ca. 1880's via The Met.

The 1880's was also the return of the bustle. For the most part the skirts would be flat up front and all volume would be in the back. There was a lot of different ways a lady could get the right silhouette. There were crinoline styles, petticoats with bustles built into them, petticoats with ruffles in the back for a smaller bustle, and other 'bustle builders' such as bustle pads.

Ca. 1885 via The Met.

Bustle petticoat via Vintage Victorian.

Ca. 1880's via The Met.

Depending on the type of bustle, there was usually another petticoat added over top to give it a nice and lush look instead of being able to see the framework of the cage or bustle.

Ca. 1880's via The Met.

Ca. 1880's via The Met.

Ca. 1880 via The Met.

So that's about it. It was tough work getting dressed back in the day!