Costuming a Broadway Show

Once upon a time in the village of Bergen-Lafayette, there lived a man named James Crochet, Jim for short. Welcome to the entryway of Barbara Matera, Ltd…..Through this doorway, dozens of employees are working diligently to finish select costumes for the upcoming Broadway national tour of Beauty and the Beast On the walls, autographed theatrical production posters hang alongside photographs of Barbara Matera with legendary figures like the Duchess of York, Barbra Streisand, Angela Lansbury and Mikhail Baryshnikov.  This is how one begins to costuming a broadway show.

As far back as the ’50s and ’60s, when the burgeoning Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway movements were spawning a generation of playwrights, directors and actors who would dominate the next generation of American theater, as well as film and television, the seeds of the future have been planted in storefronts, basements and church halls where actors not only perform, but build sets, sew costumes and staff the box office.

These Lion King objects join a rich collection of artifacts with Broadway origins, including costumes from the Broadway productions of Hello, Dolly!,” Fiddler on the Roof,” This Is the Army,” Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Mame” and Lorelei”; theater awards, including three Tony Awards; props from the musical The Fantasticks”; Rose Marie’s copy of the musical score of Top Banana”; and numerous Broadway playbills and posters.

He was a member of the Broadway company of Mary Poppins, where he was a dancing statue, dancing chimney sweep, dancing bunny and understudy for Bert and Robertson Ay. Other credits include the title character in Tarzan (Arvada), Zach in A Chorus Line (Maltz Jupiter), Eddie in Funny Girl (Vero Beach Riverside), Buzz in South Pacific (Paper Mill) and regional productions of Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Thoroughly Modern Millie and 42nd Street.

The creative team is comprised of Tony Award-winners Bob Crowley (sets and costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting), Jon Weston (sound), 59 Productions (projections) with the musical score adapted, arranged and supervised by Rob Fisher, orchestrations by Christopher Austin, dance arrangements by Sam Davis, musical supervision by Todd Ellison, and additional orchestrations by Don Sebesky and Bill Elliott.

Broadway projects include: South Pacific (2008 Tony Award), Movin’ Out (Tony® and Drama Desk nominations), Thoroughly Modern Millie, A Streetcar Named Desire (Tony nomination), Les Liasons Dangereuses (Tony nomination), The Little Dog Laughed, Gem of The Ocean (Tony nomination), Hughie, Juan Darién (Tony® and Drama Desk nominations), Eastern Standard, Little Shop of Horrors, The Boy From Oz, many others.

Her regional work includes M. Butterfly and On the Verge, for director Tazewell Thompson (Arena Stage) and the Gershwin musical American in Paris by Ken Ludwig for director Gregory Boyd (Alley Theatre, Houston) as well as The Tempest (Anthony Hopkins as Prospero) & Flea in Her Ear (director Tom Moore at Mark Taper Forum), many productions for the Guthrie (MN), Williamstown, and many others from Alaska to Buffalo.

Even as a feminist who advocates for female-driven stories to be told more universally, my initial reaction was, ‘can you actually do this?’ It was telling to me that watching a female-dominated storyline that is so honest and upfront about this most basic female condition – and finds it important to talk and teach about, and worthy enough to raise up into song on the Broadway stage – took some adjusting to accept.