Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/13 21:27Has anyone seen that video of Sutton Foster doing "Show Off" on Youtube? That is an INSANE quick change, she gets changed behind an umbrella in about 3 seconds!- Caitlin / Cait -
Favorites Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2008), Jupiter in Cymbeline (2006), Narrator in Joseph... (2005) Present (possibly) YAGMCB...
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Eddie_Dean
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/13 22:30Whatever you do, don't sacrifice safety for the sake of a costume change!!
I just played "Beth" in Little Women and I had 8 costume changes, including a make-up change. One of them only allowed me 8 or 9 lines to change, and I was SO eager to get backstage that I almost ran head-first in the pit (12 feet deep). Rookie mistake!! From then on, I was super careful to go around the pit and just hoped for the best with the quick change. As others have said, having a backstage dresser is a necessity!Currently: Kissin' Kate Barlow in "Holes"
Previous Roles: Nettie MacCleary in "Orphan Train," Beth in "Little Women: The Broadway Musical"
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Swellz
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/13 23:39Ha-ha well I have stories about quick changes.... In our schools production of Little Women I was Jo and I had to change from my everyday dress into a ball dress in less than a minute and then back again. This would have been ok. Except My director wanted me to wear a hoop skirt under my ball gown. That thing was killer!! It was soo hard to get on and off. Well I changed fine in the dress rehersal and I had one of my friends helping me dress. I could not have done it with out her. The night of the show comes along. I change into my gown fine and lay out my next dress and skirt to change into, then go on to stage. When I come back to change again I’m halfway undressed when we realize that someone has moved my Shirt! So here I am standing half dressed and supposed to be on stage. So some of the cast members go on stage ahead of me and magically do a wonderful job improving until I find my shirt. Thank goodness for them. Well it turns out some idiot moved my shirt back to the costume room all the way down the hall. Lessons to learn: 1. Never wear a hoop skirt. 2. Make sure everyone knows NEVER to touch your costumes!
Post edited by: Swellz, at: 2008/03/13 23:40~Tiana~ Curent Show: Auditioning:
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aliauthor
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/14 16:22carrot cait wrote: Has anyone seen that video of Sutton Foster doing "Show Off" on Youtube? That is an INSANE quick change, she gets changed behind an umbrella in about 3 seconds!
there's an entire conversation on the comments on one of those videos where everyone is speculating how she did that so fast. My argument was that Sutton Foster is a superhero.
There are only 2 changes in the show I'm in currently. What will I do with my skills? haha-Ali
Currently: -Sheila; Boys Next Door (postshow depression mode) -acceptance to acting ensemble -Bye Bye Birdie (audition- didn't get a callback)
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I saw these guys on a French variety show a while back... I can't find their entire act on youtube (it's a good six minutes long), but that's a taste! As a costumer, I'm amazed.Kathleen Sera Current Shows: Aloha Pinafore - Volga Upcoming Auditions: Crazy For You - Irene Roth
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lilmissbroadway
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/15 11:38Oh, you don't know quick change until you've been a dresser on Sound of Music. Four dressers, with eight or nine actors to change completely (four of whom are children) including SOCKS in well under a minute. Who designs a show that requires quick changed socks?! (Much love to the designer of that show, he was a doll, but come on!)
Man and I thought BatB was bad but that takes the cake. my friend Alex was the enchantress and a silly girl so me along with Ginny and someone else whose name escapes me help her get into her petticoat,wig,sash,dress before her part in Belle
Post edited by: lilmissbroadway, at: 2008/03/15 11:39I Rent a Wicked apartment on Avenue Q! (Unfortunatly, it's haunted by a Phantom) Sarah
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Elphaba2b
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/17 15:42Thanks SO MUCH everyone! I'll be sure to use a nude unitard, and maybe ask my mom or castmate to help me as a dresser.
Yes, I'm in Alice in Wonderland Jr.
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brucecriesxout
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/17 15:54I just went to see my friend in a production of Evita as Eva last night and it was incredible. The costume changes we're mad fast!Name: Bruce Current Production: None. Upcoming Auditions:
The Butler Did It Singing (Chandler)
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jmslp
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/17 16:56too true. as a former eva, i have to concur that the changes were "mad fast". i had a dress, shoe, and wig change in the time it took che to do his little speech in the middle of buenos aires. as soon as that stuff went on and i ended the song w/ "star quality", i had to run backstage and take it all off and put a night gown on for good night and thank you only to leave the stage again and get redressed to come out for art of the possible. there are so many costumes for her for that show and i swear she is never in any for more than a second!!! lol!!!
what helped me through that show and any in which i had quick changes was to stay organized.They call me Jessica (like: They call me lady luck... lol)
Favorite roles:
Eva Peron, Evita; Jack's Mother, Into the Woods; Sonia, Godspell; Anything Goes, Reno Sweeney; Audrey, Little Shop of Horrors; Catherine, Pippin
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mezzo_soprano
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/18 08:48There Was a whole article on Eva's quick changes a while back on some theatre site. ANd jmslp you played Eva!! That must have been so cool!!
Post edited by: mezzo_soprano, at: 2008/03/18 08:51
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Jbug
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/03/20 13:46I was in a National Company once and the Evita stories of costumes is incredible. Our Eva had 2 dressers and a person who just did her wigs! One guy in the chorus had so many changes, he called a local t.v. station and they came out and filmed him during a performance! One of those fun stories they like to show on the news to entertain.
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Contralto Diva
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/04/06 13:19When I was in Little Shop, the directors did anything they possibly could to avoid quick changes, but since the only characters that had to changes quickly were Audrey and the Urchins, we made sure to keep the boys away from a certain part of the backstage area (and we had a ten-person stage crew helping out)~Sarah~
Upcoming: Once On This Island, Footloose
Past Shows: Godspell, Damn Yankees, Little Shop of Horrors, Grease, Guys and Dolls
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aliauthor
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/04/06 14:37it's funny- in my last show, none of the guys ever changed apart for one scene when they were in pajamas, and my friend and I, the sole girls in the show, were in a different costume for every scene! I was also watching 'rear window' yesterday and Jimmy Stewart never changes out of his pajamas while Grace Kelly's outfit changes every two seconds. Seems to be a pattern! -Ali
Currently: -Sheila; Boys Next Door (postshow depression mode) -acceptance to acting ensemble -Bye Bye Birdie (audition- didn't get a callback)
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carrot cait
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/04/06 14:40As I learned in the first dress rehearsal yesterday, quick changes are not as easy as I had anticipated... I have 4 major changes (not counting the times when I have to put on a blue cape, which is surprisingly difficult to put on, especially in the dark backstage) and 3 of them are done in an extremely limited amount of time. Actually, only 2 of my changes actually went well yesterday, which is something we'll hopefully work out in the next few days.
During "Something There," I have to change out of my blue dress with the cape into the pink dress. It's supposed to have a petticoat underneath, but I'm just not going to use it since it looks fine without it and I'll just barely have enough time anyhow. I have to get changed onstage behind Mrs. Potts and Mme.. I have my dress laid out near the prop table and my shoes are inside Mme.'s little drawer thing. One of my friends who isn't onstage brings me my dress while I'm getting out of the blue one. Neither of the dresses are too hard to get in or out of; the real problem is switching the mic, which goes under my dress in both cases.
Anyhow, during the run yesterday, the Beast finished up his verse and his scene with Cogsworth and Lumiere, and they're all just kind of staring at me as I'm screaming, "Hold on a second! I'm half naked! I can't come back onstage yet!" Our director (and everyone else, actually) was cracking up.
Then the change to the gold one after that was fine, as I had half of "Humnan Again," all of "Maison des Lunes," and the Cogsworth-Lumiere-Beast scene to get ready. But I forgot to set my stuff backstage for the change from gold to blue, and there's no way to cross from stage left to stage right (where the costume room is) without going outside, so I ran outside and there was a whole kiddy baseball team and their parents staring at me running outside, simultaneously ripping my clothes off, with my hair half up. And then I got my change done, but forgot to put my mic back on, so I pretty much had to pause the scene and stick my hand down my dress to clip it to the top.
And then the change at the end back to the yellow dress was pretty bad too. I remembered to have all the stuff laid out, but it's such a fast change. I had plenty of people helping me, but I was completely not ready for my entrance. Anyhow, in trying to change so quickly, I knocked the clip off my mic and had to hold it in place for the entire finale before recovering it backstage...
All things that are completely my fault, I realize. But it was hilarious.- Caitlin / Cait -
Favorites Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2008), Jupiter in Cymbeline (2006), Narrator in Joseph... (2005) Present (possibly) YAGMCB...
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aliauthor
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Re:Quick Changes??? - 2008/04/06 15:13the Beast finished up his verse and his scene with Cogsworth and Lumiere, and they're all just kind of staring at me as I'm screaming, "Hold on a second! I'm half naked! I can't come back onstage yet!" Our director (and everyone else, actually) was cracking up.
haha, thats hilarious. my director used to say 'I don't care WHAT you look like, you miss your cues and you will feel my wrath!' she was half kidding, of course, but we all came out onstage the first day of tech still buttoning our shirts and halfway between costumes. It was hilarious, and someone was filming it for the cast party. There were some notable improv things going on so that people could help others zip dresses, etc.
there's no way to cross from stage left to stage right (where the costume room is) without going outside, so I ran outside and there was a whole kiddy baseball team and their parents staring at me running outside, simultaneously ripping my clothes off, with my hair half up.
oooh, we used to have a theatre like that, and the theatre is located smack in the middle of downtown. in one show, lots of people's first entrances were from the back of the house, and they had to circle around an entire block and go through the lobby to make the entrances.
I knocked the clip off my mic and had to hold it in place for the entire finale before recovering it backstage
we never use mics for our shows, but on a morning talk show we did a scene once where we started the scene sitting. They gave us all mics a minute before we went on and there was nothing to clip mine to since I was in a dress, and so I just clipped the mic to the collar and dropped the pack down my dress. It totally screwed up the blocking, and we were subtly motioning to each other before it started while the director was being interviewed.-Ali
Currently: -Sheila; Boys Next Door (postshow depression mode) -acceptance to acting ensemble -Bye Bye Birdie (audition- didn't get a callback)
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