The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
COSTUMES THE STAR OF ‘GYPSY’
Classic attire worn by Midler, Peters in spotlight in Meriden show
Castle Craig Players will close out their 26th season with “Gypsy: A Musical Fable” in Meriden Friday, July 26, to Saturday, Aug. 10, and no matter how good the players are, the costars of this one have to be the costumes.
But more on that in a moment.
In a phone chat the other day, director Ian Galligan said, “‘Gypsy’ is one of my bucket list shows as a director, and it just seemed like the right time to do it.” (Castle Craig Players, founded by the late Warren M. Stephan in 1992, is community theater with volunteers who put on five or six productions a year in the 60seat Almira F. Stephan Memorial Playhouse.)
“Gypsy” is the story of the quintessential stage mother, Momma Rose, her dreams for herself and her daughters, and the daughter who dared live her own dream (as a stripper). With book by Arthur Laurents, music by June Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the Broadway classic features such showstoppers as “Let Me Entertain You,” “Some People” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” A sixpiece band will accompany
singers.
The cast includes Lauren Linn as Rose, Voni Kengla as Louise, Bill Rodman as Herbie, Chelsea Dacey as Dainty June, Ainsley Dahlstrom as Baby June and Madison Rella as Young Louise.
“Rose is very driven and passionate,” said Linn in a phone chat, “and she really wants her children to be famous and successful. She’s also pretty complicated and I think maybe a little manic . ... She kind of bulldozes through. She’s a lot of fun to play.”
But back to the costumes. The show has Bob Mackie costumes created for the 1993 TV movie of “Gypsy” with Bette Midler, said Galligan; they’re rented from the TDF Costume Collection in Queens, N.Y., to which Mackie (who created costumes for “The Carol Burnett Show”) recently donated a large portion of his collection.
The production also has costumes from the 2003 Broadway revival with Bernadette Peters, which were designed by Anthony Ward.
“It’s a very costumespecific show,” Galligan said. “It’s not just something you can (get) from general stock or kind of just fudge. So I reached out to various places across the country — different theaters, costume warehouses. We saw some really good stuff, some really bad stuff. And ... just on a whim, I reached out to the TDF Costume Collection in New York and they said that they had (these costumes) . ... So went down with our fittings, our measurements and we got a good chunk of the Bob Mackie stuff and we added some from the Bernadette Peters revival as well.”
Linn gets to wear the famous duds, including the iconic “blanket coat” used by Midler. (Rose makes matching coats for her and her daughters.)
“It was very exciting to be able to see these, to touch these (outfits) . ... I know as a little girl, I watched the ... ‘The Carol Burnett Show.’ And they would be dressed in Bob Mackie. And it’s just inspirational to know that ... people who are really the tops in their craft ... have touched this material, touched this show.”