Digital Analogue: Encore

February 22, 2008

Encore

Saw it again tonight. The nice thing about seeing a show like this a second time is it gives you a chance to look at some of the background activity, and let the feel of the thing sort of wash over you without worrying you'll miss something. Knowing what's going to happen also lets you pick out some lovely little pieces of foreshadowing, and you know where to look to see the best bits of physical work.

The discussion tonight was nearly all about the costuming, about which I didn't say anything before, but that was certainly an oversight on my part. Lani Tortoriello is a genius: working on a fairly thin budget, she put together a classy look for the production that gave all the animals just the right hint of whatever animal they were supposed to be; it's about as far as you could imagine from the look of the original production, with full-body animal suits that are more reminiscent of a Six Flags mascot:
Picture of original production in Kassel
Knox's sets were a lot nicer, too, although Ms Kricheldorf didn't take the bait when I asked her to comment on them.

I still have a bunch of questions. Am I going to go again? Maybe I'll just try to sneak in for the question part after the show tomorrow. ;)

"We are not a collection of red states, and blue states, we are the United States of America and in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again." --Barack Obama

Posted by blahedo at 11:36pm on 22 Feb 2008

Comments

I had read your review of Rosa & Blanca before, actually very soon after opening night last term, and, being costume designer for the show, I was and am very touched that you mentioned my costumes. It was very exciting to see that someone had noticed the costumes, as they so often are not mentioned in reviews. Usually, that's good, because if we do our job well as costume designers, you shouldn't be paying too much attention to what the characters are wearing and focusing on the story instead. I'll freely admit that I love hearing feedback about what I do, especially good feedback (really, who doesn't?). Rosa & Blanca was acting as my senior project and I was very pleased with how the show turned out. My pet project was Brian Humpherys' Dove beadwork, which took hours upon hours of building, rebuilding after an extremely unfortunate accident resulting in beads everywhere in the costume shop, and repairs. Because of the experience of the employees at the time in the costume shop, I was able to make exactly what I wanted--like Brian's beaded cape, the Lamb's sweater, which was knit specifically for the show, and the masks. This show was such a great learning experience as a designer and in construction, and I wanted you to let you know how much I appreciated that you noticed and enjoyed it my work. I love my work, both in design and construction, and it just tickles me when other people like it too. Posted by Lani Tortoriello at 9:30pm on 26 May 2008