How KC Rep is turning helmets, ribbon & boning into an elaborate ‘Wizard of Oz’
The energy was electric Tuesday morning inside the Spencer Theater’s costume room. Racks of completed clothing were rolled in and out; gold ribbons and emerald-colored costumes in velvet and satin draped over work tables as stitchers and drapers wrapped up their months-long project for The Wizard of Oz.
“It’s the ultimate couture show,” said Jenny Green, director of costumes.
In the back room sits Joey Gee, a craftsperson specializing in hats and accessories for the production.
“This is by far the biggest show that I’ve ever done. It’s really headpiece driven,” she said.
Costume makers sat at their respective tables concentrated on their finishing touches, while young helping hands dashed in and out of the room bringing items to other departments. The actors were set to try on the costumes Wednesday and to give final feedback ahead of opening night.
The Kansas City Repertory Theatre, a 60 -year-old theater group that performs at the Spencer Theatre on UMKC campus, said its production of The Wizard of Oz will put on the classic production of Dorothy, Toto and her companions, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, down the Yellow Brick Road to find the Wizard and a way home through the month of May, according to the theater group’s website.
Costume designs a mix original illustrations and innovation
The costume department took a mixed approach to making what actors will wear, combining creativity with the original book illustrations. Costume designer Sully Ratke began making her watercolor renderings last fall.
Many of the original illustrations, Ratke noticed, seemed to be inspired by Eastern European folk culture. Munchkin Land, for example, is made with buckets of trimmed fabric and ribbon. All were items from the stockroom bought for other shows.
“We’re in Kansas City, so we wanted to honor the original story and people’s nostalgia for the film,” Ratke said. “But a lot of (the ideas) come up in the design conversations with the director.”
Ratke said used photos others took of the stockroom and pull inspiration from the materials on hand.
“We do it together, go into the stock that we go into the stock that exists and upcycle some of this amazing material that’s been worked on and give it a new life,” Ratke said.
“A lot of the inspiration from the books just came from stuff we already had,” she said.
Headpieces made for every cast member: ‘They’re totally transformed’
Given it was going to be a big show, Joey Gee began patterning early prototypes of hats and accessories with her assistant in February.
“You get as ready as you can, and then you have a mad dash at the end,” she said.
Every character in the show is wearing a hat or headpiece at all times. Some cast members play multiple roles, so she had to make things easy to take off.
One example are the apple tree people. Their helmets are made of foam and draped with roving, a type of wool that she wet felted to make fabric. It’s also what makes the apple trees’ beards.
“So the gentlemen that play this role, they’ll be in Kansas first. They’re wearing just basic clothes and then they put this on,” Gee said, putting both elements of the tree headpiece on herself to demonstrate.
“They’re totally transformed,” she added. “You can’t tell that there are humans under it anymore. This has been one of my favorite ones to work on.”
In their early planning, Gee and Ratke had to figure out how to materialize the vision and make it functional at the same time.
“It’s a musical, so everyone has to be able to hear at all times,” Gee said. “So trying to figure out clever ways to have their ears exposed has also been a fun challenge.”
The most complicated headpieces to make, according to Gee, were the poppies and the jitterbugs. She wanted to make them fit everyone, so she took little adjustable mesh caps she found online and created a frame to slide the two headpieces on them.
“Pop them on, and then they’re adjustable in the back and it’s not covering their face,” she said. “I was pretty proud of that.”
Gee says a big help in making the construction easier has been the growing popularity of cosplay, which has made a lot of materials more available.
“This is the thing that I really love about this job, and what I really love about working with Sully is, her drawing and her aesthetic really vibe with my personal ones,” Gee said. “Every drawing I see, every illustration or rendering, I’m just like, ‘yes, I can’t wait to make that.’”
Tailoring, adding personal touches
Jana Jessee is the cutter, draper and tailor for the show. She, and some helping hands, draft patterns off the renderings and figure out how to get the right shape. The Wicked Witch of the West’s dress was her favorite costume to make because they had to figure out how to make her dress poof out with panniers, an under structure in dresses from the 1700s.
Jessee, who specializes in menswear, compared panniers to buckets made of metal boning and fabric that sit on the actors’ hips.
“It was very different from anything that I’ve done before,” Jessee said. “We have a base dress that I built, and then there was the overdress. We had to figure out how to get the pannier to stick out like she wanted to.”
She also made sure some costumes wouldn’t get too hot for actors. On Tuesday morning, she sat at her table working on the lion costume. She had added mesh throughout the lion costume and made space for an ice vest to be worn to keep the actor cool, but was still working on the cotton inner lining towards the bottom while Gee finishes up the lion’s feet.
“When you’re building a costume, you have to accommodate that extra bulk inside and out,” Jessee said.
Costume ideas are also tweaked to fit the personality of the actor wearing it. Little details, like Glenda wearing a Citrine necklace, because the actor said it made her feel the most beautiful and strong.
“It’s the detail, but it’s allowing (the actor) to be a part of it, and then it comes alive with them,” Gee said.
Gee also gave costume makers the freedom to add their own personal touches to the outfits and encouraged their input.
“You don’t know it in the audience, but (the costumes) are infused with the personality of the makers. These people who are making it, and the more I can allow them to make choices, it actually brings their love into it and then the actor’s love gets into it,” Gee said.
The week before the show is known as tech week. Starting Wednesday, all the actors put the costumes on, starting from Act One of the show and send back things that don’t fit right and feedback for any other final adjustments needed.
“We actually started fitting on this show, two weeks earlier than we normally start fitting,” said Jenny Green, director of costumes. “There’s only so much you can do until an actor puts it on. We can prep and prep, but until they put it on, that’s where you make it fit, look at all the detail work.”
The Wizard of Oz will be performed from May 5 through May 24. Tickets can be found here. Prices range from $44 to $84.
