One of the things which helped to define the characters and themes of this performance was the costuming. This is thanks to costume co-designers Cortnie Beatty and Lizzie Mickelson.
The idea behind the costuming was to give it a modern feel, while still having a historical reference. This helped the designers do three main things:
- They costumes referenced the way that the world changes.
- The colors helped define the characters and the stereotypes they tend to fill
- They also showed their characters’ boldness and courage.
Check out these renderings and explanations from designer Lizzi Mickelson to learn a little bit more about each character:
Roxanne: “As the female lead that the main action of the play revolves around, the goal was to emphasize her feminine elegance, intelligence, maturity, and strength. This led to a blue dress, which gives her a more historical look.”
Christian: “Christian was designed to appear as a textbook pretty boy, with a hipster vibe. His look is showing that he tries really hard to look like he shops a DI. This emphasizes the great lengths Christian goes to to appear attractive, despite his well-meaning yet false persona.”
Duenna: “Duenna is designed as a tomboyish character, to emphasize Roxanne’s femininity. She is given a similar blue color scheme, to slightly echo Roxanne.”
As you watch this production, see if you can notice these stereotypes in these characters, and what they tell you about the characters.
