Costuming Broadway Shows

It’s all about costuming Broadway shows. This isn’t a fairy tale, by the way, it’s the real-life story of a Jersey City resident and owner of Leading Lady Costumes , a local company that rents and creates original pieces for shows on and off Broadway. For about 20 years, Crochet has been building” costumes (that’s apparently the lingo in the biz). He has designed for more than 50 productions in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, including 12 operas and 20 musicals. In one semester, I ended up building costumes and designing for my first opera in 1991,” he says.

He’s also an avid collector of Broadway costumes and will share some of his favorite pieces at the Landmark Loew’s Theater Festival for STAGEfest , a three-day festival with 18 music, dance and theater acts. Last year, Crochet started Leading Lady Costumes, which specializes in Broadway-quality period and historical costumes. Check out these current Broadway shows, two of the most popular shows on Broadway!

Depending on whether or not clients are ordering costumes they intend to keep or use and then leave in his stock, Crochet says he can have quite a bit of say in how the costumes are designed. It’s everything I’ve collected over the years and a lot of them are from specific Broadway shows. Some ran longer than others, a lot were worn by famous people, some by chorus members or by chorus members who later became Broadway stars. I have dresses worn by Angela Lansbury and costumes worn by Mandy Patinkin — it’s an oddball assortment!” he says.

The exhibit, which will be on display throughout the many halls and corridors of the Loew’s Theater movie palace, will feature costumes from Titanic on Broadway, The Secret Garden, finale costumes from the original 1975 production of A Chorus Line, the recent Broadway production of The Addams Family, revivals of The Music Man and My Fair Lady and more. Large scrim of the nine Muses, a hard flying XANADU sign, disco balls, lavish costumes for cast of 39.

One of Crochet’s favorites is an original costume for legendary actress Lillian Gish (often called the First Lady of American Cinema”) from the short-lived Broadway show Anya, which ran for only 16 performances. Another highlight of the exhibit are several costumes from the original production of the Tony-award nominated musical Side Show, a cult classic among musical theater geeks based on the lives of Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who became famous stage performers in the 30’s. The show’s costumes were designed by famed glitz and glamor costumer Gregg Barnes. Broadway First National Tour sets, props and costumes – complete and in excellent condition.

Some of the costumes were worn by stars Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, who were nominated for a Tony as Best Actress in a Musical as a team for their work in Side Show — the first and only time such a thing has happened. Costumes: Complete, colorful, imaginative, designed for large cast including children’s undersea ensemble; inspired by film but wholly original Spectacular overall package, critically acclaimed and well-reviewed by the few companies who have used it. See dozens of color photos of sets, props, and costumes at Magical transformations are accomplished with video, which is included.