FROM CAUGHT IN THE ACT: THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE STRAZ CENTER
William Ivey Long’s
Designs on Broadway
William Ivey Long’s costume designs are a killer.
T
he ultra-sexy revamped sheer black palette of the Chicago
revival. Th e yellow dress in Contact. Th e frogs in Frogs. Sally
Bowles’ maximum-leg-power mini-dress in Cabaret. Th e
feather-trimmed muu-muu in Hairspray.
And here, at Th e Straz, the mind-blowing, magical wardrobe
changes in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
Th ere is one mastermind behind these historic works of theater couture, and that
man is the diminutive, Southern-spoken genius Broadway loves named William
Ivey Long. As *the* costume designer of the Broadway set, Long’s name brand is
sewn into over 70 shows and counting. His designs – spectacular, fabulous works
created aft er intensive, obsessive research – have been known to become as famous
as the actors who wore them and, in some cases, lasted as works of art far longer
than the show itself.
Terra C. MacLeod as Velma Kelly and Ensemble in Chicago. ©Paul Kolnik