An Ode to the Costume Department (in prose)

(The silver Supdance shoes I like to change into on Opening Night -- but in a higher heel, darling!)

Aside from the Dance Department, in which I am an honorary member -- due to my in with the Associate Choreographer -- my favorite department on the show has to be the Costume Department. Of course, there's the obvious: I love clothes, and there are some gorgeous dresses worth coveting in the show. In fact, some of the dresses in our show are very much akin to Prada's 2008 spring line. But I also love the Costume Department because, of all the departments, it has the power to provide me with much-appreciated, real-life solutions.

Here are just a few off the top of my head:

Solution #1: Hair Cuts While Abroad
I have written a while ago about my disastrous experience of getting my hair cut in Hamburg. The experience was a truly traumatic one (as, I think any experience involving a giant, German woman barking "pony, pony!" at you while wielding a pair of scissors and hacking at your hair would prove). Since then, I have vowed never to merely walk into a salon in a foreign city, simply because it looks nice and fancy. Enter: the Wig Department, a branch of the Costume Department. These people do hair, and as our show has tremendous amount of high quality wigs, these people must know hair. And they also know about people in the hair industry in their local city. So, if I must get my hair cut outside of New York and by someone other than my trusted hair stylist, I go to the head of the Wig Department. In Toronto, this brought me to Robert Gage, a legendary hair guru who is so well-known in the right circles that his website merely has a map to his townhouse-turned-salon. When I had my first appointment with him, he even asked me how I came to be sitting in the chair before him, my hair freshly washed. I was a departure from his usual clientale. Here in Holland, I will soon need a haircut before opening night. I have just been handed a slip of paper from the Wig Department with a name and a phone number. A quick search on the web and the salon looks promising.

Solution #2: Loose Bits and Bobs from Clothes and the Rest
Button lost over a work day? A hop skip and step to the Costume Department will fix that right up. In Toronto, they offered to hem up my opening night dress (which was kind of a big job, as the dress was very structured), although I very gratefully declined, knowing how busy they were. They directed me to a tailor instead. That's the other thing -- and knock on wood -- but I have always found the Costume Department to be very nice and accommodating, willing to help. And this giving quality is much appreciated in foreign countries, when little things like finding the right tailor or a salon is more difficult than one expects. The Department also shares with you where to shop, which streets are good, which local designers are worth checking out... valuable knowledge, they impart.

Solution #3: Dance Shoes
Our show being Dirty Dancing, dance shoes are important. And the dance shoes used in our show are GREAT for parties. I particularly love the silver Supadance sandals, not unlike the ones Baby wears in the show. They look great, make your legs look fantastic, and they are extremely comfortable. They are my secret to a good opening night party: attend the show in your best "look at me" dress shoes... and then at the party, put those dress shoes away and change into dance shoes. Your feet will thank you. And you will be able to party on longer without having to take your shoes off and walk around barefoot on what will, by then, be sticky-with-alcohol floor, completely ruining the elegant look you had established earlier in the evening. The only tricky thing is, these Supadance shoes are difficult to find in the US. They are British manufactured. Enter again, for me, the Costume Department: they can order shoes for you! All I have to do is sit with the Associate Costume Designer, look through the Supadance catalog, and choose. Fabulous.

And so, I love the Costume Department. The department is like a magical world of pretty clothes, comfortable yet gorgeous shoes and well-kept hair. And these things are taken seriously, not scoffed at as trivialities. It is the perfect department for a fashionista in the theater.