The Clothes Mock the Man

By LINDA BUCHWALD

Of course, keeping it funny is just as important as remaining true to the original costumes.

To build the costumes, Heckman uses a couple of shops in the city and hires freelance stitchers and tailors. But pieces can turn up anywhere. For the Once spoof, he fortuitously found all the costumes at the same thrift shop in Brooklyn on the same day. “I love putting thrift store things on stage because I always fantasize about what their life was before being on stage and coming to the theatre,” he says. “Who owned this piece and where did they wear it? And I wonder what that person would think if they knew that their donated item was in a show on stage in New York.”

Heckman often has to get creative, since Forbidden Broadway changes almost daily during previews . (It officially opens on September 6 at the 47th Street Theatre.) “When a late 1950s beaded Marilyn Monroe evening gown with matching satin gloves and jewels is requested, or a Mary Martin Peter Pan costume with less than 24 hours’ notice, the challenge begins,” Heckman says.

He then alters the pieces as needed, typically making them ready for quick changes. There are between 25 and 30 numbers and only four cast members, so the costumes are often jumpsuits that zip up in the back. For example, the Matthew Broderick Nice Work if You Can Get It costume is an all-in-one tuxedo and fat suit that the actor can remove in a few seconds.

Sometimes Heckman has to let his favorite costumes go. There used to be a puppet number including War Horse, which was cut. Heckman hired a shop in Brooklyn that worked on many War Horse costumes to create a comical bright blue horse head with big googly eyes and false eyelashes. There was also a bright blue bustle for the sparkly tail. “It’s just the nature of previews,” he says. But you never know when a costume might come back.

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Linda Buchwald tweets about theatre as @PataphysicalSci. She contributes to StageGrade and the theatre blog Pataphysical Science.

Photo by Carol Rosegg