Beauty and the Beast

Costumes

A Conversation with Ann Hould Ward, the costume designer, prior to the opening on Broadway.

Mrs Potts Question: How did you come up with ideas for Mrs. Potts?
Answer: I looked at a lot of tea pots and a lot of pictures of tea pots. [In creating the character's look], you want to reference a lot of things, the period and the movie. You also want to reference the ideas of "what is a tea pot?" Then you want to store all the information in your brain, and then put all the references together to create your own version.

Question: How many hours are involved in the costume production?
Answer: I don't have an exact number. But, there are 110 people at Barbara Matera's costume shop working on the clothes. Another shop, Grace Costumes, is working on the villagers and Gaston.

Question: Is there excitement when designing these costumes?
Answer: Good design is a visual medium for people. [From] a designer's stand point, the magic of costume design is knowing it'll affect a lot of people. We have a thrilling project that is tremendously exciting, and enhanced by what we've done.

Question: What do you find the most challenging?
Answer: The most challenging thing about this project is to have a smart design. The most challenging thing about the project is to make the designs intelligent, so that you're designing a boom, but you're doing it in such a way that it's important to the human body's relationship.

Question: How do you make the body of the Beast look so real?
Answer: When we began the work on the Beast suit, we invented what we call the "ekto-skeleton" - it's a moving back. This is so we can get the shapes we need for the Beast, so that we can see it move when the actor moves, rather than stagnant, just being on his back. It actually moves, so that the audience sees that in reality.

Question: Tell us about the "Leah Factor."
Answer: I have a ten-year-old daughter, whose name is Leah, and all along in relationship to the project, we have what we call the "Leah Factor." Which is "Yes, we all need to enjoy it, but Leah also needs to enjoy it." I also say Leah needs to enjoy it, but so does her 45-year-old dad, who paid for the ticket. And that is what I mean about intelligent design -- in other words, the design has to support the project, the design has to support the script and the fabulous music we have. It also has to have some relationship [to the movie], so that when Leah comes to see it, she remembers from the movie that the Beast was in that blue jacket. Leah expects that blue jacket, and if you don't give it to her, she and a lot of other ten-year-olds are going to be sad. So, all along, we tried to keep the "Leah Factor" in mind.

Question: So, the compliment will be "Mom, you got the Beast just perfect."
Answer: The compliment is she'll sit and rapture it. The compliment is the parental or familial sharing of that event; to me, that will be the night of the excitement of the audience. Then, I can take her there, so she can feel that. That'll be the case for each person, hopefully, whether it's a parent and a child, a girlfriend and a boyfriend, or a 75- year-old person who is alone.

Belle Question: Tell us about the famous gown that Belle wears.
Answer: This is the gown [in which] Belle dances with the Beast, when she invites him to dinner. I think it's a good example of what I'm talking about, the Leah Factor." We all know that this is the fabulous yellow-golden dress that she dances in with the Beast in the movie. This is where we want to support that, but we really want our own Broadway version that will work well and focus well for an audience on stage.

Question: Explain the use of mythology.
Answer: When the director, choreographer, and creative team started working with the script, one of the things we recognized was the fact that we had to change the mythology of the event, because we were going to be dealing with real human beings in a Broadway situation. Therefore, the change in the mythology is really about how they are slowly turning into the objects; instead of that they are fully the objects. And, when you see them at several stages of the transformation into the objects, they never completely turn into the objects. Because that is what would happen at the end of the show, if Belle hadn't said she loved the Beast.

Question: Explain why this mythology has to be shown.
Answer: Because in the animation they are fully an object. It seems to us that we were never going to be able to do that, in the context of an actor inside of something singing. You really as an audience want to blend and create the character on the stage. That is part of the rapture -- it's part of the thrill of Broadway. That is why we knew that it would be important to encourage mythology, rather than to trap the actor in something that he or she would not be able to act in or communicate.

Question: Do you ever look at the finished product and say "Wow!"?
Answer: I have one night that will happen, and no one else will know. I think each person here will have that to their self. I think it's the time when the show becomes other people's [show], that it is no longer yours. Then you have one moment where you say, "Oh my goodness, that was good."