When telling a fairy tale, it’s just as fun setting the
stage as it is describing the characters’ zany adventures.
The design team of “Into the Woods,” the final Ray
Bolger Musical Theater Program production of the year, relished the
idea.
In this Jeremy Mann-directed production of Stephen Sondheim and
James Lapine’s musical about what happens when fairy tale
characters collide, the elaborate sets and intricate costumes are
just as important as the cast.
“What’s so cool about fairy tales is that you are
suspending (belief) for people,” said Laura Angotti, a
graduate theater student and costume designer for “Into the
Woods.” “You take them into the theater, and you put
them in this world that doesn’t exist.”
“Into the Woods” will be playing Thursday and Friday
at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Macgowan Little
Theater.
Angotti pulled out all the stops to bring the make-believe
characters to life.
“My witch is crazy; she has a feather mohawk, and
she’s not your average witch. She has these tubes, and she
has things growing out of her costume,” said Angotti.
With creative freedom, Angotti set out to incorporate the quirks
and details of each character.
“The original cape I wear for the first half is designed
so it looks like a bunch of petals, going along with “˜the
prettier the flower the farther the path,’ along with all the
symbols,” said Lana McKissack, a third-year theater student
who plays Little Red Riding Hood.
Angotti abandoned the generic cape designs in favor of a rich
cape made of rose-colored petals. Each petal was dipped into a
different shade of red, which delicately flows when Little Red
Riding Hood jumps and spins.
Sometimes Angotti’s creativity was a little too over the
top for the costume shop.
“Originally I wanted Rapunzel to have a braided costume
that was made out of the same stuff we made her hair out of, so it
just looked like she was so bored she made herself a dress,”
Angotti said. When the costume shop disagreed, they compromised and
created a magnificent silk gown with a hand-painted braided
pattern.
Much of Angotti’s imagination shows in her ability to
create costumes for characters in unconventional ways. Jack’s
harp is traditionally just a harp, but Angotti envisioned the harp
as an actual character who sings. She designed a golden costume for
the new character with a harp attached to the back.
In many productions of “Into the Woods,”
Jack’s cow, Milky White, is a painted wooden board on wheels,
but Angotti envisioned something more interactive. In this version,
Milky White is built around a bicycle and moves around with the
help of Christiane Cannon, a third-year theater student, who
provides the personality for it.
Angotti said that collaboration with the director and
communication with the actors are crucial to successful costume
design.
“It’s like a house that you build for them so they
can also get into character. If the actor feels like it’s
perfect for them, then that’s the biggest compliment you can
get,” said Angotti.
Angotti has always been interested in sewing but began seriously
pursuing it when she moved to New York and was exposed to quality
fabrics.
“It’s like a painter only having access to crayons
for drawing, and then all of a sudden you have oil paint and you
know you are capable of doing so much more,” Angotti
said.
Her costumes majestically flow together with the lights and set
the mood for the actors.
“The costumes are nothing without the sets, the actors,
the lights ““ it’s all inclusive,” said
Angotti
“Every element contributes,” said Andrew G.
Pandaleon, a fourth-year theater student who plays the Prince.
“It adds to the comedy of it. It adds to the believability. I
mean, it’s really the set and the lights and the costumes
that create a world.”
The eerie woods are the product of the imaginations of set
designers Francois-Pierre Couture and Shannon Kennedy, both
graduate theater students. Along with the lighting, directed by
Thomas MacHan, the set designs bring the woods to life with looming
trees of massive gnarled roots, full moons that talk and a giant
beanstalk that actually grows out of the stage.
The team tried to create a fantasy environment that is equally
founded on theatrics and technology.
“There’s a lot of magic moments in the play that you
could do as high-tech special effects in the play, so I wanted to
be sure that what we did was effective and not a high-tech thing
that didn’t work,” Mann said.
The actors said they felt the artistry in the play contributed
to an environment that actually worked quite well.
“As soon as (the actors) got on stage with the giant trees
and the backdrop, it just made a huge difference because
that’s our environment and that’s the world we live and
play in,” said third-year theater student Paul Peglar, who
plays Jack.
At the end of the night, the cast and production crew hope they
will take people away to another world.
“I was really, really amazed when I first saw the concept,
and now to see (the production) in real life is just
amazing,” McKissack said.