Emergency Costuming

Well, just a smidge.

The annual high school theater festival district competition is this weekend. I haven't been involved in it at all; the one-act done by The Actors school is a musical, performed by the Choral Magnet Seniors (they are scheduled to perform for competition tonight).

To my delight, the musical is a cutting of Godspell.

Last night was the 'sneak preview' performance (aka an open dress rehearsal). A number of the kids also performed their selections for the individual event competition; The Actor and a classmate did a very nice rendition of 'Who's On First', so we were there to see the show.

Now, I've loved Godspell ever since I first saw it performed by a touring company at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis as a teenager...By My Side was sung at our wedding. So I may have been predisposed to enjoy the show, and my opinion that the kids did an outstanding job may not be entirely objective. But one teeny thing did catch my attention: there was no real visual distinction between Jesus before and after his resurrection.

Right after the show, I got flagged down. Could I possibly do a little sewing before they compete? Jesus actually had on the classic Godspell Jesus Superman T-shirt under his button-down shirt, but he didn't have time in the few seconds he was 'buried' (obscured by other actors) to unbutton the shirt so that the Superman logo showed. Could I put some velcro on the front so he could get it off in a hurry?

How could I possibly say no?

It worked out well in that the Flute Player was home frantically trying to do a two-week-project in one evening (there's a mini-rant about that on the other blog; I'm not going there here), so I suspected I was going to be up late while she worked anyway.

So, I came home, changed the thread in the sewing machine, and put velcro patches down the front. I did it so that the button side of the shirt was on top...it'll feel backwards to the actor, I'm afraid, but hopefully it will sort of appear buttoned from a distance. Ideally I would have taken the buttons off and replaced them with velcro, then made a band with the buttons on one side and velcro on the other and buttoned it onto the shirt but there just wasn't time for that.

Then I washed and dried the shirt. It, um, wasn't so fresh after being worn for the performance. The Actor took it in this morning.

Now I guess I'll just have to go back tonight and see the show again to satisfy myself that it worked ok...


Oh, and while I was up last night I finished sewing the lining for the Weekender bag; it's all put together and ready to go in. I *should* be able to finish the bag itself today...maybe even get the lining in it? We'll see...the auction's tomorrow...