Footlite Musicals is bringing the Indiana debut of Priscilla Queen of the Desert to Indianapolis May 4-20. Priscilla Queen of the Desert, originally a Broadway musical based on the 1994 Australian film, is known for its amazing costumes.
Footlite Musicals has spared no expense by renting the award-winning costumes used in the Broadway version of Priscilla. The costume designers, Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, who won Oscars for designing the costumes for the film, went on to win Tonys for designing these costumes.
“The costumes are important to the show. They are somewhat of a character themselves,” said Jeff Farley, president of Footlite Musicals and Costumer for Priscilla.
Footlite Musicals, a non-profit staffed entirely by volunteers, is currently hosting an Adopt-a Costume fundraiser to help cover the cost of the show. Patrons of the arts who donate $150 or more will get a backstage tour, an up-close look at the costumes, acknowledgement in the program, a photo taken with a costumed character and an autographed poster of the show. Donors who give $400 will receive all that, plus they get to wear a costume headpiece and a chance to sit in the driver’s seat of Priscilla the lavender bus and their backstage private tour will be conducted by the director. To donate online, go to www.footlite.org, and under the tab ‘support us’ look for ‘operations fund’ and note it is for the Priscilla Costume Fund. Or you can mail a check to Footlite Musicals, 1847 N. Alabama St, Indianapolis, IN 46202 and note on the check Priscilla Costume Fund.
The tale of getting the show and costumes to Indianapolis has been an adventure much like the journey of the lavender bus Priscilla in the story. These costumes have been all over: from stages in the U.S. and London, to traveling in wardrobe boxes in a semi-trailer in New Jersey and Florida for storage. And soon these 500 costumes and accessories will be traveling to Indianapolis.
Director Rich Baker first saw the Broadway show in Chicago in 2014, and fell in love. “I walked out of the theater so excited. It’s just one of those feel-good shows. I knew all the songs,” Baker said. “And it was just visually stunning.”
After that, the show went back to the West End of London, and then disappeared for a while. Baker, wanting to bring Priscilla to Footlite, began trying to figure out how to obtain the rights for the show. Eventually, he tracked the show to a small licensing house in New York, Theatrical Rights Worldwide, who had also bought the Broadway costumes. Baker contacted them, and followed the show and costumes to a small production in Algonquin, Maine. Despite the fact that show wasn’t a high budget Broadway production, it was still impressive because it used the Broadway costumes. Baker realized that was the key. “The costumes really make this show over-the-top outrageous,” he said.
Baker went back to the Footlite board and proposed doing Priscilla, but under the stipulation that they too rent the costumes. “I wasn’t going to do it without doing these costumes, because it’d be like doing something on a budget, and it just wouldn’t look that great,” said Baker.
The board agreed, despite the fact that the show would cost three times the normal budget. And that’s when Farley and Baker set to work. “Once we got the green light from the Footlite Board, we have had Priscilla on the brain non-stop,” said Farley.
The costumes will arrive in Indianapolis just a couple of weeks before the show. The costume team has their work cut out for them, most costume changes are during a single song, so they have to be done backstage, and a few have to be done in 15 seconds. It will take a lot of practice to fine-tune the process, and costumes will be the main focus the days leading up to the show.
With 21 people in the cast, with about 10 costumes each, this production will require a dozen or more “dressers” to help the actors change backstage. “These dressers, who are invaluable to the run of the show, are just as important as the actors on stage. Most theater goers don’t realize that the people backstage make the magic on stage and without their efforts a show can flop. They are unsung heroes of a production,” said Farley.
Considering how elaborate the costumes are, and how complicated the costume changes, the short time frame to rehearse with costumes is a big stressor for Farley. “I know what it takes to costume a show of this magnitude. I try to make good use of my time and think ahead about the show that I’m working on. Relying on someone else and depending on them to deliver what we need for this show has been a little nervewracking,” said Farley. “However, just the thought of using these amazing costume creations is so exciting.”
