Tony Award-nominated costume designer and VCUarts Theatre Professor Toni-Leslie James was recently featured in a New York Times feature about Jerome Robbins’s 100th birthday tribute. The article mentions James’s work designing costumes for “Shall We Dance?” at the New York City Ballet and “Othello” at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park.
Typically, the costume department begins work on a new ballet about six weeks before the premiere. Planning for “Something to Dance About” began late last year when Toni-Leslie James, a Tony Award nominee who is also at work on the costumes for “Othello” at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, was brought on as the designer.
Her process begins with sketches, which she said were inspired by the original Broadway productions while not adhering to them too strictly. (The men of “Fiddler on the Roof,” wearing all black and no hats, are more abstract than in a typical revival.) Then Ms. James sources materials and commercial clothing from around the internet.
Read the full article in the The New York Times.
Image: From left, Toni-Leslie James and, in mirror, Marc Happel, Tiler Peck in the “Shall We Dance?” dress and Kellie Sheehan. Credit vis Nina Westervelt for The New York Times.
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