Skip to main content
The Arts

Musical Has Star-Crossed Wardrobe

By October 27, 2009November 16th, 2018No Comments

Kirkwood Production of Guys & Dolls Features Actual Costumes from 1990s Broadway Revival

When the houselights dim and the orchestra hits the opening notes in Ballantyne Auditorium, the audience for Guys & Dolls will get a bonus to their evening’s entertainment. The students taking the stage will sport costumes straight from the Big Apple.

The director and crew for Kirkwood Community College’s production of the classic Frank Loesser musical were able to find original, award-winning costumes from 1992 Broadway revival of Guys & Dolls. Now dozens of those costumes will get a new life of their own as students sing, dance and act their way through the famed tale of temptation, love, humor and adventure.

Annee Noah is a Kirkwood Performing Arts instructor and costume designer for the show. She recalls the wardrobe coup began with simple brainstorming question earlier this year.

“At an early production meeting, Rick [Anderson] said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could get the original William Ivy Long costumes? They must be out there somewhere.’ A couple of us did some quick Internet searching and we found out there were a lot of replicas around the country. Then we found the originals, still in existence from this 1990s show,” Noah said.

As she researched it further, Noah found out they not only were available, but “in great working order.” She pressed on to button up the deal.

“The company we worked with, Costume World is very supportive of educational theatre groups. Not only could we get these costumes sent to us, but we could do it within our budget,” she added.

Director Rick Anderson said the costumes are a “fun and powerful element” to his overall vision for the big-time Broadway show presented on the Kirkwood stage. The vivid colors and post-Prohibition flashiness add fuel to the story and production numbers and look of the show.

“This show has been called by some greats in the theatre as the perfect musical comedy. When you think of Sky Masterson, Nathan Detroit, Adelaide—these are some of the legends in the musical canon. We are thrilled to have this wardrobe that helped revive a classic Broadway show make the trip from New York to Cedar Rapids. This will be a memorable boost for our young performers,” Anderson said.

Costume designer William Ivy Long won four Tony Awards over his long Broadway career and was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2006. Encore Magazine columnist Lauren Hodges called Long’s costume works “so lively that they seem to have personalities of their own. The movements the costumes were made for seem to reflect in the fabric. Each detail is lovingly stitched for the characters of the stage and speaks of the story itself, giving the viewer an added taste of the spectacle that is Broadway.”

For Noah, that footlight spectacle is balanced with the work she and her student assistants are doing to complete the wardrobe. For most of the large cast of singers, dancers and actors, what they wear will have the patina of Broadway in every button and fold. The 1992 Broadway production included such famed actors as Nathan Lane, Faith Prince and Peter Gallagher.

“We have about 90 percent of the original garments and can adapt the few remaining from our stock. There are some amazing dance costumes for Miss Adelaide and her Hot Box Girls. Nathan Detroit and all the gamblers have a snazzy look, too,” she said.

Tickets for the Kirkwood Community College production of Guys & Dolls are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students with current ID. Kirkwood students, faculty and staff are admitted free. Tickets are available by calling (319) 398-7662. The student production group is also selling tickets weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon through opening day, Oct. 30 in Iowa Hall at the Ballantyne Auditorium entrance.