The Titanic Musical was actually on stage before the movie came out. It won 5
Tonys and had an original Broadway run of about two years, which is not too
shabby. I saw it performed by a high school group in 2000, and perhaps one of
the reasons that it still resonates with me is that the stories portrayed in it
are based on real characters and life situations. I found an article on the
web that goes into greater detail here : http://tinyurl.com/euem2
The funny thing is when I saw the musical, it was not a professional traveling
production. My daughter happened to be playing in the pit orchestra, so I went
to see it. Princess Anne High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia, had top
notch costumes that were nicely accessorized and about as close to authentic as
you could ask for. And in spite of the fact that it was named Titanic, they
sold out every performance and had nothing but rave reviews. I was very
impressed with the production in general, and as a costumer I was happy that
the costumes were obviously well thought out accurately implemented, which is
more than I can say for the multi-million dollar movie.
And there is something to be said for kids getting up on the stage and
portraying adults and children not their own age, and having it come across as
so believable. I believe that the attention to detail with the costumes
helped the actors to get into character and make their portrayals more
realistic. The fact that the costumes were so spot on also helped the audience
to briefly suspend their knowledge of the people behind the clothes and allowed
them to buy into the story as it unfolded.
So, yeah, while costumes are not the only factor in a successful movie/play
that is historically based, they definitely have an impact. It is good to know
that sometimes you find a director and costume director who work together and
get it right.
:)
~Kimberley
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