Broadway In Chicago is beyond excited for the 2016 Tony Awards on Sunday June 12th 7-10PM CT! We’ll be highlighting the nominees in each category and filling you in on some fun facts each week leading up to the award ceremony.
Costumes set the tone and time period of a play or musical as soon as an actor walks out on stage. They’re also able to make an immediate time lapse believable when actors have costume quick changes. Here are the brilliant designers nominated for this year’s Best Costume Design Tony Awards:
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Jane Greenwood – “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”
Michael Krass – “Noises Off”
Clint Ramos – “Eclipsed”
Tom Scutt – “King Charles III”
Here are a few fun facts:
-Jane Greenwood, whose first Broadway credit was 1963’s “The Ballad of the Sad Cafe,” received a lifetime achievement trophy during the 2014 Tony Awards ceremony after being nominated for Best Costume Design a total of 15 times.
-In an interview with Ted Sod, Michael Krass told him, “I went to school at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, which meant that I did a bit of everything—when I got out, I had designed a lot of scenery, I thought acting was not for me and that I wasn’t smart enough to be a director, so I came to New York and talked my way into a job at a costume company. I actually had never designed costumes before, and I never had a costume class.” Many works later and he’s a Tony nominated costume designer!
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Gregg Barnes – “Tuck Everlasting”
Jeff Mahshie – “She Loves Me”
Ann Roth – “Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed”
Paul Tazewell – “Hamilton”
Here are a few more fun facts:
-Gregg Barnes is well known for his costume design in “Kinky Boots” which was last in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre July 7 – 26, 2015. He also designed the costumes for Disney’s “Aladdin” which will be here at the Cadillac Palace Theatre as well April 11 – July 2, 2017.
-Ann Roth is certainly beloved for her costume design in “The Book of Mormon” which will be returning to Chicago June 29 – August 14th this summer at The PrivateBank Theatre!