The Schwartz Scene Blog

From Carol de Giere: While writing Defying Gravity, my book about Stephen Schwartz’s career that covers Wicked’s development, I had the good fortune to interview costume designer Susan Hilferty in her studio. What an artist!

Now you can “meet” Susan as well. A site called Threadbanger.com created an exciting video that takes you back stage with her at the Gershwin Theatre in New York. You can see Wicked’s elaborate and fanciful costumes up close.

http://www.threadbanger.com/episode/iST_20081009 [link opens a new browser window]

In my book I incorporate Susan’s comments along with those of Joe Mantello, Stephen Schwartz, and others to describe how scenes like the first act finale (centered around the song “Defying Gravity”) were created. You will also see Schwartz’s handwritten notes for the song. Read about Defying Gravity here: http://www.defyinggravitythebook.com/

Fascinating Wicked Costume Facts

Provided by Susan Hilferty

There are approximately 263 costumes constructed for each new production of Wicked based on 180 unique costume designs (duplicates of some costumes are made for understudies and others).

What covers the feet of the actors? One or more pairs from the 240 pairs of handmade shoes for each new production of Wicked.

As many as 250 artisans and craftspeople in the US and overseas work on a new production of Wicked.

The ruffles in the skirt of Elphaba’s Wicked Witch dress require 40 yards of fabric to complete.

There are 20 shades of Elphaba green skin (although we only regularly use a few).

It takes half an hour for Elphaba to “greenify” every night.

The fabric for the Shiz uniforms was designed by Susan Hilferty exclusively for Wicked and is custom printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No two “uniforms” are alike.

It takes 424 manhours per week to maintain the costumes for Wicked on Broadway.

There are a minimum of 6 loads of laundry for every performance of Wicked.

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For still photos see http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked-costumes.htm and for links to over 50 pages on Wicked including ticket information, please visit http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm