Backstage Sessions: Interview With Broadway Costumer Bonnie Prather
I am super pumped about this installment of Backstage Sessions featuring my dear friend Bonnie! We first met backstage at Aladdin in 2015 when I started working there as a swing dresser. She has been a faithful friend through my many emotional highs and lows. The summer LJ and I spent dressing the Female Ensemble along side her in the Bunker of Love at the New Amsterdam Theatre was one of the best times of my life.
Bonnie inspires me because of how passionate she is about her job and how deeply she loves others. She happily took me on the coolest backstage tour at Anastasia and completely blew her interview questions out of the water. This post is honestly my favorite post to date and I just know you guys are all going to love her!
How long have you been a dresser on Broadway?
It’s actually been quite a journey to get here. I grew up in and got my BA in Theatre back in Seattle, Washington. I was already working on shows there when I was a senior, but my mentor pestered me every day: “When am I writing a letter of recommendation for you for grad school?” I’d studied in England for a semester with my school’s study abroad program and really loved it, so I decided to really go for my “ultimate” dream and apply for grad school there - I was accepted, packed up my life, and moved to Bournemouth on the southern coast of England with hardly even a moment's hesitation. I remember everyone saying how brave I was to do it, but I'd always dreamed (even in childhood) of living in England and I was still in that stage of youth where everything is possible so I didn't even see myself as brave - this was just me doing what I had always meant to do. I received my Masters in Costume Design, moved to London, and was hired on “Love Never Dies” [Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to Phantom of the Opera] at the Adelphi Theatre on the West End. I got a group of friends, I worked on the West End, I lived in England - I assumed that I’d worked hard, achieved my dreams, and now I was exactly where I was supposed to be, so I could relax and just 'live.’ Which leads to...
What was the first Broadway show you ever worked on?
Three and a half years later, I went to an immigration lawyer to see about getting my work visa renewed, only to discover that the program I’d been living and working in England under had been cancelled. She asked me a bunch of questions in an attempt to find me a way to stay, but ended up telling me that I had no choice - when my current visa expired (due to happen a few months from then), I would legally be forced to leave the country. It absolutely broke my heart. I didn’t want to leave my friends. I didn’t want to leave the guy I’d been seeing. I didn’t want to leave my apartment. I didn’t want to leave my job. This was the dream I’d had since before I could remember - how could I pick myself up from that and move on, when I had literally no other dream to move on to? Fortunately, at the time I was working for the National Theatre on “One Man, Two Guvnors” - a HILARIOUS comedy starring James Cordon (he would win a well-deserved Tony for this role when it came to Broadway) - the show was a massive success and was scheduled to transfer to Broadway a few months after my visa expired. I worked on the show up until my very last day in England (James kept asking every guy he knew to marry me, so I wouldn't have to leave. My wardrobe supervisor offered up his nephew, despite the fact that he was only 12!), then flew home to Seattle and spent a few months in a depressed funk. A month or so before One Man was due to transfer, the stage manager in London contacted the company manager in New York and told them they should hire me. The company manager contacted me and explained that, although they'd heard really great things about me, they couldn't really hire someone who lived on the entire other side of the country. For the second time, I packed up my belongings and took a much deeper breath this time before taking the plunge - I'd never fancied New York: in all the movies and books I'd seen and read as a kid, it was always dirty and loud and full of angry people and I never in a million years would've imagined myself living there. I didn't even really have any desire to visit as a tourist. But, I took the chance anyway, got a two-month sublet on a room in an apartment in Washington Heights, and got on a plane. By a million to one chance, the Broadway transfer of One Man needed a full-time stitcher until opening night and I was there at the exact right time and the exact right place to nab that job, which slid me into the union, and I haven't stopped working since. Yes, New York is dirty and loud and (depending on where you are) there are definitely shouting people, but New York has also blessed me in ways I never could've dreamt of as a kid – I've made the closest friends I've ever had, I've worked on truly remarkable shows, I've found the love of my life (both my boyfriend AND my dog ;) ), and –most importantly– I've found my home.
How many Broadway shows have you worked on?
12: One Man, Two Guvnors (stitcher); Jersey Boys (swing dresser, dayworker, stitcher); Mamma Mia (swing dresser); Leap of Faith (swing dresser, laundry); Bring it On (dresser); Pippin (stitcher); Soul Doctor (stitcher); A Christmas Story (dresser); Aladdin (dresser); The Last Ship (stitcher); Cats (dayworker); and Anastasia (dresser).
What is your favorite show you've ever worked on?
Honestly, I can say that I’ve worked on shows that I thought were well-written, beautifully designed, great shows that I loved (we got to see a run of Anastasia in the rehearsal studio before we started tech and I was crying by the end of it at how beautiful it is) and I’ve worked on shows that I thought were honestly pretty terrible (...no comment). The funny thing to know about working backstage is that you kind of forget that you’re working on a show - with the exception of dance breaks or listening in on understudies making their debut, you can’t see hardly any of the show (unless there’s a monitor nearby) and you stop “listening” to the show (except for your cues) pretty early on. What makes or breaks a show is the people you work alongside - the actors, the crew, your ladies in the Bunker of Love. One of the best shows I've ever worked on was also one of the worst shows I've ever seen (I won't name names), but I *loved* my supervisor, I loved the crew I was working with, I loved the designers, and I basically just got to show up every day and have an awesome time joking around and goofing off with everyone. We all knew that it wasn't going to last long and we knew that it "deserved" to close since it really was a stinker, but we all still felt bad when we finally got our notice anyway, since it'd been such a fun time (the supervisor ended up hiring us all again moments later on her next show, so it wasn't such a terrible loss). In the end, though, my favorite show was definitely "One Man, Two Guvnors" - not only is it an incredibly tightly written work of comedic genius that had a truly remarkable cast, but it was a cast that truly was a family and a family that included all of us backstage. They wept with me when I finally reached my last show in England (which was my last night in the country, as well) and then came racing over to hug me, full of delight when they saw that I'd be working with them again in New York. They were the bridge between my two lives, the bandaid that helped my injury heal and the spoonful of sugar that helped my first taste of New York go down smooth.
Who is the coolest celebrity you've ever met at work?
You get pretty blasé about celebrities pretty quickly working backstage - they're usually just another body getting in the way. ;) The ones that, funnily enough, get to me are the ones that tap into childhood nostalgia. When I was working on "Love Never Dies" in London, we were invited to stay after the show one night for free drinks up in the lobby bar as a thank you for the hard work we'd been doing on the rehearsals of the new material. Andrew Lloyd Webber was wandering around and came over to my group to give us all hugs and thank us for making his dream show come true. As a child who'd grown up OBSESSED with Phantom, this was a truly surreal moment. During Aladdin's tech, I rode the elevator alone with Alan Menkin and chatted with him about the weather - I say "chatted,” but I don't actually know what I said, since my brain was too busy screaming OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD over and over again.
What is the best advice you've ever been given?
I have a Masters in Costume Design, but I have absolutely zero desire to go into Costume Design or work as a Designer. I don't regret a moment of that Master's program, however; not only because it was my way into the country and introduced me to a whole bunch of truly awesome friends that I still keep in touch with today, but also because it taught me about how to make my own goals and how to keep promises to myself. The course was "self-taught,” meaning that I'd check in with my supervisors once a week about how I was going, and they would provide me with a teacher or course or training materials for anything that I asked for, but I had to ask for it. One of the things that (especially American) high school and colleges teach you is how to show up each day, get your assignments, and get them done in the allotted time. This is, yes, a MASSIVELY important skill to learn, but there's very little in the US school system that teaches us how to be self-reliant WITHOUT a grading system in place. When your French homework is due every Friday, you know that you have to get it done by Friday. But what happens when you decide you want to learn French without someone there holding you accountable? If you have a roommate, you know that piling up dishes in the sink is a rude thing to do, so hopefully you'll wash them. What happens when you live alone, and the only person "making" you do dishes is yourself? Some people are very good at this - I floundered for SEVERAL weeks at the beginning of my course, because I wanted someone alongside to constantly be telling me if I was on the right course or not, or making progress at the right speed. If left to my own devices, I will absolutely get everything done at work on time, then come home with a whole list of things I would like to learn on my own time and instead fall down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos. If I don't make a plan of what I'm going to eat during the week, buy the exact groceries, and then stick to that plan, I'll come home everyday and just eat nachos or cereal. Start early, start often, and train yourself to give yourself goals and then train yourself to achieve them - not because a teacher gives you a deadline or because you put it all over Facebook so now you HAVE to learn guitar, do it because you've taught yourself how to follow through on things that have no other finish line but your own sense of achievement.
What is it about this job that makes you come back each day?
The sound of the audience. At Bring it On, we had a sign up in the girl's dressing room that read "This is someone's first Broadway show and someone's last Broadway show" and it was an incredible reminder of just what we were doing this for. Every time I hear an audience gasp at the Tsarina walking onstage or squeal in delight at Anya's iconic blue ballet gown, I remember being a kid myself in the audience and feeling my fingers itch to make my own version of Christine's "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" dress. I know people aren't coming to shows JUST for the costumes, but it's fun to work on a show that features them so gloriously and hear the audience reactions.
What piece of advice would you give your 25-year-old self?
At 25, I was living in England, working on the West End, and sure that I had it all worked out and that my life's course was set. Oh, the things we know in hindsight. The best piece of advice I could've given myself then was this: work hard for your dreams - harder even than you think you can. Get your dream in sight, sink in your teeth, and fight tooth and nail for it. Don't ever "settle" for what's easy. BUT, that said, don't let your dream become the only reality you'll accept and don't give up on everything if it doesn't come true. Life has such truly remarkable things in store for you, far greater than you can dream of now. If something had been different and I'd been able to stay in London, I would've had a great life too, I'm sure, but I get down on my knees every day, grateful that life twisted me on my head instead and sent me here. I couldn't have come to New York as the girl I was straight out of college - I needed that time in England to make me who I was, so I was ready to take in all that New York had to offer. The dream I had as a kid was the mirage in the desert, making me crawl towards it just that little bit further than I would've been able to go if I hadn't imagined in, in order to get me over the dune so I could see the actual oasis. Sometimes life sucks, yes, sometimes we attain our dreams and sometimes we don't - but if you chase after your dream, sometimes it'll lead you somewhere really unexpected, undreamt of, and far more amazing than the goal you had in mind. Chase after your dream but keep your eyes open, your knees loose, and your passport updated - dreams have a way of getting us where we need to go, not always where we thought we'd end up.
Who do you dress at your show?
My official title is “Female Ensemble Dresser,” but Anastasia is a great example of cooperative dressing: the Female Principal Dresser also dresses some of the ensemble girls at times when everyone is changing costumes on different sides of the stage at the same time, and I dress Mary Beth Peil (the Dowager) and Nicole Schimeca (Young Anastasia) at points of the show when she’s dressing Christy or Caroline. And we have a dresser whose job is technically just to run costumes from one side of the stage (where they’re taken off) to the other (where they’ll be put back on). The female ensemble wouldn’t make it through the show with all of their costumes without those two, just as I help with their tracks as well. Setting up the tracks of a brand new show is a flurry of paperwork, excel spreadsheets, and keeping your eyes open, your hands ready to help, and a whole lot of caffeine.
What is the most challenging part of being a dresser?
When dressing, I mainly do "ensemble track" dressing rather than "star dressing" - this involves dressing usually anywhere from 3-8 people, with usually some extra changes sprinkled in here and there where other dressers are busy. The name of the game here is multitasking and thinking ahead to problem solve - on a perfect day, all of your normal actors will be in their normal track, the costumes will all be clean and functional, and the show will run normally and smoothly. This happens maybe 10% of the time. More usually, swings will be filling in for your actors, sometimes wearing a mixture of some of their own costume pieces and some of the costume pieces of the actors they're covering. Some of your other actors will be nursing colds or will twist their knee mid-show and either need tissues or their changes moved to avoid stairs, or they'll call out mid-show and you'll need to switch a swing into their track, fetching their costumes in the downtimes of your track. Meanwhile, someone's necklace just broke, a zipper just popped, and sound is coming in because someone's mic isn't working, so they need to swap it out. The basic "job" of dressing isn't hard - it's just that -as the saying goes- 'the show must go on'.
What is the fastest quick change you do at Anastasia?
My track on Anastasia isn't really about super "quick" changes, as much as it is about seven girls racing at you, changing all their costumes at the same time: it's less about speed and more about general chaos control. Fortunately, most of my changes are done down in "the well" - the changing area set up in the basement, directly under the stage. The changing space is three "walls" made up of racks of costumes, with benches and stools for the girls to sit on while they change their shoes, hanging organizers for their show jewelry, and baskets for them to put their discarded costumes into until I have a chance to get them hung up and reorganized. The "scariest" change I do is actually on the stage - three of the ensemble women changing from their Romanov looks in "Once Upon a December" (giant petticoated dresses, jewelry, gloves, crowns, heels, etc) into their Train costumes (the outfits they wear leaving Moscow for Paris - solid boots, coats, skirts, leather gloves, cloches, etc). We do this change on one of the upstage turntables - although this gives us plenty of space (a necessity because of the petticoats), I was told by stage management when we were setting up the track that I'd have a minute and a half to get them changed and then gather up the costumes and get off of the turntable - because in a minute and a half, the turntable would rotate whether I was done or not, and -if not- I'd find myself onstage!
What is your favorite Backstage Blonde memory?
There's literally too many to choose! I cannot even BEGIN to explain how glorious the summer of the Bunker of Love was, every day was a fun memory of laughs and jokes and good times. I loved seeing the look on Teale's face when we organized a massive party for her birthday and everyone dressed up as Teale (atheleisure and blonde wigs for EVERYBODY!) I loved Teale getting so upset one day when I jokingly told her that my boyfriend and I had talked about naming our hypothetical firstborn child "Evelyn,” regardless of gender (her desire for the wellbeing of this child and the confusion and irritation at our irresponsibility in this matter made her absolutely stutter in apocalyptic rage - it was hilarious). But the best was probably the two-show days when we'd bring in a laptop and blankets and watch Disney movies between shows down in the bunker - it was like reliving the greatest moments of a middle-school sleepover without the puberty and identity issues, just tacos and girlfriends and LJ doing her Bartok the Bat impression (it's really good!)
FUN FACTS:
What was the first Broadway show you ever saw?
My first real *professional* show I saw was a National tour of “The Phantom of the Opera” that came through Seattle when I was nine - it came to the Paramount Theater which has a massive two-level lobby with low ceilings and columns covered in mirrors - I was certain the Phantom was going to appear behind ME at any moment! The first show I saw on Broadway was “Peter and the Starcatcher" while "One Man, Two Guvnors" was in tech.
What is your favorite Broadway show you've ever seen?
I'm kind of the worst person to ask for critical analysis of a show - I love everything. Critics will pan a show cruelly and I'll still walk out saying, "Oh sure, but the lighting was nice!" The most recent show I saw was Bandstand and I heartily recommend seeing it if it comes out touring - just fantastic, although it's rude how easy the dancers make swing dancing look!
What is your favorite NYC restaurant?
Having moved recently to the UWS, I suddenly find myself in a brunch heaven (which I do consider the best meal of the day). Although I'll always be tempted by the devilled eggs at Jacob's Pickles, my actual go-to brunch spot is Spring Kitchen - they have really glorious food, a gorgeous space, and I've never had to wait for a table, since it's never as crowded as JP.
(So, shhhh don't tell anyone, it'll be our little secret ;) )
How heavy are the costumes you work with?
After three years of dressing the ensemble on Aladdin (who are mostly in beaded bras and harem pants made of thin, lightweight silks), it was quite a shock to come back to thick brocades and hoopskirts! In the opening scene, the Tsarina (Anastasia’s mother) is wearing a look that, combining dress, six-foot beaded train, and crown, weighs 33 pounds! Fortunately, the second act takes us from big petticoats and heavy Russian coats to Parisian gowns in the 1920’s - everything gets considerably lighter.
How long were you a swing?
The funny thing about working backstage is that there isn't a hierarchy of "once I've reached this level, I'll never go back to working at that level" - yes, the supervisor on a show holds a higher position than a swing in terms of responsibilities and paycheck size, but when that show closes, the next show might see that supervisor working as a swing and the swing working as the supervisor. It's not only a good reminder that everyone is needed to make a show run properly, but also that you shouldn't look down on anyone or let your ego get too big - everyone is important and you don't know who your next boss might just be. I was hired on Broadway less than 24 hours after landing in NYC with a full-time stitching position, but it was on a strictly-limited-run show. Ever since then, I've bounced back and forth between full-time and part-time, swinging and dressing and stitching and laundry and daywork and even sat in as an assistant supervisor from time to time. It's all part of the nature of the job.
What is your favorite costume in your show?
I really love all of the fun 1920's tweed and twill Female Reporter costumes in Act II (god knows I love a cloche!), but I'd be obviously lying if I didn't immediately say the Tsarina - we hear the gasps of delight from the audience all the way backstage when she first appears in the Prologue. Our Tsarina look cost the show $2100 to make, but the actual gown it's based on was worth millions - in addition to being covered in diamonds, the fabric itself was made of pure spun silver thread. ("Fun" historical fact, when the firing squad went to shoot the Romanov family, the first couple of volleys of gunfire failed to kill them: the Tsarina had sewn so many jewels into all of their underclothes in the hopes that they could bribe their jailers, that the jewels acted as a kind of bulletproof vest and deflected the bullets!)
Backstage Blonde Exclusive Fun Fact About Anastasia:
In the second act, the characters go to the ballet to see a performance of "Swan Lake". We first are treated to a promenade of the Parisian ladies and gentlemen across the lobby in their glamorous evening wear (this is where Dimitri sees Anya in her STUNNING sparkling blue gown), then they take their seats in the box seats and watch as six ballet dancers perform excerpts from the ballet counterpointed with Anastasia, the Dowager, Dimitri, and Gleb singing about their current situations. Two of the Parisian women sashaying across the lobby never actually make it into the boxes, however, because they race offstage and change into tutus to perform in the ballet. Because the costume quick change is so quick, they promenade in their audience finery already laced into their pointe shoes. If you look closely (on the off chance that you aren't distracted by the regal velvets of the Dowager or have your head turned, like Dimitri, at Anya's glorious silk), you can see that two of the women in the lobby scene are wearing glamorous gowns... with black athletic socks covering their feet!
