Costumer and Designer margaretrose

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margaretrose design for Carole Cook's Dolly

margaretrose started out as an actress. That’s how she gotstarted in costuming. Margaret was still in college and studying acting whenshe was hired as an apprentice for the state theater of Florida. When you arean apprentice, you did everything.
She took tickets, she worked the box office,she did PR for them. 

margaretrose's Dolly design for Carole Cook

She was also put to work in the costume shop. It was a funplace to be.
She liked the people there. She would do stuff there and create extracurricularcostumes they needed here and there.
The next year they invited her back, notas an apprentice/actress, but as an assistant costumer. The head of the costumedepartment saw that margaretrose had a talent and started working with her. The California Institute for the Arts was just starting around this time.

 Theyinvited margaretrose to come to Cal Arts. She said she didn’t want to pay someoneto someday tell her that maybe someday she’ll get a job. She told them that ifthey thought she was that good, they should give her a scholarship, and theydid.
 She went to California and got her Masters at the California Institute forthe Arts. She taught there for two years and just kept doing costumes.      
In keeping with the theme of most of my blogs, margaretrosewas in New York when Hello, Dolly first hit. She was a young theater studentthat never got to see Carol Channing in her iconic role.
 It was around the timethat Ginger Rogers had just taken over the role.
margaretrose was not a big fan ofCarol Channing’s, so she never went to see her years later, even did wigs forher. margaretrose NEVER saw any of the Broadway Dollys.margaretrose has only been designing for the past thirty yearsand has not been in the business that long in the scheme of things.
She hasalso done Vegas for fifteen of those thirty years. She hasn’t done a Broadwayproduction, which she would love to do. When she first went to California,there was not a lot of theater. margaretrose got involved with Hello, Dolly years later becauseof Carole Cook. Margaret had been designing Carole’s costumes for years whenCarole was asked to return to the role of Dolly Levi, this time in Birmingham,Alabama through David Galligan Productions.  She asked margaretrose to designher costumes. Director Stephen DeGhelder tells me that all other costumes wererentals. Fannie Flagg also produced a production in the LA area that Carolestarred in. She insisted on having her own costumes and they allowed margaretroseto design the costumes for her which were used in both productions. The costumes were margaretrose’s own designs. Carole knew whatCarole’s requirements were.Carole would tell margaretrose exactly what she neededand margaretrose delivered. The only thing they really stuck with the red dress.
Unfortunately, a lot of pictures were not taken of thatproduction so we don’t have pictures in full make-up and costumes. It’s aperiod piece, number one. It’s musical comedy, number two. Number three, margaretrosewas working with a specific person who KNEW what she desired. 

Coat designed for Carole Cook

margaretrose put allthose elements together and made it happen. margaretrose admits that she is notfamiliar with Freddy Wittop’s original costume designs for Dolly.  Everything was built and fitted in LA and shipped. margaretrosenever saw the production. margaretrose was happy with those costumes and would notdo anything differently today…unless she had triple the budget. Both Carole andshe were very happy with the end results. The most important aspect for margaretrose when she is designing a costume is that the actor/performer can work tothe best of their ability. Then she adds to that. That is what is important.Working with Carole was and continues to be a joyful experience.  Margaret does all of Carole’s clothes, her real clothes andher costumes. Every year, Carole does at least two major events and margaretrosealways comes up with something new and exciting and bigger and BIGGER. margaretrosegets to do over the top designs for her which is a lot of fun. Carole istotally involved. She KNOWS herself. She knows her body. She is a veryprofessional lady. She is involved in all aspects.
  margaretrose does come in fromtime to time with her own ideas. Although she was very nervous about it,

Another Carole Cook design

Carolegave margaretrose free reign to design something completely different this pastyear. She ended up being thrilled about it which is always good. They have nowbeen working together for twenty plus years.
Getting to know Carole is thegreatest aspect of this collaboration. She is one of the most talentedprofessional people that margaretrose has worked with.
margaretrose’s experience iswith most is that the more talented they are, the more professional they are.There are many “fly by night” people that are not very nice. With Carole, sheis ALWAYS trying to be better; she is always expanding on her talent.
 You giveher one sentence to say, she multiplies it into three that takes it over thetime. She is always giving, sharing, a true professional in every sense of theword. Right now, we are discussing a very good friend of margaretrose’s after allthis time.  
   The ONLY Dolly Levi that margaretrose has seen is BarbraStreisand. She really didn’t care for it. She felt that it was more Streisandthan Dolly. It was a little too slick. There is a lot more to the story. It isa little meatier than what we were served, especially when you think about The Matchmaker.
 The last big production that margaretrose designed for was theCrystal Cathedral in 2006. It was a big huge production. It was called The Glory of Creation.
The business has changed so much since margaretrose first gotinto it.  What inspires Margaret and what thrills her is creating something new.That is a reason why margaretrose loves costume design more than regular clothing,which she also designs. You have so many requirements with everyday stuff butyou can go over the top with costumes.  That is one of the reasons why Broadwayand Vegas are the place to do the work. Who wants to keep putting people injeans and T-shirts? That is not exciting. Period pieces are great. Musicalcomedy is great. Vegas is now swamped by Cirque do Soleil. Hopefully, it willcome back again…soon!
Cirque do Soleil is a giant change as far as Las Vegas isconcerned. They not only have their own costume designers, they have their owncostume shops, they have their own fabrics made, they have their own make up made,hair; it is all self contained. 

Another Margaret Rose design

They train their own actors. As far as moniesare concerned, it is a bottomless pit. In the old days, everyone in all ofthose departments went to Vegas and got paid a weekly salary. That doesn’thappen anymore. Now, if you go to Vegas and you desire to entertain in a room,you pay the hotel a rental AND a percentage of what you earn. You have to havedeep pockets in order to sustain something, especially a big show. The peoplewho are doing that right now are Cirque du Soleil which is why they have eightshows running in Vegas.
Everything is four walled now. If you walk into TheVenetian, a four wall production is all you get. There is not a seat, a light,nothing there unless the “producers” bring them in. You have to start fromscratch. They are bringing in tab versions of Broadway shows. Middle sizedproducers, which are the ones that Margaret has worked for over the past twentyyears, used to get a pay check. They would invest their money and after sixweeks, they would start making money. They can’t do this without deep pockets.The unfortunate thing is that this paradigm has seeped into almost every areaof the business. The percentages show there is more four walling thanentertainers, who now mostly self produce, getting paid for their talent. Thosedays of paying your dues and systematically moving up the success ladder arefading away. Margaret sees designers now coming out of school who don’t have aclue what to do. They don’t even know what to do with a needle!         The advice that Margaret would give for people desiring toget into this profession is to be totally versed on where they want to create.
She gets kids/students who want to go into film. Most of them haven’t seen thatmany movies. 

Monte Carlo Hotel, Las Vegas
LANCE BURTON: MASTER MAGICIAN

They don’t understand that there is a huge realm that they need toknow about. They have this little pocket idea that they can be a stylist andthey can go to a store and get clothes, that’s what they think this profession asa designer is. You have to know how to sew and you have to know how to fit andyou have to know a little bit more about history. There are fewer schools nowteaching that. Cal Arts is supposedly getting better at that. The kids thatMargaret is now seeing don’t feel that it is that important. margaretrose wants people to know she is still here. Perhaps shehasn’t done something that is so over the top or memorable that she is ahousehold name. She would like to be known as someone who is respected in herfield. She has always delivered what she has promised.  
 Thank you margaretrose for the gifts you have given to the world and will continue to give!

With grateful XOXOXs ,


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