TARZAN!!!

     I can not wait to become immersed in the fabrication of our world of Tarzan. See what I did there:P A friend said to me the other day, "Hey, since it's just a bunch of gorillas this time, costumes should be a cinch!" haha haha uuhhh, yeaaaa.... butttt... well, have you met me? The "simpler" the project, the more intricate and complex it all too quickly becomes when placed in my lap. On one hand this is a terrible curse of mine, as I can't manage to keep anything easy, but I like to think of it like this: with more freedom comes more creativity. For example, if someone told you to make specifically chocolate cookie chunk, caramel swirl, toffee crunch ice cream, it would be a pretty challenging, not to mention stressful, task with not much breathing room. But if someone said make whatever you want, it just has to start with vanilla ice cream... well then the imagination soars, because not only do you have a pretty much blank slate, but the pressure is all by you and for you... a fact which makes your life a temporary torture chamber when you are your own worst critic, as all successful artists always are. But if you thrive on that self imposed stress then these clouds that your imagination is reaching for become a comfortable home; a home where the very thrill of living in it lies in the simple fact that at any moment it might dissipate underneath you and leave you plumeting, grasping for anything solid to hold on to before you crash. And so far, you've always found something;)
     I see these gorillas as powerful and fierce. We've been trying to really think outside the box, searching for innovative ideas to suggest certain physical qualities of the gorilla while maintaining danceable, wearable, and eye cathching attributes. None of us were neccessarily in love with the "tassle" idea they used for Broadway, although the pants outfits in the German production do look pretty fabulous. We'll probably recreate something close to that, but still not for all of the gorrillas. We want each of them to have their own identity. This brings us to the most difficult part: figuring out which fabrics to use. My guess is that the reason for the tassle costumes is largely due to the long list of difficulties that accompany using fur, and that's assuming you have found the right kind of fur in bulk, (which is proving near impossible,) or can have it specially manufactured... good joke. So we've come up with a general idea, using small ideally placed patches of fur on each costume. We plan to focus heavily on the African theme, playing with tattoos and jewelery to really accentuate power, and bring out character. This band of gorillas has an enormous task with the telling of this story. They carry the show, convey emotion, move our tale from scene to scene. Of course this will be done largely through the dancing and acting, but the look must fit these elements like a lock and key. And after all, first impressions are everything, and most people, whether they believe so or not, base not only their opinion of the show when it's over, but also their ability to enjoy the show as they are watching it, on their initial feeling when the curtain rises and they see the stage/actors for the first time.
     So... we have a big and exciting adventure ahead of us with these costumes. I'm pumped. Wish us luck and send all your good vibes annd good ideas! I'll have some sketches up here soon.