This past week was all about fine tuning all the details for La Bohème. Even though there are sixty people in the show, the number of itemized pieces is actually pretty reasonable; there are under 800, and that's everything- undershirts, socks, every piece of jewelry, etc...Every day I check in the with drapers in the shop, answer questions, and attend final fittings to double check the fit if there were a lot of alterations. The costumes being built require some extra attention of course, but those are well on the way as well. Many of the items are nearing the finish and the "done" rack is filling up. Each week of production brings an extra layer or refinement.
On Thursday and Friday this week I completed what I call my "final audit." Each cast member and each show, and all the items are managed in a program called "Wardrobe Wizard" formatted through the database management system FileMaker. Once something is fit and no longer needs my attention, then it is marked "complete" and an "X" is put in the last column. This allows me to easily sort the whole show by what hasn't been marked off so I know what needs work. This was how I dealt with pulling and shopping for period appropriate hosiery, missing shoes, and other items I could solve simultaneously earlier this week. For this final audit, I kept the list sorted by performer and didn't move on until the reason why something isn't checked off is solved. No more punting or ignoring! If something needs buttons selected, or trim identified, or a pantone color picked, I do it right then and there. If it doesn't exist for some reason, it went on a final stock pull list (several belts, a slightly larger vest, etc...) or final shopping list (larger gloves, one last piece of small sash fabric, etc...). Everything in the show has a solution identified now and it's very gratifying. In between a bunch of fittings, this process took two days. This weekend, we'll pop up to rehearsal to try on some recently delivered shoes and have a quick second fitting for a couple of the kids there saving a bunch of people a trip to the shop. Home stretch!
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