film mother sew and began making his comedic gem Show People , which told a story without any words.” put my hands on clothing, just own Halloween costumes around happened to be the very film that The film opens with leading trying to find actual garments to age 9. “It’s really a job that com - had inspired Hazanavicius to write man George Valentin in stark inspire me,” says Bridges, who then

C bines everything I was naturally The Artist —last year’s silent, black- black-and-white tails at the height scours thrift shops he’s on good at or drawn to,” he says. and-white tribute to the Golden of his fame, but the suits fade to a location. “You won’t even be After earning an MFA in costume Age of Hollywood. The concept more gray value as his career plum - looking for things or know that THE CLOTHES MAKE design from the Tisch School of the was a gamble, but Bridges believed mets with the arrival of talkies. you’re looking—you’ll just stum - Arts, Bridges got his big break in in it from the start: “I thought, in Meanwhile fresh-faced dancer ble upon it and it will turn out to 1988 on the Coen Brothers Prohi - this time when film so heavily re - Peppy Miller starts out simple and be one of the greatest finds.” bition-era drama Miller’s Crossing . lies on CGI and 3-D, maybe what sweet in flat textured dresses that Although the ladies’ silk gowns U THE MAN He was hired for just a few days we really need is to get back to ba - of sizing clothes, but his hard work sics, and to telling a story instead of COSTUME DESIGNER MARK BRIDGES FASHIONS prompted costume designer whipping everybody into a frenzy Bridges searches for a character CHARACTERS ONE GARMENT AT A TIME Richard Hornung to keep Bridges with all these other gadgets.” as his assistant for the duration of The old-fashioned format, how - nearly as deeply as the actor the shoot—as well as eight more ever, came with some unusual film - by Renée Alfuso / CAS ’06 does, making his job as much films after that, including The making challenges. Most fabric about anthropology as it is

L Grifters , Barton Fink , and Nixon . patterns looked like mush in black S K

hen Melissa Leo So it’s fitting that after more than escape the long, icy winters of E But it was Bridges’ love of clas - and white, so Bridges used sequins,

T about fashion. C H

first saw her 20 years of telling stories through Western New York’s snowbelt and E sic cinema that helped land him the satins, brocades, and spangles to S C O

wardrobe for clothing, Bridges won an Oscar fell in love with silent films at a U most important film of his career. catch the light and compensate for R T E

The Fighter — earlier this year for Best Achieve - local revival theater. “I just became S In a preliminary meeting with the lack of color and definition. become more elaborate and luxu - and Bond-girl bikinis get most of Y M A

T W hangers of tight ment in Costume Design on per - really fascinated at an early age,” he R director Michel Hazanavicius, the These adjustments were essential, rious with her rise as Hollywood’s the attention, Bridges relishes the K B

tops, short skirts, and flashy blaz - haps the most challenging period says. “I still have a book report from R designer referenced the 1928 Bridges says, on a film stripped of hottest new starlet. By the end, challenge of menswear. The less- I D G E

ers with big shoulder pads circa the piece in decades— The Artist . seventh grade that I did on silent- S dialogue. “It’s like if a person loses Peppy dons an extraordinary black versatile medium forces him to be ; P H

early 1990s—the veteran character When Bridges took the stage movie actors [like] Chaplin and O their sight, their other senses be - coat trimmed in monkey fur, a sur - extra creative, such as with the T

O MARK BRIDGES (AT RIGHT) HAS actress was skeptical. But once they and thanked the Academy “for Douglas Fairbanks.” © come more acute,” he explains. viving piece from the 1920s that, bright-blue suit Adam Sandler M DESIGNED COSTUMES FOR NEARLY A T were on, Leo soon transformed making a lifelong dream come For a film fanatic who also loved T EVERY DECADE OF THE 1900S —FROM “Once you didn’t have the lan - along with the hats and back - wears throughout all of Punch- S A

Y VINTAGE ’20S GOWNS IN THE ARTIST

into the gruff and ferocious moth - true,” he meant it literally. As a kid drawing, painting, and fabrics, cos - L guage, then you became more ground clothes, Bridges discovered Drunk Love , and Johnny Depp’s E

S (FAR LEFT), TO ’70S CHIC IN BOOGIE / A

er of nine who would later earn her growing up in Niagara Falls, he tuming proved a natural fit. He’d P NIGHTS , AND TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY aware of all the visuals. So between in a Los Angeles costume shop. white safari jacket and ribbed an Academy Award. “Suddenly it spent a lot of time at the movies to grown up watching his grand - WORKWEAR IN THERE WILL BE BLOOD . texture and contrast, that’s how we “One of the first things I do is go (CONTINUED ON PAGE 22) all came together and a third per - UR son emerged in the fitting room,” E costume designer Mark Bridges (TSOA ’87) recalls. “When we started, there had only been the two of us, and then her Alice Ward appeared.” Tasked with bringing the peo - ple on the page to life, Bridges searches for a character nearly as deeply as the actor does, making his job as much about anthropol - ogy as it is about fashion. His de - tective work goes far beyond costume shops. Whether it’s the 1927 Sears catalog, a faded photo album, or a vintage GQ spread, Bridges uses all manner of re - sources to illustrate the story for the director before shooting even be - gins. His specialty is period films and, having tackled nearly every decade of the past century, he’s be - come an expert on bygone eras and their smallest details (a deco collar here, an aged campaign hat there).

NYU / FALL 2012 / 21 (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21) films, developing a relationship turtleneck ensemble in based on mutual trust. “I remember Blow . The latter film’s getting a phone call before Blood and C 1970s chic earned he said, ‘Mark, I need to know what

U Bridges praise from my movie’s gonna look like,’ ”

L Vogue : “It’s the Bridges says. CREDITS T clothes…that really Their latest collaboration is the make Blow worth 1950s drama The Master , which stars UR E watching.” Joaquin Phoenix as a World War II ALUMNI TAKE A BOW Millions of Books + Yours But not all shoots can vet named Freddie, who is drawn to be glamour and vintage a charismatic thinker in the mold of AT THE TONYS—THEN Yves Saint Laurent. The turn-of- L. Ron Hubbard, played by Philip TAKE OVER FALL TV Espresso Book Machine the-century oil drama There Will Be Seymour Hoffman (TSOA ’89). To On Demand Books Presents... Blood was filmed in the West Texas prepare for it, Bridges searched for Books Available on Demand, now at the NYU Bookstore. desert without any stores or FedEx candid family photos from 1950 to, With the Espresso Book Machine, we are now able to print books from on hand, so Bridges instructed his as he says, “get the feel of what reg - a growing library of over 7 million titles, including in-copyright, public crew to “prepare like we’re going ular people really looked like—not domain and out-of-print books. Don’t see what you’re looking for on our to Gilligan’s Island,” because they Hollywood’s or Madison Avenue’s shelves or from our website? Please inquire at [email protected] would be limited to whatever sup - version of America.” The challenge or in-store. We just might be able to print you a copy of the title you are plies they had. The unforgiving set is to make the clothes seem natural looking for within minutes. was hot, dusty, and crawling with despite all the effort that goes into rattlesnakes, but Bridges toughed it them. As Bridges puts it, “If you Self Publishing out with faith in his fearless leader, don’t notice my work then I’ve The Espresso Book Machine technology provides an ideal opportunity Paul Thomas Anderson. Over the done a good job, because I haven’t to turn your novel, poetry, family history, or even your dissertation past 17 years, Bridges has designed taken you out of the moment, I’ve or thesis into a professionally-bound bookstore-quality paperback every one of the writer-director’s only enhanced your experience.” volume. The EBM produces full color covers and grayscale interior text and illustrations in any font, style or language, opening up a world of possibilities for readers and self-published authors alike.

NINA ARIANDA

At the 2012 , a Musical for the revival of the NINA ARIANDA (TSOA ’09) Stephen Sondheim classic Fol - won Best Performance by an lies … NIC ROULEAU (STEIN - Actress in a Leading Role in a HA RDT ’09) has taken the lead ! Play for the racy comedy Venus as missionary Elder Price in The NEW in Fur , while composer ALAN Book of Mormon , which domi - MENKEN (ARTS ’72, HON nated last year’s Tonys… ’00) took home Best Original Funnyman JAMES RODAY Score for Disney’s Newsies … (TSOA ’98) returns for the sev - Best Performance by an Actor enth season of the detective in a Leading Role in a Musical comedy Psych , making it the went to (TSOA USA Network’s longest-run - ’05), who stars alongside ning series… ZACH WOODS CRISTIN MILIOTI (TSOA ’07) (GAL ’07) is back at The Office in Once , based on the Oscar- on NBC, while SIMON winning drama… DONYALE HELBERG (TSOA ’02) reprises P

WERLE H

(TSOA ’02) earned Best his geek role on CBS’s The Big O T O NYU Bookstore Scenic Design of a Play for the Bang Theory … PETER FACINELLI © L U C

whimsical Peter and the Star - (GAL non-grad alum) plays the A 726 Broadway near Astor Pl. www.bookstores.nyu.edu/main.store/selfpublishing S J

ADAM S. A

catcher , produced by Cullen clan patriarch in next C K S

GORDON O (TSOA ’89)… month’s blockbuster The Twilight N / R

E NYUBookstore GREGG BARNES Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 U (TSOA ’83) . T E R scored Best Costume Design of —Renée Alfuso S

22 / FALL 2012 / NYU with Whitman about what in - TO THE ONES YOU HAVE playlist spires her to get behind the PRODUCED? wheel of a show, and what it Well, marketability. I think you C takes to drive one all the way to have to say: Who’s going to buy WHAT’S ON COMPOSER U Broadway in the digital age. tickets to this show? But if I look

L for me, personally, it’s a story I’m JULIA WOLFE’S iPOD?

T WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO interested in hearing. Next to HARDBODY WHEN YOU FIRST Normal is a bipolar mom, and UR by Eileen Reynolds / GSAS ’11 E SAW IT IN THE NEW YORK Legally Blonde is a Valley girl who WORKSHOP? went to Harvard. And on the It was a world I’d never seen be - surface, there’s nothing in com - fore in a Broadway musical, with mon with those two shows, but or Julia Wolfe, co-founder of the genre-busting, experi - characters I’d never seen before to me, they’re people I wanted mental-music organization Bang On a Can, no instrument or in a Broadway musical. They’re to spend an evening with. musical style is off-limits. She’s written for everything from blue-collar Texans, and they’re F drum sets to bagpipes to string orchestras, and her cham - treated with such respect and DO YOU INVEST IN YOUR ber work Steel Hammer —based on the Appalachian folk leg - love and care. And it’s fascinat - SHOWS OR JUST RAISE end of John Henry—was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. ing to me that for these people, THE MONEY? But where does Wolfe, an assistant professor in the Steinhardt School to win a $22,000 truck would I’ve always invested in my of Culture, Education, and Human Development, turn for inspiration? truly change the circumstances shows. I don’t think it would be To James Brown, for one (“an amazingly expressive musician,” she says), of their lives. fair to say, “ You can put your and to minimalist composer Steve Reich, whose Music for 18 Musicians money at risk, but I won’t put anchors her list of “music that has rocked my world.” John Adams’ Shak - IT’S ALSO A SHOW IN WHICH mine.” There’s certainly no ob - er Loops also makes the cut, along with works by contemporary com - PEOPLE SING AND DANCE ligation to do it, but I do. posers Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, and— of course —Wolfe’s husband, WHILE KEEPING ONE HAND Michael Gordon. ON A TRUCK. WAS THAT THE YOU’VE BEEN PRODUCING ON She’s also a “huge fan” of Led Zeppelin and has been known to rock out to Aretha Franklin while doing the dishes. As part of her research for theater BIGGEST CHALLENGE? BROADWAY FOR 10 YEARS. Certainly, the tricky part for me WHAT HAS CHANGED Steel Hammer and other folk-influenced compositions, Wolfe devoured is explaining what it is, because THE MOST? the old-time music of fiddler Bruce Molsky. And lately, as inspiration for IN HANDS ON A HARDBODY , BARBARA people say, “ Really? They just The Internet. Every show has a a percussion concerto she’s writing, she’s been scouring YouTube for WHITMAN BRINGS A LONG-STANDING videos of people using their bodies as instruments. View From the TEXAS COMPETITION TO THE BROAD - hold the truck?” And I say, “No, website, every show has Face - Wolfe occasionally breaks out a well-worn recording of Glenn Gould WAY STAGE. playing Bach, though she says the classics aren’t usually part of her “dai - Like the Hardbody characters, “It was a world I’d never seen ly meal.” Rounding out her omnivorous musical diet are a few top-40 Driver’s Seat selections from her 16-year-old daughter’s iPod. Mom’s favorite? Adele, Whitman has always been a “hands-on” producer, and likes to before in a Broadway musical, though she also concedes that Rihanna is a “great performer.” BROADWAY PRODUCER BARBARA WHITMAN TALKS be a part of a show’s earliest devel - with characters I’d never seen ABOUT STEERING SHOWS TO THE BIG STAGE opment. Perhaps that’s because she before in a Broadway musical .” understands evolution. As a singer by Justin Warner and actress in New York in the 1980s, Whitman mostly landed they really do move.” It’s kind book, every show makes video traveling shows while dance-heavy of like saying, “What do they do content that they can post. It’s n the twisty, pre - Normal . So it’s fitting that her on a pickup truck at all times—no productions such as Cats , A Chorus in A Chorus Line ?” Well, they definitely changed what we do. carious road to current Broadway-bound vehicle sitting, lying, squatting, or leaning Line , and 42nd Street dominated stand in this line and talk about Next to Normal was a perfect Broadway, pro - features an actual vehicle: the hol - allowed. (The only exceptions are Broadway. Motherhood prompt - their lives. It doesn’t sound so show for [the Internet]. We had ducer Barbara low shell of a Nissan pickup truck, a five-minute break every hour, ed her to transition into a less itin - interesting. a Twitter campaign where we O Whitman (GAL which anchors the set of the new and one 15-minute break every six erant, more lucrative position at What I love about the show tweeted the plot [line by line ’88) has proven herself a deft driv - musical Hands on a Hardbody . hours.) The last person standing M.J.Whitman, a family-owned now is that the audience is so for several weeks]. Like for the er. In her 10-year career, she’s Hardbody ’s subject matter isn’t takes home the truck, and that brokerage firm, where she became caught up in the story, that when first scene, it would be the helped to steer many hits, includ - obvious fodder for a musical. It’s took almost 93 hours in the longest a managing director. Still, her pas - the contestants start falling, thoughts in their heads: The ing Legally Blonde , Dirty Rotten based on a 1997 documentary film contest. Originally staged at the sion for theater eventually led her you’ll hear gasps, because they mother would say, “Oh, I’d Scoundrels , The 25th Annual Putnam of the same name, which chroni - La Jolla Playhouse in Southern to pursue a master’s in theatrical don’t see it coming, and they like better make the sandwiches.” P H P

County Spelling Bee , the 2004 re - cled a competition still held every California, the show features mu - production, where one of her these people. And then you could click to O H T O O T © vival of A Raisin in the Sun , the September sponsored by a radio sic by Trey Anastasio of the leg - mentors, David Stone, invited her O hear the opening number. We © P E K T E Broadway production of Donmar station and auto dealership in endary jam band Phish and book to be a producer on A Raisin in the WHAT MAKES YOU WANT TO had over a million followers, for E V R I N S E

B GET BEHIND A SHOW? IS R

Warehouse’s Hamlet , and the Longview, Texas. The rules: by Pulitzer Prize–winner Doug Sun before she even graduated. E a long time. That’s unusual for L R I N N G Pulitzer Prize–winning Next to Contestants must keep one hand Wright (TSOA ’87). NYU Alumni Magazine spoke E THERE A COMMON THEME Broadway.

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