Aladdin Costumes Snub??

[Maggiesheridan]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:04am

So, cards on the table, I have friends in Aladdin (so I am biased) and they took me for a backstage tour where I got to see the costumes up close in all their ridiculous detail (so really biased), AND I haven't seen Hedwig or Gentleman's Guide, so I can't really comment on them. But, seriously, WHAT THE HELL with Aladdin's costumes not even being nominated? I called up my friend, assuming there was some weird disqualifing thing or something that prevented them from being eligible, because that's the only way I could figure on not seeing them just walking away with the award. Nope, they're all as confused and frustrated about it as I am. Those costumes were the highlight of the show for me - way way way above and beyond anything else I saw this year. The Prince Ali costume changes alone - how did they not even get nominated??

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:45am

Honestly my guess (and it of course is just that - a GUESS) is people expect Disney shows to be big and beautiful because Disney has all the money to throw at the stage. I'm not saying it's fair, it is definitely un unfair bias, but that is my guess.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 12:56am

Best does not mean who can throw the largest number of costumes with the most sequins and embellishments on them on stage. It means honoring the design that does the best at serving the production and creating a cohesiveness and reality to the world the characters are inhabiting.

To use a recent example (albeit in lighting) look at 2012 when Natasha Katz won for lighting for Once. It is a soft and subdued design that absolutely serves the world of that show to perfection, even if it wasn't as flashy as some other shows that season (she was up against Ghost, Porgy and Bess, and her own work on Follies, for the record).

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:02am

Well, until you see the other shows, it is hard to gauge whether they were snubbed, no? We at least know the people on the nominating committee saw all of the shows...

[avyrocks]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:07am

^ This.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:13am

I'm going to also say that "snub" has become one of those words that is lost its meaning nowadays. Just because somebody didn't get nominated it was more than likely not because they were being snubbed (i.e. purposefully ignored), it just meant they didn't get enough votes to get the nomination. It's the way awards work. Not everybody gets a ribbon or a trophy just for participating, despite the apparent school of wisdom that is trying to teach kids these days otherwise.

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 2:03am

I'm seeing Hedwig next week, so I can't comment. Gentleman's Guide definitely deserved a nod though. Jefferson Mays's full costume changes seemed just as swift as Cinderella's last year. They're funny, evocative, and service the performance and story.

I was expecting Aladdin to be nominated here, so I thought its exclusion was a surprise. I definitely didn't expect After Midnight to sneak in. But what a gorgeous company impeccably dressed.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 2:04am

Sometimes what you want to get nominated and think should be nominated doesn't get nominated. That's life.

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 3:11am

"Sometimes what you want to get nominated and think should be nominated doesn't get nominated. That's life."

Jeez... You could have posted that on Tuesday and saved us all a lot of time!

[hundredsofhats]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 6:49am

[So, cards on the table, I have friends in Aladdin (so I am biased) and they took me for a backstage tour where I got to see the costumes up close in all their ridiculous detail (so really biased), AND I haven't seen Hedwig or Gentleman's Guide, so I can't really comment on them. But, seriously, WHAT THE HELL with Aladdin's costumes not even being nominated? I called up my friend, assuming there was some weird disqualifing thing or something that prevented them from being eligible, because that's the only way I could figure on not seeing them just walking away with the award. Nope, they're all as confused and frustrated about it as I am. Those costumes were the highlight of the show for me - way way way above and beyond anything else I saw this year. The Prince Ali costume changes alone - how did they not even get nominated??]

I guess it's just the tastes of the individual members of the nominating committee--which I guess, to each his own. It is hard to argue with turn-of-the century English fashion.

That is awesome you got to see the actual costumes up close! I have a love/hate relationship with Orientalism, but if you're going to do it, then do it big and do it beautiful. I love how no expense was spared on the costumes, how everyone looks fabulous--I never get tired of looking at the souvenir photo book! The most unexpectedly beautiful costumes are those of the Palace Guards, how all of them have capes with an intricate pattern on the back, the snake encircling a red jewel on their turbans, their belts--that always bugged me in the movie, how the Palace Guards are supposed to keep unsheathed swords in sashes. The belts make much more sense. And the boots--just wow.

That's also another thing--in these Orientalist fantasies a lot of times you have the king who's resplendently attired but all of his subjects' clothes are pitiful, even the ones in the palace! Or they try to look good but fail. This is especially awkward because some of them are supposed to be historical. Aladdin is obviously not historical but it avoids that failing of other Orientalist fantasies by making everyone's costume look lavish and gorgeously detailed, the commoners, the thieves, the royals, the palace servants, everyone.

As for the detail, the commoners' clothes all have a different pattern--one has swirls, another has cross-hatchings, another has blocks. Aladdin's vest has a diamond pattern, while part of Jafar's outfit has the triangles from his room (not his lair) in the movie. Gregg Barnes, and everyone who has physically made these costumes, are geniuses!

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 7:17am

I also dislike the word "SNUB". Sometimes there are just too many worthy candidates for the awards to pick up everyone that deserves it..so some fall by the wayside. I doubt a lot of voters said..hey, let's not vote for Aladdin. That would be my definition of a snub.

That said, I saw Aladdin and while I went out of the theater commenting about many things that really impressed me, costumes never came up in the conversation. They were fine but they just seemed like what I would expect for Aladdin.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 9:32am

And it helps when the ugly costumes of a not very good show are nominated because, oh let's just say, you are the head of the American Theatre Wing.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 10:01am

Sometimes more is just more.

[Sauja]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 11:08am

Because the nominating committee so often does celebrate whatever is MOST designed, I was very surprised not to see Aladdin here. That said, I do think Aladdin's design is very strong and should probably have gotten a nod. I'd actually most want to see it in the place of Bullets, the costumes of which are garish and cliched. Of course, I'm still upset that Long won for Cinderella last year in the ultimate example of just voting for flash over quality.

All of this said, my choice for the win is Gentleman's Guide for sending up English vaudeville style with wit and charm.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/1/14 at 1:46pm

"Because the nominating committee so often does celebrate whatever is MOST designed, I was very surprised not to see Aladdin here."

They do and they don't. In the first four years after they split the design categories for plays and musicals I would say they didn't follow that trend at all. You had Light in the Piazza beating La Cage, Spamalot, and Pacific Overtures; Drowsy Chaperone beating Lestat, Pajama Game, and Color Purple (you could argue there about whether Drowsy or Lestat had the "most" design); Grey Gardens winning over Mary Poppins, Legally Blonde, and Spring Awakening; and South Pacific besting Gypsy, In the Heights, and Sunday in the Park. I think it could be argued that in those years the winner (with the possible exception of Drowsy) was not the biggest, flashiest, sparkliest design. It may have been following that trend I recent years, but sometimes best and biggest do converge, but not always, and you would probably find the same across the design categories (as I showed previously when Once took the award for lighting).

[finebydesign]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 11:53am

I don't think any are that strong this year. I think the work done on Aladdin was obvious. He has done some interesting things with silhouettes but it's all very Vegas/Themepark.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/2/14 at 12:00pm

Gentlemen's should take it in this category

Than again, not to many people buy tickets because of costume design. From what I have seen of it, it probably should have gotten a costume nod.