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Hi, I'm Sean McCourt, and I'm Lindsay

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Northen, welcome to another costume

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edition of "Behind the Emerald Curtain."

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There are over 400 custom-made costumes in

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'Wicked,' and it takes an expert team to

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maintain them in the midst of eight

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performances a week. Join us, as we meet

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the folks in the wardrobe room, and they

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take us through a day in the life of a

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costumer. Alice Gilbert is an amazing

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wardrobe supervisor. I've worked with

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her before, I had to have her on 'Wicked'

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because I thought "She's the only person

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who can understand the complexities of

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a monkey costume, and a mask, all the way

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to the most delicate, beaded piece of

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Chiffon." I think, in many ways, Susan

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was happy because I had done a lot of

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shows over a long period of time, and so

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there were things that I could have input

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about and choices that you might want to

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make to make it easier to maintain the

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show over a long period of time. What the

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fabric is, what the texture is going to be

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Alice takes every single piece of fabric

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that I choose, and in something like

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'Wicked,' is over 2000 pieces of fabric,

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she takes her nail and she digs into it

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to make sure that it is going to survive.

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For her, survival is the key. I call it

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'The Alice Test'— These clothes do eight

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performances a week, they live through

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sweat, water, fire, performance after

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performance, and they have to stay as

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beautiful from the very first day to the

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last day that they have on stage. It's an

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unbelievably difficult life for this costume.

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For wardrobe to do the show there are 12

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dressers, plus myself and the assistant,

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and we have 4-8 people doing daywork,

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depending on the day of the week. They are

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there before, during, and after every

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performance doing a kind of triage,

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whether or not it's a tear, or a dropped

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bead, or a loose connection, the whole

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team of people are prepared at any moment

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to jump in, to fix something.

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Who the costume would see through the day,

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if it were a single costume: There'll be

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four or five people dealing in the world

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of any individual costume, over a day's

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period. In the morning, early would come

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the dayworkers, if there had been

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something that had happened to it the

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night before, we have some dayworkers who

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would like, burrow into the costume, as

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some of these things are like 16 layers.

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When it's time to appear in the show,

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the dresser would put it onto the actor,

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the actor will wear it, and the dresser

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would pull it off the actor, and it will

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go back on the rack and the dresser will

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bring it back downstairs. Everything will

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be looked at everyday, and of course

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everything will be worn everyday, so it's

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the constant wearing of the clothes, plus

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even the handling of the clothes, so like

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they go on and off the hangers, they go

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up and down the racks, the racks go on

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the elevator, racks go back and forth,

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you have constant opportunities for

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abrasion. The craft of doing wardrobe is

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indeed dealing with something that has

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originally been made totally by hand.

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10-12 people have their hands on a dress,

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there's no mass-production here, it is

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something that can only be done in a one

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on one basis; you and the costume,

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right there.

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I know, that Alice Gilbert will always be

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there for every second of every show, so

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I know they're always going to look good.