LET'S TALK COSTUMES YALL!

LET'S TALK COSTUMES YALL!

I don't completely understand the dislike of the Wembley production too well (It's a non-replica production yall, for what it is it's a lot of fun!) but I have seen that a major point of contention for people seems to be the costumes, so I wanted to create a post discussing why I think they are done very well.

First off, they are wonderfully colorful- one of the things that always concerns me in costuming is a disappearance of color in favor of darker neutral colors, but even the characters that have closer to neutral pallets- Rusty, Momma, the Components- all still have elements of color within their designs, and different textures and shapes to make them visually interesting. As this musical is a dream being had by a little kid, the colors also help reflect this as well- Control is an imaginative child, whose made up world reflects that.

The three main engines (Rusty, Greaseball, Electra) all have very distinct appearances, marking them as principal figures and representative of the three different types of engine we see- diesel, steam, and electric. All three have unique color pallets and silhouettes- the exception being Rusty, who shares similar design elements with Momma (though not quite the same colors). The are the main three racers the story revolves around, and they stand out accordingly.

The thing about the other costumes that interests me, however, is how despite the fact that the rest of the characters in the show are all different colors (with the exception of the Components, whose costumes denote them as a group unique to Electra), there are certain design elements used on the other engines, coaches, and freights that helps denote them as such.

The champion engines are the easiest example here- they all have identical costume elements, just done in different colors. All of them have fin-like hairstyles, and identical plating: shoulder pieces that when an actors hands are at their sides can stretch up to their ears, a rounded breastplate with the symbol of the engine in question, and two pieces for the legs.

The coaches also have this- despite being a myriad of colors and having elements unique to their design, they are a couple through lines- namely a piece around the waist than fans out similar to a skirt, and padding on the shoulders (except for Pearl, but she's got other stuff going on there). They also have more form fitting pieces on their legs- similar more to regular pants or leggings, which makes the detail at the waist and the padding at the shoulders the widest parts of the silhouette.

The freights also have a very similar construction of their costumes- oversized pants and large vests with shoulder plating, and then smaller pieces for the arms- they all very clearly do the same job, despite being different colors and with different patterns (Hydra is not an exception to this, but there are subtle differences signifying how he differs from the others- the plating on his arms is not as bulky as the others, the colors on his pants are inverted, and the vest comes down to his waist rather than stopping below his ribs, giving a smoother silhouette and less bulky appearance, to name a few examples).

And of course, the Components- all trucks like the freight, but their main job in the show isn't what they carry- it's to make Electra look good. As such, they all very clearly fit Electra's aesthetic in a way that none of the other coaches or freight fit the other engines- complementary silver and white to their blue and silver, with the only personalization their belts and the shape of the protrusions from their plating. (They aren't the focus of the next picture but I love it too much not to put here in some fashion.)

All of this is deliberate attention to detail- as the majority of theatre-goers are not going to be intimately familiar with the characters, and the train types, and the roles, and the story, and- you get the idea. The shapes of a character's costume helps denote them into a group- if nothing else, an audience member can tell you "oh, that's an engine" or "that's freight". It also helps people sitting further away to track the action a little better- costume details and textures will become invisible at a distance, but bright colors, large shapes and consistent silhouettes help everyone have a good time.

So, if you didn't know anything about the musical, what could you tell me about the trains in this picture?