COMMENT

Helping to create that illusion for audiences was costume designer Christopher Peterson.

As Faulk crafted dance routines to showcase the guys’ personalities and natural talents without pushing it over the top, Peterson made everyone look as good as possible while conceding the limitations their characters would naturally face. “Nearly all the clothing is found, especially with the boys,” he says. “These are guys who carry their costumes around in plastic bins. They shop off the rack. Club owners might put something together for a special group number but for the most part the costumes are devised by the performers who wear them, so there’s some variation on the themes. Steven’s directive was to make it real.”

Toward that end, the designer used an admittedly low-tech but effective method of simulating water on the umbrellas and raincoats for the “It’s Raining Men” sequence: spray glitter. For a patriotic military-themed ensemble piece he raided an Army Surplus store. But one essential element on which he did not compromise were the thongs, which were custom made in specific fabrics and colors, from a company called Pistol Pete.

Peterson’s biggest challenge was putting the break-away into the break-away costumes, a process involving strategically placed Velcro strips. “It was a precipitous learning curve that was different for each actor, based on his movements,” he explains. “If Alison choreographed some really vigorous dance moves the costume might tear away too soon, and other times not at all. At one point, I had a pile of maybe 25 pairs of pants in a corner of my office, trying to figure it out. It came down to me standing in front of the mirror, tugging and tearing, with my assistant laughing in the other room. The one time I got it right I was ecstatic, and then realized I was standing in front of my entire staff in my underwear—and how can that possibly be appropriate? Let’s just say we had more than our share of wardrobe malfunctions, on and off camera.”