“I got a golden ticket, I got a golden chance to make my way!” This exciting moment is from the musical “Willy Wonka,” about a boy named Charlie and his sugar-coated adventure in Wonka’s fantastic chocolate factory! It will be playing June 21–23 at the Berger Performing Arts Center.
I interviewed Nina Christenson, costume designer for Saguaro City Music Theatre’s “Willy Wonka.” She was also the costume designer for “Seussical” last year. As I talked with Christenson, a lot of answers included the word “imagination.” She uses imagination to think about how characters will look in costumes. “I feel the most important thing is for the cast to like their costumes,” she says.
She started costuming in 2010 when her daughter joined Christian Youth Theater. She has worked on a lot of productions, such as “Cinderella,” “James and the Giant Peach” and “Matilda.”
Designing and creating costumes requires lots of effort, creativity and flexibility. She starts by measuring to get the correct sizes. Then she researches how others did a show or she reads about the author. For example, for “Seussical” she read Dr. Seuss books and found that “each color has its own unique meaning.”
Sometimes she rents clothes from other companies, but the sizes may need adjustments. When we were doing “Matilda” the clothes were too big for me. But we couldn’t cut them, so Christenson used safety pins to make my costume smaller. She does lots of adjustments to make the costumes fit.
If you are interested in adventure and seeing Oompa-Loompas come to life, put “Willy Wonka” on your must-do list this summer. Kids are free with an adult ticket purchase. Get tickets at saguarocity.org.