Linda Cho Shows Off Her Tony-Winning Costumes from THE GREAT GATSBY

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

We're at the Broadway theater, which is the home to the hit musical The Great Gatsby, and I'm standing here with the show's Tony Award-winning costume designer

Linda Cho, who's going to walk us through some of the costume rooms and the costumes right before the matinee

This is the wardrobe room. This is where the dreams begin. The costumes in this show are stunning

Was this one of the biggest shows you've ever worked on? Yeah. I mean, I think I do a lot of big shows, but this is definitely one of the bigger ones

Do you have any idea how many costumes you designed for the Great Gatsby? You know, I double-checked right before this

There's 250 on stage every night. 250 from the 1920s. This is incredible

Like sitting behind you, the fabrics, you used in this show is amazing. The beating work, the stone work. How did you start working on

this show? Did you create the main characters first? How did you create the costume look for this show

Always start with the main characters so that you know how to balance the rest of the ensemble within

that matrix. And then, you know, I try to actually design big groups at once because you have to

think holistically. For sure, you have to think of the individual, but you have to think about who's on stage at any

given time and what their relationships are and especially with color Like you have to pick colors fabrics for an entire scene all at once because that what you see It not just one costume You see like 50 or whatever the case may be

Who were the most challenging for you? Okay, so menswear hasn't really changed dramatically

in the last 20th century. Like it's the size of the lapel has changed, the width of the cuff

you know, like the, so the vocabulary is very subtle. and I've done over 200 shows now

So I kind of can do menswear without a ton of research. So the women's is a little more outside of the box

which requires a little more creativity, a little more research. But they're both challenging and making sure that also when you think about bodies from the past

and bodies certainly on the Broadway stage, you know, it's a different presence, it's a different musculature

So like clothes that might have looked great on a 1921. 20's body may not look the same on a contemporary body. So some of those things you have to consider

and also balance when you're looking at period research. This is such a beautiful time period

the 20s. Was that a period that you loved? I mean, every period is extraordinary. But what's so great

about the 20s and in particular wealthy 20s of this era of this play is, you know, it is so lush

and you can just put your dream on stage. And this is certainly Gatsby's dreams, he was creating a dream for

himself and the world around him So it 20s with my imagination and Gatsby imagination I want to talk about wear and tear because the clothes are so beautiful You know in the 20s people wore views to parties and they took them off at home and they maybe put them on again you know four weeks later People dance in these costumes eight times a week

The wear and tear. Is there a different way you design clothes for the stage, specifically in Gatsby

Like, is there a whole underbody that's different in the costume? Well, you certainly have to consider, first of all, movement. So they're doing movement. It's not just

the Charleston with legs and knees. It's full kicks. It's full like partnering

where people are spun upside down. So that is the first consideration as a range of movement. And then with that

you know, when you think about somebody being lifted, that's a lot of wear and tear on the waist. And so we have to consider

the materials that are being used. But also there's a huge team of people

who just come and repair every single night. This is the ladies' ensemble

change room, dressing room, and it's right before a show, so everything is set up

ready for the show. That's why everything is sort of hung backwards, unzipped

ready to just jump into a body. So this is all preset at the end of last night show

or like, because there's a whole system that goes through this. I mean

there's things here, like, you know, last minute stuff, I guess if something has to be

repaired or something, right? Yep. And, you know, you can see that the shoes are exactly where

they need to be. The jewelry is all set up so you can just go boom, boom, boom. It's all like an orchestrated dance, basically, with the dressers

You know I talked to Paul about the sets and the projections and you realize how many shops are involved and how many people it takes to actually bring your creations to life So how many houses built the clothes for

this show? There's about 10 different shops in New York City, and when you think about each of

those shops employ probably another 50 people as well, and everyone's got hands on it at different

times. It's a whole industry that... But it takes an army to put a show on from the original costume design to the fruition of

getting it on stage each night, right? Yeah, I always say I just do a part of what you see on stage

It's really just a fraction. And then it's an entire team, army of people who are doing

that are experts in their various disciplines. Like, I cannot do the things that other departments do

They are the best, and that's why it's Broadway. This is the men's ensemble with some of the ladies' headdresses up here as well

And again, we're laid out and ready for an actual show, so you can see, you know, that shirt is inside out, ready, ready to put on and those shoes

So it's that intricate of like, someone just steps right into that, puts the shoes on, and they go

Yes, yes. It's all choreographed to the second. And we're literally like, well, we're a little like 40 minutes away from the matinee here

Yes, there's actors coming in and out. But I love this. So this, all the chaos get ready to begin

But it's organized chaos, right? Absolutely. Have you ever stayed backstage during the show watching how it all works

No, I'm terrified. and I'd probably be in the way. Well, I thank you for doing all of this right before a matinee

Congratulations, all the success you've received with this show and everything else that you do because you make magic