![\"Theater](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/legally.jpg\" "\\"legally\\"")
<\/a>If Gregg Barnes\u2019 life had gone the way he planned, he would have been teaching high school English somewhere rather than designing costumes for Broadway plays such as \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d The show\u2019s national tour will be at the Civic Theatre from March 30-April 4.<\/p>\nIn fact, Barnes\u2019 story starts right here in San Diego \u2013 El Cajon, to be specific, where his mother still lives. He attended SDSU as a lit major and dreamed of teaching high school and being the school\u2019s \u201cdrama guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI came to costume design in a round about way,\u201d he said from his home in New York City. \u201cWhile at SDSU, I started designing costumes at Grossmont College\u2019s theater department. I thought it was just a hobby. But that\u2019s when I discovered I had a knack. But I did finish getting my teaching certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he heard a lecture by Robert Morgan, who designs sets across the country, he realized he had to give New York a shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, I had no ambition to leave San Diego,\u201d he said. \u201cBut after that lecture, I knew I had to try. So I went to graduate school at New York University. And when I graduated from there, they offered me a job teaching costume design. I\u2019ve been there 20 years now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Broadway shows he\u2019s designed include \u201cThe Drowsy Chaperone\u201d (for which he received the 2006 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), \u201cDirty Rotten Scoundrels,\u201d \u201cFlower Drum Song\u201d (Tony nomination) and \u201cThe Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.\u201d Barnes earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his work on \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d<\/p>\n
He began his work on \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d by getting familiar with the movie version that starred Reese Witherspoon. It tells the story of Elle Wood, the ultimate UCLA sorority girl who expects her perfect boyfriend to propose at the sorority formal. Instead he dumps her for a more \u201cserious\u201d girl as he transitions to Harvard Law School. She decides the only way to get her man back is to get into Harvard as well. What follows is a fluffy yet enjoyable journey of self-discovery and empowerment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I did when I got the job was to run and see the film,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize that it was also a book. I was excited because Jerry Mitchell, the director and choreographer, has a singular vision and is very good at focusing the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnes approached Mitchell with the idea of making the costumes completely different from the movie.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs fun and witty as the costumes in the movie are, we wanted a more classic look, so we ended up not referencing the film much,\u201d he said. \u201cModern dress goes out of style so quickly, the costume vocabulary in the film would date fast, so we decided to not land much on trends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barnes had friends in LA take photos of people at the trendy Beverly Center, another friend take pictures in Boston, and then he made a visit to New York City\u2019s Bergdorf Goodman. From that he came up with a strategy that more closely referenced the film \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada,\u201d another story of a young girl plunged into an alien community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to be sure that Elle is always the focus, so we dressed her in pink and no one else wears that color,\u201d he explained. \u201cEveryone else is in cool colors, such as blues and lilacs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shape was also an important factor. All of Elle\u2019s costumes are tightly fitted, while the others are loose \u201csloppy chic.\u201d Only one piece of Elle\u2019s wardrobe was purchased \u2013 the rest were made specifically for her, to look as if they\u2019re designer labels from Rodeo Drive.<\/p>\n
Barnes followed the show to London\u2019s West End where the show received an even warmer reception than it did in New York, something he speculates has to do with the Brits\u2019 fascination with the Yanks and vice versa. Next up for him is a return to San Diego this summer, where he is designing the new adaptation of the film \u201cRobin and the Seven Hoods\u201d at the Old Globe Theatre. He has designed numerous times there, which is where \u201cDirty Rotten Scoundrels\u201d began.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be great staying with my mom and getting my San Diego spirit together,\u201d he said. \u201cThen it\u2019s back to New York where there are so many new musicals coming up.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When it comes to costume design, Barnes is a legal eagle By Patricia Morris Buckley SDUN Theatre Critic If Gregg Barnes\u2019 life had gone the way he planned, he would have been teaching high school English somewhere rather than designing costumes for Broadway plays such as \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d The show\u2019s national tour will be at […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Theater review: Legally Blonde","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}