With less than a week to go to Disney India’s musical Beauty and the Beast in Delhi, PRAKRITI ROY catches up with costume designer GAVIN MIGUEl to talk about his experiences while working on a show of this scale
Designer Gavin Miguel is on a high. And, he has more than one reason for this.
When Disney India decided to make the broadway musical Beauty and the Beast, Gavin got approached to create the costumes for the grand show. He is waiting with baited breath to know how Delhi responds to the look of the show which he has crafted.
Beauty and the Beast is the first ever musical that he has worked on despite his impeccable couture gowns and designing for many Bollywood personalities. It was a totally different experience and a massive welcome change, he says. “I got a lot of time to put my mind to it. I had to remember that they had to dance live in these costumes. There are no cuts or retakes. Also, the costume change time is very short. Some of Belle’s costumes have to be changed within seven to 10 seconds. To get a finished look, with change of dress, shoes and make-up was a massive task,” he says.
Indeed, it was quite a task at hand — one, because the number of dancers in the Indian production are much more than those in the American production (about 100 to US’ 30). Second, because he had to give an Indian touch to the costumes while fully respecting the original design. “Because of all the costume changes, I ended up designing about 1000 costumes! As the audience can get a 360 degree view, I added fine touches to the costumes like delicate Indian braids and laces, which pop out under lighting. I touched upon the colours to bring in the Indianness, although Disney USA was hesitant about it. The Prince’s jacket is quite Indian. We did a sort of swarowski mix for the embroidery,” he tells you.
His film background helped in syncing costumes with the lighting and stage. It was almost like a marriage between him and director Vikrant Pawar because they tweaked original ideas to match each other’s needs. “Sets married costumes, costumes married actors; not one of the head of talents outshone the other. Such is Vikrant’s vision,” he adds.
Gavin believes that broadway style musicals have entered India with a big bang with Disney India’s first production. But he also feels that this kind of parallel entertainment will have to compete very hard with Bollywood. “We never had the chance for this kind of entertainment in India, but now Disney has given us a taste of broadway. Most people are going to go for musicals and then it will run parallel to Bollywood,” he says.
Other musicals he would love to design are Frozen, or lion King. Apart from that, he would love to work on Chicago.