BUFFALO, N.Y. — A close look at some of the costumes worn by the actors in Broadway play "Hamilton" shows the costume designer was keen on details.
Before one of the shows in Buffalo playing at Shea's Performing Arts Center, Two on Your Side got to see the costumes worn by Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza Schuyler and a soldier in the female ensemble.
Michelle Cross is the wardrobe supervisor.
"It's definitely a challenge," she said. "You're managing a new team in each city. We bring in 12 locals to help us put on the show every night, and do all the maintenance, and then I'm also in charge of making sure all the actors are wearing the correct things."
She said many of the fabrics are "based on how the actors move. For example, Eliza's big dress, the silk that he (the costume designer) chose looks like she's floating on stage, as she's moving around during the winter's ball. Helpless scenes."
The work can be daunting.
"We have between 1,500 to 1,700 pieces that we travel with for the show, and part of my job is touching every single one of those pieces every single day to make sure that they are up to the Paul Tazewell standard, so we are pressing them, steaming them," Cross said.
"We're doing repairs. We are painting and gluing shoes. We are maintaining hats. There's a lot of pieces that are in the show."
Elvie Ellis is a principal standby for Hamilton. He plays four different characters on any given night.
"Aaron Burr is my favorite. I just love the narration aspect," Ellis said.
"I love how he steps in and out of the action of the story, and he kind of can tells you his perspective a little bit, and then he jumps back into the scene to, you know, do the action that is happening in the story that we're telling. And so I really like that aspect, and I love the journey that he gets to go on throughout the show."
While standing next to his Thomas Jefferson costume, Ellis expressed his love for it.
"It is so over the top, and Thomas Jefferson is an over the top character in the show," Ellis said. "I would probably never be caught wearing a like full floor length silk jacket, but I get to kind of ham it up when we're doing this character, and that is really, really fun. And then the other thing that I love about this costume specifically is how specific it is. The bottom of the jacket has to be exactly three inches off of the floor."
There are still tickets available for Hamilton in Buffalo. The show runs through Oct. 27.