Hollywood’s legendary El Capitan Theatre is presenting a special engagement of Disney’s “Into The Woods” now through January 11, 2015. Only at the El Capitan Theatre will guests have the opportunity to see a display about the making of the movie featuring several of the spectacular costumes designed by Acadeny Award winner Colleen Atwood before and after every screening.
Special displays of movie props and costumes are what makes watching Disney movies at the El Capitan Theatre unique. As you walk into the lobby, you get to see a number of props from “Into The Woods,” including Stepmother and Lucinda’s fans, Little Red’s basket, Cinderella’s wedding bouquet, the Golden Egg, Jack’s sling, the Magic Beans, the Giant’s Gold, and much more. You also get to see the costumes worn by Johnny Depp, Lilla Crawford, and Meryl Streep.
Downstairs, there is an extensive display of costumes. Each costume was designed by Academy Award winning designer Colleen Atwood. Atwood’s inspiration for her designs were the Woods and many of the character’s costumes included the texture of wood in some way. She explains that the Witch’s costume, worn by Meryl Streep, was actually made from tiny pieces of leather that looked like cracked bark. Those pieces were then mounted onto net to help simplify movement for her character. Also on display are some of the patterns Atwood used.
In creating a unique fairy tale world, the decision was made not to root the film in one particular time period, but instead to embrace the “mash-up” nature of the piece where all the different characters and stories collide. The Baker and his wife have a Victorian silhouette, Jack and his mother resemble turn-of-the-century, poor rural folk, and Red Riding Hood was inspired by the 1930s fairy tale illustrations.
Besides the music and sets, I have to say that the costumes really stuck out to me when seeing the movie. I didn’t quite understand what time period the movie was trying to portray at first, but I’m glad that the costume display helped make this clear.
So if you have a chance, take a trip to Hollywood and the El Capitan Theatre to see “Into The Woods” as well as the costumes display and props.
