EntertainmentJanuary 18, 2018

Behind the Scenes of Broadway’s ‘Aladdin’: Interviews with Courtney Reed, Gregg Barnes, and Backstage PHOTOS

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What’s the most challenging part of this job for a show like “Aladdin”?

It has taken over 32 shops to create the clothes for “Aladdin”, if you count the dressmakers, cobblers, milliners, painters, beaders, and jewelers. I’m probably leaving someone out! We had shoes made in Canada, New York, and Italy, beading done in India (also New York and Los Angeles), clothes made in New York and Canada. The fabrics are sourced from probably every country you can think of.including Morocco, France, India, China, Japan, and beyond. It has been an epic undertaking and coordinating all of these artisans is the biggest challenge.

I must say that all of the artists that have worked on the clothes are extraordinary. Most of them I have worked with for the past 30 years and I think of them as family. In many ways, they are the unsung heroes of our industry. I have benefitted from the broad range of their experience and their passion to create beautiful things. Designers are only as good as the brilliant people that make the clothes. “Aladdin” has been a study in the complicated process of shops collaborating with each other. Once the patterns are established, the fabric is sent away to be painted or beaded (often both) and the timeline of all of that getting back into the hands of the dressmakers to be finished is daunting.

Backstage at “Aladdin”

What have you liked most about working on this show?

I love every phase of the design process. I’m passionate about the research, the collaboration, the drawing, the fabric, my assistants, the shops, the actors, and the crew backstage. Given all of that, I have to say that the most satisfying moment is usually the opening night when the many people who have worked so hard to bring the story to life surround you. “Aladdin” has been a major part of my creative life for the past five years and I couldn’t wish for a more exciting project to have been a part of.

You can currently see Courtney Reed play Jasmine in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre. “Aladdin” is still playing on Broadway in New York and is currently touring the U.S. Buy tickets here to see it in New York or on tour!