Imagine the backstage atmosphere of a Broadway musical — a lead character is in the middle of a musical number and has to run offstage to change out of a ball gown and into a slinky red dress. An ensemble member is in his dressing room organizing six outfits for his four different characters into order. A female supporting lead is whining about how yellow is not her color.
The backstage of a Broadway musical looks a lot like the backstage of the life of a music theatre major: chaotic and full of quick changes.
“I think especially being a music theatre major you always have to look presentable because you never know who you’re going to meet,” said senior Kenny Francoeur, a music theatre major from Biddeford, Maine.
Francoeur described his personal style as “college prep meets comfort.” On a normal day, he would wear either a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up or a V-neck, both with a pair of jeans. But sometimes, Francoeur’s acting life crosses over into his personal life.
“If I’m doing a role that requires a certain look, I start to dress somewhat like that to get more into the character,” Francoeur said.
Recently, Francoeur played a narcissistic character in the spring musical “She Loves Me,” and explained how his character always had to have the best clothes and look put-together.
“During that time, I wore a lot more of my sports coats and my button-down shirts without rolling up the sleeves and khakis and ties,” Francoeur said.
Maggie Mial, also a senior music theatre major, from Raleigh, said she never really takes her style inspiration from one place. Mial describes her sense of style as a little bit rock, a little bit androgynous, a little bit scattered and a lot contradictory.
“I find that my inspiration for the way that I dress just comes from everyone and everything,” Mial said. “One of my favorite things to do is put these giant combat boots that I have on with a white flowy dress.”
Even though both Francoeur and Mial have their own way of dressing, being a music theatre major requires them to dress in many different ways whether they like it or not. Other than having set costumes for shows, there are also events particular to Elon where musical theatre majors must wear a specific outfit.
“At Elon, the most important outfit a musical theatre major has is their blacks, because every year there’s Grand Night and Collage, which every year, you wear black,” Francoeur said. “If you talk to any of them, they’ll tell you that they’re always looking for the next year’s black outfit.”
Collage and Grand Night are both musical reviews in which members of the music theatre department sing a selection of songs from different shows. The attire is usually dressy casual, almost cocktail attire, and the performers have to be in black from head to toe.
“Black was never really a staple in my closet before I came to school,” Francoeur said.
Then there are clothes for auditions. Francoeur said he has a few brightly colored button-downs in his closet that he wears specifically for auditions and in Mial’s closet, behind the baggy sweatpants and heavily-distressed denim, there are many dresses that are never worn except for auditions. Usually, a dressy outfit for Mial would include a man’s suit and heels, but she can’t wear that to an audition since that is regarded as “un-feminine.”
“Something for auditions that I’ve noticed, and that is particularly difficult for me because of my sense of style, is that all of the clothes you have to wear for an audition are extremely gendered,” Mial said.
Even though onstage and in auditions Francoeur, Mial, and any other musical theatre major are limited to what they can wear, they all still have their own personal style that the stick to daily.
“Every MT is completely different, and (their style) is dependent upon what makes them happy,” Francoeur said.