CUE & A REVISITED: What Was Your Worst Costume Ever?; 60 Actors Respond

By Playbill Staff
14 Sep 2012

Cheyenne Jackson
Cheyenne Jackson
Photo by Karl Simone

The editors of Playbill.com have combed through the past seven years of our popular Cue & A feature to select some of our favorite answers to the question, "What was the worst costume you ever had to wear?" Sixty responses from Broadway actors follow.

(Clicking on a name bolded in blue will take readers to that actor's entry in the Playbill Vault.)

Cheyenne Jackson
This one's easy. I did a production of HMS Pinafore at Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre in Idaho, where the show was set in a toy shop. Sounds clever, right? I mean, imagine the possibilities. Unfortunately, it was decided that all the girls in the ensemble were going to be ducks, (WTF??) and all the men would be Raggedy Andy dolls. (Yup.) It was insane. We all wore white makeup with long curly red wigs. Some of the smaller, cuter ensemble boys could pull it off, but me…???? I looked like a giant, deranged, Howard Stern Clown-Monster.

Marissa Jaret Winokur
When I was a dancing fiber girl with a hard hat singing "Fiber, gotta keep it moving." You can only imagine the costume!

Patrick Page
Worst in what way? Lumiere was 40 pounds, Scar 45 pounds, Grinch is very hot! Worst looking was a loincloth I wore as Marc Antony in Julius Caesar at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Continued...