Musical theatre requires a lot of practice in singing, dancing, and acting. But once you’ve got that down, you’re ready to perform. Except for one thing: What to wear.

Some characters have very clear “costumes“, but with a lot of new musical theater, the characters are just like you and me (which is why we like them!), but that can make it hard to decide what to wear. Especially since the costumes aren’t called out in the script like when doing a whole show.

However, even if a lot of the characters are 20-somethings trying to find their way, they’re all very unique. So here’s some advice on trying to decide what to wear when performing #NMTsongs:

• What kind of person is the character? The nerd? The popular guy? What does that “type” of person wear?
• What is the character’s age? What is appropriate to wear for that character at their age?
• How does the character feel? What would someone wear when they feel that way?

Just as not every 20-something looks the same, not every 20-something character wears the same things you wear. But you can definitely add your own flair as long as you keep the character in mind – the advantage of new musical theatre where you get to define the character as much as the writers do.

That said, it’s always fun when you actually get to dress up in something you’d never normally wear. I’m sure that’s why half of us do musical theatre, and particularly relevant since Halloween was just last week.

With that in mind, here’s a great singer from Kingston Musical Theatre singing My Party Dress by Kerrigan and Lowdermilk:

The post #NMTVotW: What to Wear appeared first on The NewMusicalTheatre.com Green Room.