William Ivey Long (#216) - August, 2008

Five time Tony-winner William Ivey Long talks about his extensive career as one of Broadway's top costume designers, from his earliest days on stage -- living in a dressing room at the Raleigh Little Theatre in North Carolina -- to his upcoming projects 9 To 5 and Dreamgirls. Along the way, he describes how shocked he was by the first thing he saw on stage at the Yale School of Drama; how his career developed largely thanks to the support of his drama school friends; how he came up with Anita Morris' iconic body suit for Nine -- and how it resulted in his never working with Tommy Tune again; whether there's a difference between designing musicals and plays; how the paintings of Gauguin influenced his designs for Guys And Dolls; what its like to revisit the Chicago costumes for a variety of different actresses; and why he chooses to wear a largely unvaried "uniform" every single day.