New interview from Zap2It on costumes for RHGS
'Glee' costumes: 'Rocky Horror' board shorts, covered Frank-N-Furter
By Hanh Nguyen | October 25, 2010 9:58 PM ET
The "Glee"cast may go racy for GQ, but when it comes to paying homage to the salacious "Rocky Horror Picture Show," they're dressed far more demurely.
On "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" episode Tuesday night (Oct. 26), New Directions takes on the cult classic film in which strait-laced couple Brad and Janet's (originally Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon) adventures when they stumble upon transvestite/mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) and his castle full of wacky partygoers. Rocky (Peter Hinwood) is Frank-N-Furter's creation, a perfect golden Adonis.
Rocky sports what one may describe as "tighty goldies" in the film. On the show, however, the gold lamé bottoms get a looser and longer fit on Sam (Chord Overstreet).
"Chord was an awesome sport about it," Emmy-nominated costume designer Lou Eyrich tells Zap2it. "We couldn't go quite as short and tight as the original. We did have to clean it up just a little bit. He was like, 'Whatever you want.' He was really great. Look at his body too."
Overstreet's body is one sore point for "Rocky" purists who are upset that in first-look photos, he appears during the "Time Warp" musical number also wearing a gold tanktop. Eyrich assures us that he will indeed bare his chest, which the actor has joked he's contractually obligated to do each episode.
"I've read online that a couple people were complaining," says Eyrich "They didn't know that he actually goes without the shirt and just for the 'Time Warp' he wears a shirt."
The original film's over-the-top camp is only matched by the toplessness, more male than female. Watch the preview to catch a glimpse of Overstreet, Cory Monteith and Matthew Morrison all baring their chests.
Besides men's underwear, lingerie also play a big part of the film's wardrobe since one of Frank-N-Furter's signature outfits includes a corset, garters and sheer stockings. Eyrich's most conceptual challenge was outfitting Mercedes (Amber Riley), who plays the doctor for the choir's production.
"It is a FOX show and it's on primetime, so we also had to think what's acceptable," Eyrich "I'm a mom, so I'm a little more sensitive to those things too. What can the kids watch? At the same time we want to appeal to all audiences.
"We wanted to design something that was both sexy, but not too revealing for primetime television," she continues. "It took me a few hours to figure it out. What would Amber be comfortable in, move in? What could we make quickly? We only had a few days to put it all together."
Photos of Riley only show her covered in Frank-N-Furter's long scrubs, so the more alluring outfit will be revealed on the show.
It's appropriate that Mercedes' pal Kurt (Chris Colfer) plays Frank-N-Furter's right-hand handyman Riff Raff. Sexiness is not an issue with this character, but Eyrich tried to keep the clothes somewhat current, not only to appeal to younger viewers, but also because this is supposed to be a high school production.
"We gave him a tailcoat, but we put it with a J.Crew henley and some cool necklaces that we bought on Melrose," she explains. "We updated it with a pair of jeans instead of a tux pant. Little touches like that."
Artie (Kevin McHale) plays Dr. Everett Scott, Frank-N-Furter's chief rival -- who also happens to be the father of delivery boy Eddie (Harry Shum as Mike Chang) -- and the narrator/commentator who calls out the dance directions during the "Time Warp." There's actually a lot of strange duality going on in the episode, since John Stamos' character Carl also plays a version of Eddie.
Brittany and Tina (Heather Morris, Jenna Ushkowitz) share the role of Frank-N-Furter groupie Columbia, while Santana and Quinn (Naya Rivera, Dianna Agron) switch off playing the scientist's domestic Magenta. When one is playing the more featured role, the other portrays a partygoer and vice versa. So get ready to pause and rewind so you can name the Columbia or Magenta. Only during the "Time Warp" do we see doubling up.
As for Finn (Monteith), he plays the sort of dorky Brad, which only requires thick-framed glasses, and Rachel's (Lea Michele ) wardrobe looks oddly similar to her regular wardrobe.
"That's why she was the perfect Janet," says Eyrich.
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