In addition to the challenge of recreating the comedic and musical aspects of I’ll Say She Is, attention had to be paid to the look of the show — taking cues from the 1924 production whenever possible. This page offers a look at just some of the visual work done on the revival.
PUBLICITY DESIGN
The original production of I’ll Say She Is, in its publicity materials, often set the show’s title lettering in an upward wave. Various iterations of this look were used to advertise the show throughout its run:
The I’ll Say She Is logo, used for the revival and elsewhere, was adapted from a particular ad for the original production, which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer during the show’s tryout at the Walnut Street Theatre.
THE CURVE DESIGN
Photos of the 1924 Broadway set for I’ll Say She Is show the repeated use of this curves-and-dots design — seen, for example, on the staircase in the photo on the left below. The curve design became an important design element for the revival, used in publicity materials as well as in the 2016 set design.
The “Wall Street Blues” / “Tragedy of Gambling” sequence was one of the artistic highlights of the original I’ll Say She Is, and one of the greatest musical and design challenges of the revival. Newspaper cartoonists’ renderings of the original production were helpful in giving designer Julz Kroboth a sense of what the costumes were like.
THE WALL STREET NUMBER
Newspaper drawings of two “Tragedy of Gambling” costumes from 1924 (Cards and Dice), and Julz Kroboth’s costume designs from 2016, featuring Jess Webb as Cards and Sarah Miller as Dice. Photos by Mark X. Hopkins.
The Fairy of Wall Street. Right to left: Florence Hedges in Up in the Clouds (1922), Florence Hedges in I’ll Say She Is (1923), and Olivia Gjurich in I’ll Say She Is (2016). For 2016, costume design by Julz Kroboth; photo by Mark X. Hopkins.
Ledru Stiffler (above left) played Gold in the original I’ll Say She Is, wearing gold body paint. In the 2014 Fringe production, Gold was played by Foxy Vermouth (above center, photo by Don Spiro), in paint. In the 2016 production, there were too many quick-changes for body paint, so Caitlin Brunell (above right, photo by Mark X. Hopkins) played the role in a shimmering gold costume.
PYGMALION AND GALATEA /
THE TRAMP BALLET
Perhaps no other sequence sums up the spirit of I’ll Say She Is as well as this one: An earnest classical interlude, the Pygmalion and Galatea Ballet, is immediately followed by a Marxian parody of what we’ve just seen. The design of the classical costumes, as well as the marble fountain referenced in the dialogue, were adapted from 1924 images.
Above: Harry Walters and Cecile D’Andrea as Pygmalion and Galatea in 1924; Dante Adela and Peyton Lustig as Pygmalion and Galatea in 2016. Newspaper cartoon of the Tramp Ballet in 1924; Seth Shelden and Matt Roper in the Tramp Ballet in 2016.
OPIUM DEN / APACHE DANCE
“Welcome to the lowest dive in the city,” exclaims the Hop Merchant as he ushers Beauty into the opim den, “where creatures of the underworld drug their brains with poisonous poppy.” The mood of the sequence was further suggested by publicity photos. As for the violent and passionate Apache Dance, because it was among the most titillating aspects of the original production, it was depicted in virtually every newspaper drawing of the show, so there was no shortage of visual references.
Above: Publicity photo of the opium den ensemble from the original production, and the equivalent moment in the 2016 production. Below: Newspaper cartoonist’s rendering of the Apache Dance in 1924; and the Apache Dance in 2016, performed by Dante Adela and Peyton Lustig. 2016 costumes by Julz Kroboth; photos by Mark X. Hopkins.
CINDERELLA BACKWARD
Naturally, the best-known elements of the original I’ll Say She Is are those that feature the Marx Brothers most prominently. Any respectable history of the Marx Brothers will cover the Napoleon scene. From the classic Marxian bookshelf, fans might also have gotten a sense of the Cinderella Backward scene — because if you’re publishing a book, and you have the opportunity to include a photograph of Groucho in drag as the Fairy Godmother, you do.
Groucho Marx and Lotta Miles performing “Cinderella Backward” at the Casino in 1924; Noah Diamond and Allison Jane performing “Cinderella Backward” at the Connelly in 2016. Costume design by Julz Kroboth. Photo by Mark X. Hopkins.
NAPOLEON’S FIRST WATERLOO
The Napoleon scene is easily the best-documented feature of the original show — a titanic challenge to stage and perform, but with a wealth of visual references for design.
Three Napoleon poses from 1924, recreated in 2016: Allison Jane, Noah Diamond, Seth Shelden, Matt Roper, and Matt Walters; costumes by Julz Kroboth; photo by Mark X. Hopkins.
But despite the ubiquity of photos showing the Marxes and Miss Miles in their Napoleon costumes, there’s precious little visual reference material available for the rest of the characters in the scene — members of Napoleon’s court, who appear at the top of the scene. So this came almost entirely from the imagination of Julz Kroboth:
First level, left to right: Avital Asuleen, Kathy Biehl, Robyn Michele Frank, Ashley Rubin, Noah Diamond, Peyton Lustig, Caitlin Brunell, Beth Conley. Upper level: Corrado Alicata, Jennifer Harder, Olivia Gjurich, Mark Weatherup, Amber Bloom, Sarah Miller, Jess Webb. Photo by Mark X. Hopkins.