Sunday’s Someday Projects: The Phantom of the Opera in Miniature—Hannibal’s Ballet Costume & Elissa’s Skirt

In October 2011, I attended a live screening of the 25^th anniversary performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. It was phenomenal! There were extreme closeups of every actor—and their costumes. It inspired me to the point where I decided to make each and every costume from the show. Unfortunately, some of these costumes are bulky and I simply don’t have the storage room in my house for such an endeavor, so I scaled back my plans. I started making each of my favorite costumes for Gene Marshall, a 15.5″ fashion doll.

First, I purchased a Gene doll with long brown hair that should take a boil perm easily. I’ll do a facial enhancement to make her makeup a little more natural-looking.

Gene Doll Prior to Enhancements

In the show, the first costume you see Christine wear is the Hannibal ballet outfit. I made this some years ago for a Barbie doll and I look forward to making it again on a larger scale.

Hannibal Ballet Costume ~ © 2012, Lisha Vidler

The costume consists of a red and green velvet leotard that’s trimmed with gold braid, along with red, gold, and green beads. Over the leotard is a ballet skirt made of rope strands. Once Christine is chosen to perform at the upcoming gala, her rope skirt is replaced with Elissa’s full skirt, which she wears to sing, “Think of Me”. This skirt is long and bell-shaped. Some versions are mostly red, with green and gold accents, but the version I’ll be copying is mainly green.

Elissa’s Skirt ~ © 2012, Lisha Vidler

Because I’m working on such a delicate scale, velvet isn’t practical. I bought samples of a lightweight velveteen in dark red and green, as well as red and green satin, so I could choose which I preferred. I have several yards of gold braid, plenty of seed beads, satin rat-tail cording for the rope skirt, and even a red and green shot organza for the scarf.

Materials

Unfortunately, despite an exhaustive search, I cannot find a pair of ballet slippers for the Gene doll. I will try to sew a pair. Failing that, I’ll simply leave her barefoot in the ballet costume, and for the “Think of Me” outfit, I will likely put her in a pair of gold pumps. In any case, I think this will be a fun costume to recreate and I can’t wait to get started!