Countdown To Catch Me If You Can – 6 Weeks To First Preview!

The World Premiere production of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN --Seattle's Theatrical Event of the Year --is now only 6 weeks away!

This week I have the absolute thrill of  telling you about our legendary costume designer - the one and only Bob Mackie!

Bob Mackie has been designing costumes for film, television, and Broadway for over 4 decades. He has received 30 Emmy nominations, 8 Emmy Awards, and 3 Oscar nominations for Lady Sings the Blues, Funny Lady, and Pennies From Heaven.

His Broadway credits include On the Town with Bernadette Peters, Lorelei with Carol Channing, Platinum with Alexis Smith, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public with Dee Hoty, and Moon Over Buffalo and Putting It Together both with Carol Burnett, and Minnelli on Minnelli with Liza Minnelli.

Mackie's television work includes designing for Diana Ross, Diahann Carroll, Cher, Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, Angela Lansbury, and television productions of Brigadoon, Kismet, Carousell, and Gypsy with Bette Midler. 

In 2002 Mr. Mackie was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame -- the first and only designer to be awarded this honor. Check out his spectacular costumes in this video clip from Mitzi Gaynour’s television spectaculars!

Perhaps most famously Mr. Mackie was the designer for all 11 years of "The Carol Burnett Show."  

His work on that show was truly amazing  and was akin to designing and creating the costumes of a full Broadway show every week of the television season.  In addition to designing a seemingly endless parade of classy and sophisticated outfits for Ms. Burnett and her guests, he also demonstrated that he is a master at defining character.  Like all great costume designers his first and main goal is to help in telling the story at hand.  Perhaps his most memorable and hilarious costume for The Carol Burnett Show was featured in the sketch "Went With The Wind" -- a parody of Gone With The Wind in which Carol, portraying Scarlett O’Hara with a curtain rod still in her dress, exclaims “I saw it in the window and I just couldn’t resist it!” That costume was recently inducted into the Smithsonian Institute and can be found as part of Mr. Mackie’s collectable Barbie Doll series.

In September 1999, Mr. Mackie was honored with a retrospective of his fashion and costume acheivments at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York which I had the incredible pleasure of viewing on multiple occasions.  The depth and breadth of all those years of his amazing work assembled under one roof was simply staggering.   

The exhibit coincided with the release of a fabulous book entitled Unmistakably Mackie.

In addition to his costume and fashion design, Mr. Mackie has a loyal customer base for his "Wearable Art" program on the QVC network. Mackie glamour can also be found in his line of fragrances and his recently introduced line of home furnishings.

We are honored to have Bob Mackie here with us at The 5th.  And as you might imagine our costume and wardrobe staff are thrilled to be working with him on this exciting project.