CAROL MARQUIS, Travis Grant and Amy Mussman try on some costumes as they prepare for Saturday’s sale.
Looking for an unusual item to wear this Halloween? Or how about a crocodile to keep in the house?
Maine State Music Theatre is holding its fifth annual costume sale on Saturday at their headquarters at 22 Elm St. from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
There will be rows of costumes, wigs and accessories used in past plays, along with a variety of props. Many of the costumes and props were made in-house, while others were donated to MSMT over the years. All of the materials were located in MSMT’s storage facility at Fort Andross and trucked over to MSMT headquarters in the weeks preceding the sale.
“It’s taken two weeks to haul everything over here,” said Amy Mussman, rentals manager at MSMT, who has been in charge of sorting and set-up of the sale. “But it took several months to pull all of the materials together.”
Carol Marquis, director of marketing and communications at MSMT, said that there is something for everyone at the costume sale.
“There’s everything from clothes that you can wear anytime of day to armor that you can ‘Game of Thrones’-out on,” said Marquis, who will be on hand to help run the event on Saturday. “It’s a lot of stuff. The racks are packed.”
Marquis said that along with patrons who are looking for Halloween costumes and flashy wardrobe options, many smaller local theaters can attend the sale and stock up on costumes and props for upcoming productions. The average price for costumes ranges between $10-$20, but prices will be somewhat negotiable, Mussman said.
Among the options are the wardrobe from “Beauty and the Beast,” the ghost from “A Christmas Carol,” signs from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” pieces of furniture, a non-working piano, the coffin from “Evita” and the life-size crocodile from “Peter Pan,” which Marquis said you can “get inside and put your hands in and shimmy along.” The croc, which was one of many props brought over to MSMT when Seaside Music Theater went out of business in 2009, is selling for $200.
Said Mussman: “The crocodile is honestly just brilliant. We’ll miss seeing him around here.”
“This is our first year selling props,” Marquis said. “Most of this stuff is built to be in a show.”
Another highlight is a coat and hat worn by actress Jane Seymour of “James Bond” and “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” fame. Seymour wore the outfit in the 1984 film “The Crossing,” and it’s on sale for a modest $60.
Marquis said that all of the money made from the sale will go back into costume production for next year’s shows.
“Costume design (for the shows) will start this winter,” said Marquis. “This money will go into anything costume-related.”
The costume room holds up to 100 people, and the folks at MSMT expect the room to be at full capacity for much of the day.
“There was a line out the door last year,” said rentals coordinator Travis Grant. “People were camping out waiting for the doors to open.”
The sale started as a shoe sale in 2012, and advanced to a costume sale in 2015. After a banner year for MSMT, Marquis expects a big turnout.
“It takes a tremendous amount of effort to put something like this together,” said Marquis.
bgoodridge@timesrecord.com
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