"Marrom: O musical" , the premiere – Costumes production with the support of the Maranhão cooperative
In July, the “Marrom: O musical” creator, Jô Santana, and the team of costume designers, Lígia Rocha, Jemima Tuany and Marco Pacheco gave a creative workshop to women incarcerated in the Pedrinhas prison complex, in Maranhão, who are members of the social cooperative created by the Humanitas360 Institute. The cooperative members will produce embroidery and costume details for the show that pays tribute, through Bumba Meu Boi, the main character of folkloric parties that take place in the North and Northeast of Brazil, to the life and 50-year career of Alcione – who is the cooperative’s godmother.
The show “Marrom: O musical”, written and directed by Miguel Falabella, premieres on August 25 at the Sérgio Cardoso Theater, in São Paulo, and is already available for presale on the Sympla website. During his visit, Jô Santana and his team started the main workshop’s main stage, during which the 15 women produced essential pieces for the costumes, with sewing and embroidery.
“When Miguel had the idea of paying tribute to Alcione, he understood that he needed to make it into something very rich, attractive, so that people would be amazed by the story, and nothing better than having the ox as a backdrop” , said costume designer Lígia Rocha. The show initially tells the story of “Bumba meu boi”, intertwining with Alcione’s trajectory materializing in the actors’ costumes, the idea of literally producing an ox was always out of the question. Therefore, it was important that the pieces were produced by residents of the state. That’s when the social cooperative came on the scene.
“We weren’t supposed to make the ox, the people of Maranhão have to do it. It’s in their tradition, they know how to do it beautifully. So the suggestion came from him [Miguel Falabella] that we cut the ox and place it in each corner of the embroidery. When we put everything together, we can turn into an ox, with all this information that we gathered in Maranhão”, said the costume designer. According to Ligia Rocha, from the beginning, Jô Santana said that part of the costume work would be done by the Maranhao social cooperative.
“When we arrived at the prison, I realized that this cooperative is an oasis inside the prison. It’s a well-assembled garment factory like I’ve seen few, an incredible structure, beautiful, sunny, we spent the day embroidering and women embroider anywhere” , revealed the costume designer. Ligia Rocha says that there was a great engagement on the part of the cooperative members, who were delighted to be able to embroider the ox with their own materials for this purpose. “We lived something special there among the women, it didn’t matter who I was, who Jemima was, it didn’t matter at all. It was a group of women embroidering and wanting to make everything beautiful. It was amazing, fulfilling, I think it’s a project and a job I will never forget” she concluded.
Even with the return of the costume designer team to São Paulo, production at the cooperative in Maranhão continues to be carried out, closer and closer to the musical’s big debut.
“We started an affection workshop embroidering these references for the show, so they [the incarcerated women] are so happy. As Lígia says, we are dealing with affection and this will show in the scenes, it was incredible, exciting to be there these four days. It was awesome, so much so that when we leave my heart is torn apart because we created an emotional bond with all of them. This is very cool. The Maranhão team is wonderful, it was a great party, a celebration”, shared Jô Santana.
Jô has great expectations for the premier that has been in the works for 5 years, and that in less than a month will be able to be honored by all fans of the musical icon that is Alcione.
“Expectations are the highest, right?! We are coming on strong, we have been absorbing it all from Maranhão, so I am very excited to tell Alcione ‘s story, these 50 years. And with my friend, brother, Miguel Falabella, his text and direction, it ‘s a luxury! We are taking the show to the theater, to rehearse with light, sound, costumes and scenery. The time has come to show it to the world with a lot of love, a lot of affection for the Brazilian people. I want to thank Patrícia Villela Marino, who created this project of immense dimension, I am very grateful to be part of the Humanitas360 family, she who dreamed it up and put it out there, we are just contributing to this great project that is the social cooperative of Maranhão” concluded Jô Santana.