Corsets, topcoats, military jackets, and shoes. How Opera Philadelphia fits 85 costumes for ‘La bohème’

La bohème’s corseted dresses and topcoats ooze poor, mid-19th century Paris bohemian.

And for this production of one of the genre’s most performed titles, that’s no easy feat. In Yuval Sharon’s reimagining of Giacomo Puccini’s classic, Mimì (Kara Goodrich) and Rodolfo’s (Joshua Blue) story ends with the couple’s budding love affair, rather than with Mimì's death, uplifting the vibe. This new La bohème is 100 minutes and there’s no intermission, leaving little time for costume changes.

Fitting the cast was “like putting together a puzzle,” said Millie Hiibel, who has been Opera Philadelphia’s costume director for 11 years and has outfitted three La bohèmes for the company. “I had to make the clothes work for this [one], but it also had to work for Philadelphia.”

Opera Philadelphia’s costume shop is buzzing one recent Friday afternoon with patternmakers, seamstresses, cutters, and stitchers hemming trousers, altering chemises, taking in petticoats, and adding boning to corsets. Costume shop makers use the same techniques stitchers in high end design houses use to fashion couture gowns. Mimì’s costume fits her body with the same grace as Angela Bassett’s red carpet gowns.

Here’s how it all comes together.

La bohème’s costumes were built in Detroit for its spring 2022 premiere at the Detroit Opera. Costume makers at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., and Boston altered and added to them to fit their casts. Now, it’s Philadelphia’s turn.

Six hampers filled with 85 costumes — each one including five pieces — arrived in Philadelphia in January. The ensembles come labeled with the name and role of the last person who wore them printed on each garment. Hiibel and her staff combed through them making sure each of the opera’s eight principal singers, 48 adult chorus members, 23 children’s chorus members, and six supers has a costume assigned to them.

La bohème is the story of four, broke Parisian bohemians trying to make a life for themselves in the 1800s. The productions are usually opulent, but Sharon’s La bohème focuses on the power of song more than the grandness of place, making for a much more streamlined show. The chorus wears one soft blue look for the opera’s entirety. “We have to be more nuanced,” Hiibel said. “There’s little difference between vendors, shopkeepers, milkmaids, upperclassman, or lower classmen. The focus is in the silhouette.”

With more than 60 members in its children’s and adults’ choruses, Opera Philadelphia’s cast is larger than that of many companies, so Hiibel and her staff built a dozen chorus outfits. Costume makers in Detroit sent extra bolts of fabric and notions for such a possibility, but didn’t send enough for all of the added garments, so Hiibel went to New York City’s fabric district to buy more. She bought several more bolts of the velveteen fabric in a shade lighter than the deep blue fabric Detroit sent.

Two of the bass singers — both over 6 feet — did not have military jackets, a requirement for their roles. Hiibel built two additional jackets with the fabric she purchased.

» READ MORE: Opera Philadelphia is taking its new ‘La bohème’ forward through flashbacks

The costumes of Mimì, Rodolfo, Marcello (Troy Cook), and Musetta (Melissa Joseph) are vibrant on stage. Sharon’s La bohème is joyful, focusing on characters as they enter the dreamy springtime of their lives. “The mood is that life is beginning anew,” Hiibel said. “Mimì’s yellow dress reflects hope. [One of] Musetta’s dresses reminds me of a delightful treat one might find in a French bakery, a tiered dress that looks like icing.”

Cook played Marcello in South Carolina. But the rest of the leads’ costumes needed work. Both of Musetta’s coquettish gowns needed extensive alterations, but didn’t need to be rebuilt. The skirts on both of Mimì’s dresses needed altering. And because Goodrich is taller and has a longer torso than the Boston Mimì (Lauren Michelle), both bodices needed to be rebuilt.

Rodolfo’s entire costume needed to be rebuilt because, as Blue says, “he’s a lot thicker” than the other Rodolfos. Hiibel matched the fabrics as closely as she could, choosing a midnight blue silk brocade for Rodolfo’s vest, brown, plaid trousers, and a green cravat. She couldn’t find a match for the coat, so she dyed deep blue fabric a brighter teal.

» READ MORE: Where have I seen this? Finding bits of ‘La bohème’ in pop culture

La bohème is performed on a raked, turntable stage, and actors have to get used to maneuvering on it in Victorian-style, spool-heel shoes. The opera keeps many pairs around; after all, a lot of operas are set in the 1800s, but Hiibel ordered 10 additional pairs for this production.

After each performance, the costume shop staff inspects the apparel, steaming it, replacing buttons, fixing tears from onstage tussles, and removing stains. Once the show wraps up, Hiibel and her staff will repack the hampers and send them back to where the opera originated. Hiibel will include the additional choral ensembles her staff built. As for Rodolfo’s new outfit, Blue says he might buy it. “These outfits are great,” said Blue, who bought the suit he wore for Rigoletto. “They really add to my wardrobe.”