Singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger kicked off the TDF’s Costumes & Cocktails Spring gala at Tao Downtown in Manhattan on April 7. The 2024 Laurence Olivier Award winner discussed the importance of costumes.
“Making my Broadway debut this season in Sunset Boulevard has been one of the greatest experiences of my entire life, and every night as I slip into Norma Desmond’s world, pun intended, it is my costume that helps me truly become her,” she shared.
“Just a simple slip, and I’m transformed. But that’s what great costume design is: storytelling through a garment, building a character with fabric and thread. Like Norma, the slip is strong, it is vulnerable, it is a touch dangerous, and spoiler alert, it’s completely soaked in blood by the end of the show. I am so honored to be here with all of you tonight, celebrating 50 years of the TDF Costume Collection.”
The event started with a cocktail hour and passed hors d’oeuvres in a well-dressed room filled with Broadway’s best behind-the-scenes and off-the-stage. Dancers livened up the event, showing off their best disco moves to songs like “The Hustle.”
Three-time Tony Award-winning costume designer Gregg Barnes was honored with the TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for Sustained Excellence in Costume Design and costumes and textile designer Wilberth Gonzalez received the TDF/Kitty Leech Ascending Artist Award, an award won by Barnes 31 years ago. Milliner and artisan Arnold S. Levine, Inc. received the TDF/Irene Sharaff Artisan Award and scenic designer Robert Israel received the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.
The evening continued with a buffet dinner and dancing for the rest of the night, with some performers spontaneously taking the stage to perform.
“For 50 years, the TDF Costume Collection has been providing rentals to groups all over the country,” Director of the TDF Costume Collection Stephen Cabral said in a statement before the event. “From a community theatre in South Carolina to a high school in Pennsylvania, from an Equity theatre in Seattle to ‘Saturday Night Live’ at 30 Rock, we are always here to help you dress your vision. As a proud member of the Collection staff for over 30 years, it is such a profound pleasure to honor this year’s extraordinary group of theatre artists with our annual tradition of the Irene Sharaff Awards while also celebrating the history of the TDF Costume Collection and its enduring mission.”
TDF (Theatre Development Fund) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to sharing the power of the performing arts with everyone.
