Jeremy Legat discusses costume changes in Wicked

Jeremy Legat: I play Boq, who is a Munchkin with a big heart who pretty much mounts this campaign to win Glinda' s heart.

Interviewer: And you play other minor characters in the show?

JL: I mean very, very briefly and very minor characters. Myself and some of the other principals are hidden in the ensemble for the opening number just to boost the sound, boost the ensemble.

I: How many costume changes do you have overall in the show?

JL: I think it' s about seven, I think I have about six costumes and changes of varying speeds, about seven of them.

I: And which is the quickest one you have to do between characters?

JL: Well the quickest one I have to do is actually the first one, when like I said I' m hidden in the ensemble. I have a huge mob coat and a hat and a wig there to disguise me so that people don' t recognise me for when I come on thirty seconds later as Boq. I literally have to charge off-stage; coat, boots, hat off into this costume actually and I have a dresser who helps me. It' s as much choreographed off-stage as it is on-stage it has to be so it can go to speed and I can get on-stage on time.In any show, not just Wicked, a costume designer, as much as us the actors, are trying to create a community. In Wicked different communities, you have all of us who are in Shiz University. This is what I wear for Shiz. All the costumes are variations on this pattern, this design, this colour. A little quirk of Wicked is that things are slightly off kilter, because, you know, in Oz, at the moment things are slightly off kilter. But then later in the witch hunter scene and the Emerald City. Again costumes relate to each other, as indeed the actors relate to each other. You' re building this sense of community.