Woman behind the costumes of SRJC’s stage productions

Have you heard, the Phantom is coming. Anticipation is palpable at Santa Rosa Junior College, where Maryanne Scozzari labors to assure that an intriguing and unusual cast of characters is dressed splendidly for the theatrical occasion.

The soundtrack to “The Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s longest-?playing musical, streams from speakers in the campus costume shop as teacher Scozzari and a crew of students work on a most unusual and challenging wardrobe.

Set in 1905, the “Phantom” story quickly flashes back to 1881. “Not just to 1881,” Scozzari points out, “but to 1881 in an opera house in the midst of a rehearsal for the ‘Hannibal’?” - an opera within a play that’s set in about 200 B.C.

In a flash, the era of the clothing on stage changes by more than ?2,000 years. Later on, the story moves to a 17th-century opera, “Il Muto,” and subsequently to “Don Juan Triumphant,” what Scozzari calls a “vaguely 15th-century” Spanish opera.

Imagine what this chronological leaping about means to a costume-maker. The production requires the design and creation, or renting, of costumes from a dazzling if not daunting array of historical periods.

And this particular production of “Phantom,” to open Friday in the JC’s Burbank Auditorium, serves up another challenge to Scozzari, her students and a corps of volunteer “costume angels.”

Each of the four lead roles - those of the Phantom, Christine, Carlotta and Piangi - is shared by two actors.

The six students in the first three roles divvy up the performances because the demands on their voices are so extreme. And sharing the part of Piangi, the production’s leading tenor, are two professional opera singers prohibited by other commitments from appearing in all of the 12 shows at the JC.

The double-casting required the costume makers to produce twice as many garments for the lead actors.

“That’s what really put this show over the top for us,” said Scozzari, who admits to working 14-hour days and seven-day weeks as opening night nears.

But the instructor of costume, mask, puppet and makeup design isn’t complaining. She loves the work she’s done for 27 years at SRJC, and she’s aware that the wonders and fame and ambition of “The Phantom of the Opera” have pulses racing all through the theater arts department.

“The students in the costume shop want to listen to the CD every day,” she said. “Every time we go to a rehearsal and come back to the shop, there’s a new energy.”

Though she has a good deal of help, Scozzari was responsible for creating rough and then finished sketches of each costume and having them approved by director John Shillington. She has done ?the same for many productions by the JC’s acclaimed drama department, among them “Les Misérables,” “Aida,” “The ?Wizard of Oz,” “Legally Blonde,” “Spamalot” and “Sweeney Todd.”

Having worked also in professional theater, Scozzari said that in a teaching environment she takes into account the experience, ability and needs of the students who’ll be doing most of the costume-production work.

She asks herself, for example, “Do I have projects that a beginner can do and feel good about, and that intermediate students will find challenging but not overwhelming?”

There are 34 people in the “Phantom” cast. With all of the transitions from opera to opera and from era to era, and with the double-casting, the charge to Scozzari and her students and volunteers was to come up with nearly 180 costumes.

They didn’t need to create all of them from scratch. Scozzari rented some from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and from San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.

The process of envisioning and designing the many costumes that had to be created from scratch began last summer. Once Scozzari had a good idea of the fabrics she needed, she headed down to Los Angeles’ garment district.

“I do a lot of shopping for these big shows in LA,” she said. ?The prices and selection are better there than anywhere in the Bay Area.

The chorus of activity in the costume shop adjacent to Burbank Auditorium reached a crescendo just before the first dress rehearsal, which happened Sunday. As the costume designer, the thrill of Friday’s opening night will be far different for Scozzari and her students than for all the students who’ll be on or behind the stage.

Once it’s showtime, Scozzari said, “My job is done.”

When the curtain rises, she gets to sit and take in the story, the acting, the singing, the sets and the lights. And, oh, those costumes.

You can reach Chris Smith at ?521-5211 and chris.smith?@pressdemocrat.com.