Costumers are so often the unsung heroes of the stage, rarely enjoying the opportunity to stand in the spotlight and shine alongside the creations they sew — unless they are legendary fashion designer Bob Mackie, who was entertainingly embodied by Tyler Pirrung in the recent Broadway tour of The Cher Show. This Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 20-21), the multi-talented Monica Titus aims to do Mr. Mackie one better by mounting the Winter Park Playhouse (winterparkplayhouse.org) stage herself to share stories and songs from shows she’s dressed there, without the benefit of a mouthpiece. Fortunately for Orlando audiences, this “sensational singing seamstress” (assisted by musical director Christopher Leavy) boasts the artistic range — both vocally and visually — to weave her wardrobe rack of musical memories into a world-premiere solo cabaret she calls Behind the Seams!
Winter Park Playhouse
Although Titus has created costumes for 14 mainstage musicals at Winter Park Playhouse — along with designing for numerous other area venues — her first love was not sewing, but singing. Born and raised in Melbourne, Florida, she joined choir in elementary school, and continued all the way through college. She made the leap to performing in musical theater while attending Cocoa Beach High School, and went on to study classical music at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. However, she says costuming was always in her blood: “I grew up in a family of women who sewed — my grandmother, my mother, even my great-grandmother — [and] my grandma made clothes for me in elementary school, which is cool now, but not cool then.”
Titus moved to Orlando shortly after graduating in 2012, and soon got involved in the local theater community. “The very first show that I booked was Sunday in the Park with George at Mad Cow Theatre, which was definitely a very special show,” says Titus, who cites Sondheim as a particular favorite to perform. “I got that show, and I got a place to live, and I was hitting all my stereotypes, because I also went the food and beverage route as like a safety net, so I was waitressing at the time.”
Titus insists that she never intended to be a costume designer, but “kind of got pulled into it” after she wore a vintage 1950s-style dress she’d made to a Mad Cow opening night party. “They were doing Tommy: The Musical, and they had lost their designer.” Titus took on the challenge, despite only having previously costumed a two-character one-act in school. “I think I did more all-nighters costume designing than I did in college, for sure.”
She went on to perform in Sweeney Todd under director Derek Critzer and Company with the Studio Theatre at Tierra del Sol in The Villages, but for many years Titus has mostly made her home at Winter Park Playhouse. Ironically, she recalls that “it took a couple years of auditioning” to get her first show there. Eventually she was cast in a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue alongside local favorites Kevin Kelly and Natalie Cordone; since then, she has appeared at WPP in A Swingin’ Christmas, Honky Tonk Angels and The Florida Festival of New Musicals, among others.
Titus now wears multiple hats at WPP: In addition to designing costumes for the Playhouse, she also helps manage the bar and backstage storage. “It is one of the warmest places that I’ve worked as a theater company,” says Titus, adding that owners Roy Alan and Heather Alexander “have been there for me as human beings in a way that I haven’t felt before.”
When asked which she would pick if forced to chose between costuming and singing, Titus says, “If I had to do one or the other for the rest of my life, I would want to sing. That’s something that I can’t not do; in daily life, I’m always humming or singing. That’s, I think, where my heart lies.” However, she also says the things that “hit her heart the most” are performers’ reactions when they put on something they feel really good in, or audience reactions: when a piece gets a laugh or entrance applause. “Those are my biggest things in costuming that really light me up,” she says.
As one of the few professional full-time theaters in town, and the only one focused on musicals, Winter Park Playhouse plays a key role in the careers of artists like Titus, making her one among many who are thrilled that the company was recently awarded a major grant of $8 million from Tourism Development Tax funding to help purchase and renovate their longtime home. “It started just like a shoe box — their space was tiny, they had fold-out seats, [so] the amount of growth that they’ve had in that time … just thinking about what it means for them to have that legacy continue and know that it’s going to be there continuing to enrich people’s lives,” reflects Titus, “it’s just a sense of relief and excitement.”
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This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2024.