How do you keep a hyena clean?
Very carefully, laughs Gregory Young, wardrobe supervisor for the 350 costumes that travel with the tour of The Lion King, which plays Hartford’s Bushnell Aug. 1-19.
Half the costumes can be washed, he says, but for the unique fabrics and materials of the other costumes designed by director Julie Taymor, he turns to a local dry cleaner, French Cleaners of West Hartford. (And because the tour has played Hartford several times before, the cleaner is well versed in his costume challenges.)
“This is the most unique show I’ve worked on,” Young says. “With other shows you deal with pants, shirts, ties and dresses — unless you get into rhinestones and sequins and stuff like that.”
But keeping a warthog and meerkat fresh is something else entirely.
