One of the highlights of QUEERGURU’s summer season in PTown is that for the past three years the legendary costume designer BOB MACKIE has very graciously allowed us to interrupt his vacation here to film an exclusive interview with us. He usually makes the pilgrimage to town to support his very good friend the jazz virtuoso MARILYN MAYE who, as a very young 90-year-old, plays to packed houses here  for one week every year,

This time we are are not sure if we can expect to see him lounging on the deck of The Anchor Inn Beach House because now he’s really busy. The 9 time Emmy Award winner and 3 time Academy Award nominee may just be about to add a Tony Award to his trophy shelf as he is designing the costumes for the Broadway-bound The Cher Show.  This new musical based on the life and career of the iconic singer and actress will have its pre-Broadway Premiere in Chicago with previews beginning on June 12, 2018 at Broadway In Chicago’s Oriental Theatre  before opening on Broadway in November.

Mackie has a long history of working with CHER  and created the costumes for her 2008–11 Las Vegas Cher at the Colosseum residency at Caesars Palace, as well as for her 2017 “Classic Cher” shows in Las Vegas and Washington D.C.  More notably Mackie designed the exotic ensemble worn by Cher at the 1986 Academy Awards: black stretch pants, a bejewelled loincloth, knee-high boots, a black chainlink top, and a huge feathered Mohawk headdress that was one and a half times taller than her head. Introduced by Jane Fonda with the words, “Wait’ll you see what’s gonna come out here”.