“It was startling to be nominated,” said longtime Mac-Haydn Theatre costume designer Jimm Halliday. “When I heard my name called at the awards ceremony, I went numb. It was like watching a movie of what was happening. My jaw dropped.”
Back on March 5 at the Warner Theatre in downtown Washington, D.C., Halliday and co-designer Santo Loquasto were named winners in the category of “Outstanding Costume Design, Resident Production” for their work on the Spring 2009 production of Ragtime at the Kennedy Center.
Halliday is a veteran of approximately 130 shows at the Mac-Haydn, including 2009’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Hello, Dolly!, Crazy For You, and Meet Me In St. Louis.
The “entirely new concept for the show – different from the original production of Ragtime,” of director Marcia Milgrom Dodge (winner in the category of “Outstanding Director, Resident Musical”), set the stage for the show’s success, said Halliday. “The credit goes to her as a visionary director. She just wanted to re-examine the piece. She had marvelous insight. She wanted to cut the bells and whistles and tell her story. We kept than in mind when conceiving the production numbers. Working with her was an utter delight.”
Halliday said that his five weeks in residence at the Kennedy Center were “unbelievable. It is so beautiful. To work in it is really a great experience.”
When he discovered his seats at the awards ceremony were “way in the back, I knew I wasn’t going to win. Being up against some heavy hitters, I had no expectations of winning. It was such an honor to win. I was gratified that the work was recognized. The months of production meetings paid off,” Halliday said.
In his long and accomplished career, Halliday has also designed in the neighborhood of 20 tours for NETworks, producers and managers of national and international tours. Among those with whom he’s worked are Toni Tennille on the first national tour of Victor, Victoria; Kathy Lee Gifford in the production of Annie at Madison Square Garden; Molly Ringwald for the first national tour of Sweet Charity; and John Davidson in Bully, a one-man show based on the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Halliday also worked on the first national tour of tick … tick … BOOM!, and spent four years as costume designer for the Starlight Express at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Halliday is now back for another summer at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham. This season, he will be designing costumes for Annie Get Your Gun, Anything Goes, Chicago, and Mame.
Jimm Halliday
