The Joys of Cosplay - Musical Theatre Edition

• Nicole, Spoeks Cosplay

Ever since I was a little kid, my mom used to bring me to theaters to see musicals. I have always loved and treasured these moments. The set, the lighting, music, singing, and dancing, all these things have brought me an intense amount of joy throughout my life. Musical theatre tells you a story in the most magical way. When I was 5 years old I thought that when I would grow up I could be playing Nancy in Oliver, when I was 9 I loved to pretend that I would be playing Molly in Annie and 12-year-old me was wishing for a local production of Les Mis so I could really play little Cosette. Unfortunately, there weren’t any musical theatre programs or lessons in my area, so I never have or will make this childhood dream come true. But then, almost 4 years ago something happened: I discovered cosplay.

When I had to pick an education to study for a bachelor’s degree in 2016, I decided I wanted to do something creative, but also something with people. This had led me to the study: Fine Arts and Design in Education, which means I could become an art teacher if I would get a diploma. I had always liked drawing, painting, graphical designing and editing videos. But one of the students there told me it’s more important to have a wide range of creative experiences than being good at 1 thing. So I also made sculptures and started to look at sewing tutorials on YouTube. This had resulted in making my first cosplay, without the intention of cosplaying that is. It was my costume of Eponine from Les Miserables. I did not have a sewing machine at that time, so everything had been made by hand, and I loved making this garment. I don’t think I can ever depart from this costume; it holds a lot of emotional value for me. And because I loved this so much, I decided to make more costumes and in 2017 I had bought my first sewing machine ever.

During my time at art school, I had developed some mental issues, I was very stressed, depressed and almost burned out. I had even lost my ability to read.

Theatre & cosplay where the only things I still enjoyed, I had lost my love for drawing and became very unmotivated to be productive, even simple things like brushing my hair where exhausting. I was very unhappy, but the cosplay and the musical theatre community helped me through. Shows like Dear Evan Hansen became very important to me, just like for example Elle Woods’s determination to never give up. After 2 years of art school, I had decided to quit.

Going to art school feels like the best and the worst decision I have ever made. It was amazing because it brought me to cosplay, but also the worst because of the mental state it had brought me in. But back to cosplay. When I started cosplaying, there weren’t many musical theatre cosplayers, or at least in the Netherlands, but I slowly see this genre getting more and more popular. I have made so many musical loving friends just because of cosplay, and I can’t express how grateful I am for them. Cosplaying has defiantly changed my life for the better (which is why I’m working on a Glinda cosplay ;) ) (Just kidding, I want to cosplay Glinda because where are very much alike). The community is the best, it’s like a little loving family. Down below I have added a collage of all my cosplays so far, and as you can see, most of them are musical theatre-related.

You might wonder what the before and after transformations means. Well, this is a 2 in one dress, so it’s hard to capture on photo. But I do have it on video to give you a better idea of what this means: https://youtu.be/Ln_IZmNh3-Y (the magic happens at 0:22).

Cosplay also made me way more self-secure. It makes you realize people often don’t judge you for your creativity but they rather embrace it. In the beginning, I would never go out in cosplay in public. But by now I have done this multiple times, for meetings, out of con shoots, in public transfer to a con and even to theatres! Some people look at you funny, but most people really love it, they tend to ask friendly questions and give you many compliments! The first time I went to a theatre in cosplay was when I was visiting the London production of Heathers. I went as Heather McNamara and my friend Rosalie (rosa.rem.cosplay) went as Veronica Sawyer. This was kind of a last-minute made decision, so our looks weren’t perfect, but people recognized and loved it!

This nice experience had resulted in taking things a little further and to also do this in a bolder costume and in my own country. I know Dutch people can be a little bit judgmental, so I found this very scary to do so. I had made the Big Red dress from Anastasia and was wearing it when I went to see the Dutch production of this show! When I almost arrived, I started to regret this choice, I was so nervous! But it was one of the best experiences ever. People LOVED it, and after the show, I got a hug from a little girl in the row behind me. Another great thing was that after the show, another little girl asked for a photo with me, which resulted in a photo line. I was taking photos with people for about half an hour! Such a confidence boost! I have made a vlog about visiting Anastasia in this dress, which you can watch here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KU8Es0vHFDs but if you prefer Instagram TV, I have also uploaded it on there! My Instagram name is: Spoeks.

Because of how amazing this experience was, I’m currently also making the dress of Olga Romanov from the musical Anastasia. I will wear this dress when I’ll visit the show for the second time and my friend Rosalie will join me in Anya’s blue gala gown. I’m very curious if people will respond the same way to an ensemble costume as they did to the costume of the lead role. I guess we will see by then!

I want to thank everybody who has been reading my story to the end, and I also want to say a big thank you to OnStage Blog for giving me this great opportunity for letting me share my story!

Links:
Facebook, for progress photos and tutorials:
https://www.facebook.com/SpoeksCosplay/

Instagram, where I am the most active and upload most end results/photoshoot photos:
https://www.instagram.com/spoeks/

YouTube, for cosplay skits and my visit to Anastasia vlog (I’m not super active on YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBFwcf4Wk1HpOP4VfDJldjg?view_as=subscriber