After appearing in Classic Stage Company's premiere of Dead Poets Society and Shakespeare in the Park's production of The Tempest, Francesca Carpanini makes her Broadway debut as young heiress Alexandra in MTC's revival of the Lillian Hellman drama The Little Foxes
. Alexandra is the daughter of the willful and ruthless Regina and the confidant of her battered down Aunt Birdie (both played by Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon at alternating performances).Scroll on as Francesca shares with BroadwayBox all her fabulous Foxes fashions designed by Tony Award recipient Jane Greenwood.
Our play opens with all the Hubbards dressed to the nines in hopes of impressing a potential business partner. Our legend of a costume designer, 20-time(!!!) Tony nominee Jane Greenwood has created a complete confection of a dress for me. It makes me feel like a pink macaron!
Alexandra enters the Act II after a long train journey in this traveling outfit. We like to call it my "Samantha: The American Girl Doll" look. Fun fact: Jane originally dreamed up this jacket for the previous revival of The Little Foxes, which she also designed.
After "washing off the train dirt", taking off the jacket, changing neckties, and adding a belt, I reappear in Act II in this snappy little number. I also want to point out the boots all the ladies in the show wear. They look fabulous but, unfortunately for our dressers, are so period accurate that we can't put them on ourselves and have to be buttoned into them by someone else.
This is my favorite costume. For one, it's the most comfortable but everything about it—from the patterned silk to the silver embroidery to the perfectly belled sleeves—is just exquisite. Also, shoutout to Tom Watson for my amazing wig! Even my closest friends get tricked into thinking my hair grew 5 inches overnight and that it's real.
See Francesca Carpanini (and all the stunning Jane Greenwood costumes) live in 'The Little Foxes' at Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
