My God, did they work! ", Shortly after returning to college in the fall after his alleged assault, Watson told one of his professors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond what had happened; the professor, who works in the industry and asked to preserve anonymity for fear of reprisal, corroborated Watson's account to NPR, as did one of Watson's family members to whom he told the story in March 2020. "My father was a full professor at Winthrop University in South Carolina, where he founded the drama department, and my mother taught high-school drama for 21 years. (That person declined to be named due to current connections within theatrical design.) While at Yale he studied under designer Ming Cho Lee, whom he has credited with being a major influence on his work. As part of her statement to NPR, Zuchlewski wrote: "Watson's blog and the disclosure of the Stewart case generated a social media feeding frenzy while Long was designing costumes for Diana: The Musical. Not because he wandered away from his native Seaboard, North Carolina, for a studio in New York's Tribeca . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It was a fun thing.". "He made long, lingering eye contact with me," Martin says. And in the theater, where egos blaze at the most inopportune moments, he usually manages to remain above the fray. You know how you relive things? I wanted to go someplace where they could be critical and I could say: 'Too bad, I belong here. ", It was Long's first day of work on the Las Vegas production of "Hairspray," and his New York studio was packed with people. One was from a 98-year-old aunt, who said she wasn't up to seeing him during Christmas. William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. At first, Martin says, he was thrilled to be receiving positive attention for his actual work on the show. "It's all a game of playing peekaboo with the sheer and the lace, and the black is so dense," he said. Paul Tazewell, Ain't Too Proud to Beg The Life and Times of the Temptations. In 2000 Long was chosen by the National Theatre Conference as its "Person of the Year" and was honored with the "Legend of Fashion" Award by the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003. "But getting rid of a cancer can only help theater thrive," he says firmly. His father studied with Paul Green, the original playwright of The Lost Colony. At a party held at one of Long's homes that second year, the still-underage Watson was given plenty of alcohol and one of Long's assistants, Watson says, took him to a bedroom upstairs, where they had what Watson believed at the time to be consensual sex. Highly caffeinated and in constant motion, he is rarely by himself. He dressed Mick Jagger for the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels U.S. tour in 1989 and made the paper dresses in Bruce Weber's video of the Pet Shop Boys' "I Get Along." Upon his graduation from Yale in 1975, he moved to New York City where he worked for couturier Charles James as an unpaid apprentice until James's death in 1978. Watson believes that Long recounted this episode within earshot of several people, deepening his embarrassment. [6] In November 2021, National Public Radio published an article detailing accusations of sexual abuse and predatory behavior against Long. ", Martin remembers how dejected he felt. His most notable work includes the Broadway shows The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens, Young . (He won a Drama Desk Award for it.) And I have to be there for both. Martin, who first came forward publicly in 2018, alleges that Long touched him inappropriately on about 10 occasions. "Maybe I don't want to give in and have a family. In fact, one rap against him in the business -- especially among costume designers in search of work -- is that Long takes on too much. "I hadn't submitted a portfolio of design work," he says. Later, Paul Rudnick tried to give some context. As Long grew up, the family spent every summer working at The Lost Colony, which is produced by the nonprofit Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA). But then, he recounts, "William slid his hand down the back of my pants. "And as more time went by, I realized that what had transpired [between us] wasn't right." And in between guessing the correct answer and the morphine pump, she would say, 'Oh, I still hope you find some nice girl and settle down and have children, because children are the greatest happiness in anyone's life.' To enter the floating treehouse of Long's life, the tight camaraderie of his five-person staff, one of whom always travels with him, is a curious exercise. In a lengthy statement to NPR prepared by his lawyer, Pearl Zuchlewski, Long "emphatically denies" both Martin's and Watson's allegations. There are two houses in the Berkshires, a brownstone in Chelsea, a farm in Pennsylvania and the rest in North Carolina: five houses in Seaboard, the tiny town where the Long family settled in 1676 and where Long is undertaking an elaborate program of what Rudnick calls "rural renewal"; a historic house in coastal Rose Bay and another two in Manteo, on the Outer Banks, where Long is the production designer for "The Lost Colony," an annual summer pageant about the first American settlers. " (In the BuzzFeed News article, Long denied having anything to do with promoting employees at The Lost Colony and said that he did not promote Martin. Both he and Martin emphasize that it was a culture that specifically enabled and protected Long and was toxic to them as rising young creative people. His most notable work. I learned my work ethic from both my parents. Some of those accusations, starting with a 2018 piece in BuzzFeedNews about Martin's accusations, have impacted Long's most recent work: He and the Diana team parted ways last year, not long before the musical was filmed. And whether he's got a dollar to work with or unlimited funds, he's tirelessly inventive.". Here was a man who created the indelible looks for a generation of theater shows: The sultry, sexy look of Chicago, with all those fishnets and silky black garments cut up to there. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to pursue a Ph.D. in art history. Who is William Ivey Long. Fourteen houses and no boyfriend!"'+. "What it really is, is ordinary," Long said during the 90-minute drive to Seaboard from Raleigh. 2010. hide caption. Bob Mackie, The Cher Show. Instead, he reached out himself to Curley, Hurtgen & Johnsrud LLP, the law firm that ATW had hired to conduct the investigation, to ask why he had not been interviewed. After the war Ivey spent three years at the . In a written statement, the producers of Diana told NPR: "Last summer, we were made aware of certain narratives about William that reference or republish claims of inappropriate sexual conduct that allegedly occurred in North Carolina 20 or more years ago. I was really proud of myself for having snagged a theater job early on, when I was just 20 years old. Despite a certain amount of eye-rolling, the staff clearly adores him; most of them have been with him for years. August 30, 1947 (75) Bio: William Ivey Long has over 70 Broadway design credits in addition to his work in television, film, opera and ballet. Long says the . "If I were wearing something people commented on, it would be distracting. ", Was his being gay difficult for them? I think that's why in the South, you hold onto things. Another friend of Martin's at The Lost Colony in 1996 also saw how his demeanor changed over that summer, morphing from outgoing to withdrawn and often red-eyed. Broadway costume designer, William Ivey Long, "a tornado made of chiffon" is accused of sexual abuse Stay out of show business kids! But she was also very good at making me come to the realization that I was at the beginning of my career, and that if I sued The Lost Colony or brought a formal complaint against Mr. Long, that would follow me around for my career that I might be damaging myself way more than I could damage William.". The worst episode, Watson alleges, came the next season in mid-August 2002. ", As Long spoke, his eyes turned red and filled with tears while the rest of his face pretended not to notice. A showgirl in a sleeveless gold lam dress immediately embraced him. NPR's report also includes excerpts from a 2002 lawsuit that detail further allegations against Long and how his employer at the time responded to complaints that were . On this trip, the trust was buying another building to house a pharmacy. William Ivey Long is a six time Tony Award winning costume designer. But Watson and another man named Michael Martin say that while they were under Long's tutelage working as college students at a summer production in North Carolina called The Lost Colony, a show with an outsize influence within the American theater community Long sexually abused them both. Court Watson joined The Lost Colony at age 19 in the summer of 2000. In 2003, when Mary Tyler Moore quit the Neil Simon play "Rose's Dilemma" late in previews after Simon criticized her performance, she stormed out of her dressing room as Long stood outside. Updated: May 01, 2019 Additionally, Stewart said, her own husband at the time was sexually propositioned by one of Long's assistants, with the intention of having Long watch. They did interview Watson, however. She added that Long "was very disturbed by the RIHA's lack of transparency and failure to involve him in a resolution of Stewart's false claims." hide caption. Spouse. Click here to read the full article. Can you not handle the workload? And I remember him really wrestling with, 'Am I going to have to sleep with William?'". Jeanna de Waal, taking a bow after a Nov. 2 performance of Diana: The Musical, with costumes by William Ivey Long. "I hadn't done anything significant with the design of the last season. Offsite Link. Costume Design. She said that she'd heard the rumors and seen the behavior with her own eyes. He most recently designed costumes for, s West End for Mel Brooks, having previously designed the original production on Broadway in 2009. Mother: Hannah Long Spouse: William Blount Rodman, II Photo by Ron Dailey: Rodman, Addie Fulford: July 6, 1894: March 1, 1900 hide caption, From then on, Martin remembers, Long made a point of singling him out. When people saw Long, it was if they were seeing dessert -- eyes widened, mouths opened, then they grabbed. I can only imagine now that here was this scarecrow person, lacking the kick and drive and the clawing that I have shown is the center of my work ethic ever since.". Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur onstage in the musical Hairspray in 2008, with costumes by William Ivey Long. But ever the gentleman, Long made a final go at trying to identify what makes him run. The Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, North Carolina featured an exhibition of Long's designs titled "Between Taste and Travesty: Costume Designs by William Ivey Long. "I made sure the understudy had clothes," he said evenly. William Ivey Long II (born August 30, 1947) is an American costume designer for stage and film. For the last three decades, if you've seen a Broadway show with costumes you adore, chances are high they were designed by William Ivey Long. By Alex Witchel. That scene is now a fond memory for Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivey Long. Legendary Broadway costume designer and six-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long has been accused of sexual abuse, according to a report by NPR.. Court Watson and Michael Martin said the abuse . Across the hall is another sanctum with his great-grandmother's Chippendale chairs and walls of books organized by topic: fashion, men and uniforms, oversize folios, interiors, decorative arts and his favorite, architecture. Marriage: 14 November 1883. Martha Ella Crowell. Spouse Name: N/A: Children Name: Number of Children(s) N/A: Partner Name: N/A . The Longs moved to a house after their second son, Robert, was born. But he couldn't find work in the theater and had what he calls "breakdowns" for two years. William Ivey Long is an iconic presence on Broadway, designing costumes for shows such as Diana: The Musical and Chicago . " Watson went with Long anyway, and he says that Long served him even more alcohol at his house. Turning to greet someone else, Long accidentally knocked the cap off the actor Ernie Sabella's head. He hasn't stopped since. That's what friends are for. Opened August 24, 2017. "I was trained to send out notes like that at Christmastime and for opening nights," he says. The terms are unknown, but there were no apparent repercussions for Long and his career until nearly two decades later. He says that immediately afterward, he was ashamed and humiliated by what had transpired. It's why I try to be so thorough, why I work so hard. Neither ATW nor Fournier responded to multiple requests for comment by NPR. 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