Reva Rice - as Pearl - through the early productions. Where apparently taking photos of Pearl was just unacceptable.
So Reva started as Pearl on Broadway, the second production of the show, which had a truly 1980s scale budget for costumes!
When the Broadway show closed in January 1989, the plan was to immediately (in terms of theatre productions) take the show on tour - the US Tour opened in November, and Reva continued as Pearl. That tour lasted over a year, until April 1991, and the show was put into storage.
A year later, Reva came to London to play Pearl for the revamp - while the changes didn't come into play until late in 1992, Reva began as Pearl in April, as the previous Pearl Kim Leeson left on Maternity leave. However we don't have any press photos from early 1992.
By November 1992, the "New Starlight Express" opened with Reva wearing her Broadway-style Pearl costume, notably different construction to the other coaches. They all had soft padded shoulders- Reva had moulded, detailed shoulders. Her belt buckled on the sides not the back, her kneepads have a separate bowl and straps, etc, everything has been made differently!
Reva stayed in London for a year - April 1993, she had left for the Las Vegas production that opened in September that year.
While the Las Vegas Showgirl coaches are infamous, the show opened - and all the press photos were taken - using the US Tour costumes, which were the Broadway costumes. Reva appears to have mostly the same costume, but a different skirt from London - that was golden and textured, with a more prominent "PM" monogram. The "OBSERVATION" lettering is different too, but the shoulders appear to be the same.
We get so many, great photos of Pearl in her old costume here... but a couple later press photos of her Showgirl costume!
I just wish we had more clear, early photos, from 1993 onwards we're good! But those early costumes, can't even tell if she had lettering on the costume. Can't tell if it's just lighting or different fabrics! It's all so intriguing... why did Reva bring some parts of her original costume across to London but got a new skirt - and then got her old one back for Las Vegas press photos?!
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