Eilen Jewell at Natalie’s Grandview, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 10, 2023

“I’ve been missing you all,” Eilen Jewell said upon taking the stage before a full house at Natalie’s Grandview. She then spent the next 100 minutes proving it.

Playing acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica and maracas and backed by matching, black-clad Johnny Sciascia on double bass, ex-husband Jason Beek on drums and harmony vocals and Jerry Miller’s electric guitar, Jewell played a cross-section of songs from her discography, covers of Loretta Lynn, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bessie Smith numbers and made the case she should be filling spaces much bigger than the Columbus, Ohio, restaurant she visited Sept. 10.

Jewell was the star, but Miller was the brightest co-star, tossing off licks inspired those who came before; conjuring a train whistle and the Allman Brothers’ “Revival” during “Rich Man’s World” and weaving snippets of “Third Stone from the Sun,” “Paint it Black,” “Rebel, Rebel” and “Day Tripper” into Smith’s “If You Catch Me Stealing.”

Such displays caused Jewell and her bandmates to look at one another with incredulous delight as Miller consistency elicited audience approval to rival that of Jewell’s across the set, heavy on tracks from 2023’s Get Behind the Wheel, and such cuts as “Crooked River,” “Winnemucca,” “Breakaway,” “Lethal Love” and “Alive.”

When she wasn’t tapping the Wheel, Jewell was taking requests - “You’re writing the setlist, so I trust you,” she said. This led to “our most ill-received song,” a political ditty known as “79 Cents (The Meow Song),” which addresses women’s unequal pay and a certain politician who wants to grab women by the kitty, and her version of “Green River,” which goes nicely with Jewell’s other CCR homage, the soundalike “Crawl.”

Jewell mixes up a batch of “Mystic”-era Van Morrison, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Lynn and others to come out sounding and singing exactly like herself. To that end, Jewell performed the latter’s “Whispering Sea” and wished she’d followed more closely in her footsteps.

“She started her career with a hit, which is genius,” Jewell said of Lynn. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

But here’s the thing. While Jewell makes good records, the self-described Queen of the Minor Key is at her best on stage.

Grade card: Eilen Jewell at Natalie’s Grandview - 9/10/23 - A

9/11/23

The Joans and Bessie going to find their mother figures

AJDJAJDHABDBAKDNA YEAH

do you have any info/pics about the band’s costumes through the years? or a post about their costumes already? i would love to see what you have collected.

Yes I do!! I'm going to write up a more in-depth post about all of them in the near future, but for now here is a general overview of major design changes.

Also want to note that any LiW post would be remiss without mentioning paigeleigh59916 on Instagram, who has put a ton of time and effort into making sure the LiW (principals and deputies) are also featured in their photography and tracking down their names and info. I would not have been able to find many of these deputies without their effort, so please drop them a follow if you're interested in LiW content. 

If you want more info on the individual Ladies in Waiting and their deputies, I also try to keep their Wikis as updated as I can. Here's the LiW category link or you can find them by production here. There aren't a ton of photos in their galleries for now, but most of them do have a few at least.

Original Costumes (L-R: Terri De Marco, Alice Angliss, Amy Shaw, Katy Richardson; photo from @/aliceangliss) During the 2018 (1st) UK Tour, the band members wore all black. They eventually had studded shoes (pictured under the boots section) and silver accents. The current LiW costumes were introduced when they moved to the Arts for their West End run in Jan 2019.

Tops (Meelie Traill, dep Bessie, West End, @/meelietraillbass; Sara Kleppe, dep Bessie, West End, @/saraplaysbass; Aretha Tillotson, 2019 North American Tour, @/arethaonbass)

The band shirts are one of the costume pieces that have stayed most consistent. They’re built as leotards and the ruffs are not attached - you can see the neckline in the photo of Aretha. They have inverted stripes with rows of silver studs. Some construction changes have been made in different productions for individual LiW to accommodate different body types or shapes, but the biggest change is the length of the sleeves - sometimes they’re tank tops while sometimes they have long sleeves. Every non-UK production has used long sleeves exclusively; both the West End and older UK Tours have previously had some LiW use tank style and some use long sleeve simultaneously, but it’s now long since been standardized to exclusively short sleeve. (Note that some emergency covers who wore the band costume had tank even after it had been phased out for LiW. That’s another upcoming post)

Pants (L-R, 1st: the LiW of Bliss 1.0*; the LiW of Broadway**. 2nd: Katy Richardson, West End, katyrrichardson; Janette Williams, West End, janette.williams6701; Lee Moretti, Broadway, @/leethefury. 3rd row: Sarah Wussow, Breakaway 2.0, sarah_wussow; Meelie Traill, 2021-22 UKT, meelietraillbass; Kat Bax, 2021-22 UKT)

The style of the bottoms have changed a lot: pants in different styles, shorts, skirts. The pants and shorts mostly been a leather or faux leather with lacing, but the placement of studding and lacing depends a lot on the production.

West End: The lace-up pants worn by Katy Richardson (center row, left) are the original West End pants style. In late 2019 some of them briefly started wearing shorts, but they switched back to pants pretty quickly. In the last few months, the West End has switched to solid black pants, which are the ones worn by Janette Williams in the center middle row. 2019-present UK Tours: Shorts with side lacing. A few E/C or unexpected deputies have worn plain black pants or leggings. Australia: Everyone wears the lace-up pants style pictured on Katy Richardson. 2019 North American regional tour: Everyone wore the lace-up pants style pictured Katy Richardson. Broadway: Most of the principals wear lace-up pants but with such a small gap that it usually isn’t visible. They also have studded waistbands. Lee Moretti is shown with slightly different pants - they have the same waistband but a lacing style that shows a much wider nude panel more like the other productions with lace up pants. No idea why hers are different as I only have photos of her pants and the principals (other deps exist, but I haven’t been able to find full body photos). Julia Schade (principal Joan) also wears a skirt like Sarah Wussow’s. NCS productions: The top left photo of Bliss 1.0 shows the standardized LiW pants for the NCL productions. The one exception to this is Sarah Wussow of the Breakaway 2.0 cast, who is pictured below in a skirt (worn over her pants)

Boots (L-R: the 2021-22 UKT cast***; the Bliss 1.0 cast*; Annalicia Senger, dep, West End, annasenger_muze; Alice Angliss, 2018 UK Tour, @/aliceangliss; Lauren Hopkinson, 2021-22 UK Tour, @/laurenhopkinsonmusic)

The boots are where there’s some of the most variation and inconsistency, even within the same productions. Here’s what I know: - There are three main styles: boots with 2-3 straps and buckles with studs just on the straps, lace up boots with studs scattered all over, and lace up boots with studs all over in a consistent, grid-like pattern (more like the cast’s boots). - The straps with studs may be custom-made or at least always bought from the same location, but I haven’t been able to confirm this for sure. - The boots are most well-recorded in the UK, where they have a mix. UKT seems to have started with the straps, but as other cast members have joined (either permanently or temporarily) it’s gotten more inconsistent. I talk about that a little bit more with the deputies below. - NCS always has the several straps with studs.  - Broadway has the lace up with scattered crystals (couldn’t fit in this photoset, but you can see it above in the bottoms photoset). - I’ve never been able to get my hands on any photos that show the Australian LiW boots, so no idea on those. - The boots for deputies in the UK policy seems to just be whatever is on hand and works. Deputies sometimes join without studded boots, in which case they’ll just wear plain black boots or shoes (sometimes until they later get a pair). They also commonly seem to get studs added to more mainstream store-bought shoes (not the potentially custom three straps with studs). Some of the deputies have also had boots with crystals or sequins instead of the usual studs - again, probably due to working with materials on hand. Some of them also may be wearing boots from former band members, but I haven’t been able to identify this for sure. I do know that the current, active UK deputies have their own pair of boots, though.

Masks (L-R: left is Katy Richardson, West End, @/katyrrichardson; top right is Meelie Traill, West End, meelietraillbass; bottom right is Broadway cast**) The productions all have black studded masks from what I can find. Broadway are N-95 while UK are cloth masks. I don’t think NCS productions use them. I don’t know about Australia. The studding pattern differs; some are around the edges with others all over.

(top from Sophie Wilson, 21-22 UKT’s Head of Wardrobe, @/sophiemw04; bottom is Amy Shaw, West End, @/amyshawmusic; right is Kellie Nitz, Breakaway 2.0, kellienitzbass) Ruffs: The productions have black ruffs with studding. The West End production briefly didn’t wear them at some point in 2019, but as far as I know that’s the only production that didn’t at any point. Headbands: Most of the LiW wear a headband - it’s just 2-4 rows of separated studs. Number of rows depends on the production. A few productions, rather than having gaps between, have black pleather or vinyl (Australia and early WE). Hair: They don’t seem to have strong policies on hair, but ponytails or a style with part of the hair pulled back are common. However, braids, hair down, etc. have also happened quite a bit. Makeup: Again, there doesn’t seem to be have strong standardization. Eyeshadows usually are a shade of black/white/silver or a natural tone (skin tone type palettes; I can’t say the proper word as it’s blocked). Lipsticks range from natural to a more toned down red (like the one Kellie Nitz is wearing here).

------- *Chanel Miller, Kellie Nitz, Rebecca Caldera, Alexandra Crosby **Pants photo: Elena Bonomo, Michelle Marie, not sure (doesn’t look like Kimi Hayes so I think it’s a dep but I haven’t been able to confirm that or who it is if so); Mask photo is Mariana Ramirez, Michelle Marie, Elizabeth Doran, Elena Bonomo, Kimi Hayes ***Frankie South, Vanessa Domonique, Lauren Hopkinson, Kat Bax

We finally have costume photos of the Breakaway 2.0 Ladies in Waiting!

Joan: Sarah Wussow

Bessie: originally Kellie Nitz, but recently replaced by Jungsoo Lee (former member of Bliss 2.0)

Maggie: Julia Agra (former member of Breakaway 1.0)

Maria: Sarah Tompkins

Day 5- favourite pair

I love Breakaway Bessie and Maria. Any Bessie and Maria are great, actually, but especially Breakaway them. I haven’t drawn them before tho and I didn’t have many references so the colours are off. No idea if Bessie’s eyes are actually brown

Maria’s trying to sit down and have a chat with someone but Bessie’s stood behind her and playing with her hat and bouncing so its a bit of a distraction (she likes her girl being happy though)

@ladiesinwaitingweek

Breakaway!Bessie on the Bass headcannons!

she’s amazing and i love her 

send me different LiW or Queens to do HCs for (cast specific b l e a s e)

- Selectively mute and uses BSL 

- Her resting face is just ‘ :} ‘

- Phone case is torn the hell up because she drops it every 5 minutes

- Has played Minecraft on her phone for 7 hours straight

- Literally trips over her own feet

- Calls Maggie ‘Little Beanstalk’ and it has almost gotten her k i l l e d

- CEO of :0

- Human Tumbleweed™

- Blind as hell and needs her glasses or she cant see 3 feet in front of her face

- When the ship makes a stop the first thing she does is grab as many rocks as she can find and just stacks them

- Can hold her breath for almost 3 minutes and it scares the shit out of everyone

- Just kind bops the top of people’s heads + just kinda puts her hand on their heads?? like *pat pat*  ‘ :} ‘

- Binge watches Bob Ross videos

- Whenever she accidentally messes up on stays she just calls it a ‘happy little accident’

- Collects snails and calls them her ‘Little Friends  :}’

There ya go! enjoy your human dust bunny 

Reporter: Parr, how do you handle the stress of being non-binary in a professional sport?

Parr: The same way I handle everything. By questioning why my gender plays into every little thing I do

Maggie: Drag her, sis!

Liv went on for Boleyn today!!

Welcome Bliss 4.0 queens

Gabbi Mack: as Catherine of Aragon

Casey Esbin: as Anne Boleyn

Ellie Wyman: as Jane Seymour

Sasha Renae Brown: as Anna of Cleves

Nicole Lamb: as Katherine Howard

Aja Simone Baitey: as Catherine Parr

Kayla McSorley: as onboard swing (covers not announced yet)

Willow Dougherty: as onboard swing (covers not announced yet)

Emily Rose Lyons: as rehearsal swing (covers not announced yet)

Chelsea Wargo: as rehearsal swing (covers not announced yet)

Hannah Taylor: as rehearsal swing (covers not announced yet)

Christine Sutin: as Joan/Keys

Bia Malta: as Maria/Drums

Jungsoo Lee: as Bessie/Bass

Julia Agra: as Maggie/guitar

Mint Romero: as rehearsal guitar

This is the third US based cruise cast following Bliss 3.0 and Breakaway 3.0. It is the second production to have three rehearsal swings following Bliss 3.0. It marks the return of Jungsoo Lee and Julia Agra who were LIW in cruise productions before. It is also the first time a rehearsal LIW is announced (and one of the rare ocassions the LIW are officially announced).

Oooh imagine Breakaway!Bessie having a sensory overload onstage. It started with just the itch of the neck ruff on the costume, and then the full discomfort fell down on her. She suddenly could breathe or think straight. It was so bright and so loud and her skin was on fire. She needed her headphones. She needed Maria’s arms. She needed to get away. So in the middle of Get Down, she throws her bass down and sprints off the stage screaming and crying with her hands over her ears.

This prompt makes me think of that prompt you talked about ages ago of Bessie getting like very seriously lost on the ship- I can esp imagine this in like the first show when everything is new and audience is not quite sure what they think of the show and no one has quite realised how loud its going to be or how uncomfortable the costumes are and Bessie just can’t take it anymore and ends up leaving- although I feel like Haus of Holbein would be a better one to leave during because GOD it’s loud and uncomfortable from the audience let alone if you’re in the middle of it. Also just bc it’s such a random song so imagine it being a sort of last minute thing the queens have included as something that they thought would be fun and Bessie does Not Agree.

And everyone is super angry at her for ruining the first show- except Maria is very understanding and nice, and she talks to Maggie who is able to talk Joan round (because she’s panicking and blaming herself for it going wrong bc shes music director) and so happily by the time Maria actually finds Bessie, she’s able to genuinely reassure her that no one is angry with her.

Breakaway!SIX cast as Avians, pls?? Really excited to see a Wing AU take on the cruise cast!

Aragon- Monarch butterfly (Cimex)

Anne- Praying mantis (Cimex)

Jane- Hydra

Very shiny moon silver scales that have swirls of sparkling white and ice blue on the outsides like a galaxy. Gazelle-like horns.

Cleves- Red-winged blackbird (Avem)

Kitty- Hydra

Deep hot pink scales with sprays of purple-pink and magenta on the outisdes. Addax-like horns.

Cathy- Hydra

Blue scales in gradients from dark to light. Short pointy horns coming out of her forehead.

Bessie- Atlas moth (Cimex)

Maria- Crested honey buzzard (Avem)

Maggie- Hydra

Dark aquamarine scales with lemon yellow speckles all over. Curved horns like a bulls.

Joan- Flying fox (Vesper)

Do you have any head cannons or something for breakaway?

Aragon is a Massive Brat. Have you SEEN her in Breakaway? She looks like a teenager. I think she’s the youngest Aragon so far. That makes her a brat and I Love It.

Anne is the Mom Friend but also mischievous.

Jane is also actually the Mon Friend in this. She’s not an asshole for once! Though, she is a little strict, but caring.

Cleves is a teasing asshole, but she probably means well.

Kitty is Not A Bitch. She’s a basic teenager, really. That’s all I got, she doesn’t interest me.

Cathy is just kinda there. I got nothing special for her.

Bessie is mute and autistic and also a total sweetheart.

Maria is the third Mom Friend, but mainly for Bessie. She doubles as Bessie’s interpretor when she uses BSL. She also as a Mom Hat!

Maggie is stoic and seems like an asshole, but is actually very caring and loving towards Joan. She doesn’t show much emotion.

Joan is just a teenager trying to do her job, but everyone feels the need to do it for her because they don’t think she can. She has a temper, but her anger burns out almost instantly when she gets mad, so then she’s just awkward.

Breakaway!Aragon: Hey, has Bessie talked to you at all? Like, verbally?

Breakaway!Maria: A few times, yes. But she’s very nonverbal. She’s more comfortable when she doesn’t have to speak.

Breakaway!Aragon: I know, I know. But it’s been a long time since I’ve heard her voice. I kinda wanna hear it again.

Breakaway!Maria: I’m sure she’ll talk to you if you ask nicely. Just make her comfortable and relaxed.

Breakaway!Aragon: Hm. Alright. *goes over to Bessie* Hey, Elizabeth, I was just wondering if you-

Breakaway!Bessie: brief cases

Breakaway!Aragon: :O

Breakaway!Aragon: Fucking big hair. Suspicious. What are you hiding in there?

Breakaway!Bessie, signing: Love :)

Breakaway!Aragon: Oh fuck oh shit oh god you’re right

hc that both Breakaway!Bessie and Tour!Joan have a nervous stim where they hold their hands like a baby pangolin and anxiously click their nails together

Breakaway!Bessie, signing: Brat

Breakaway!Aragon: ?

Breakaway!Aragon: *looks through a BSL dictionary*

Breakaway!Aragon: >:O