Mike Harrison didn’t set out to become “the Broadway dressing room guy.” But when word spread about his miraculous backstage transformation for “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr., he soon found himself working his interior design magic on drab dressing rooms for everyone from Cynthia Erivo to Ben Platt.
What drew you to working with dressing rooms?
I never would have expected this career path, but it actually makes perfect sense, because it combines all of my worlds. I went to school for music and I was a performer. I came to New York and was singing backup and acting a bit, but my interior decorating firm was my paycheck. I met Leslie at a barbecue and we hit it off. Then he got “Hamilton.” He reached out to me with an idea about transforming his dressing room into this cool lounge. So I did it, and he said, “I hope you’re ready for this, because I’m telling you, this is going to be a thing.” I didn’t know he was being serious. But my second dressing room was for Cynthia Erivo, and then it was Lupita Nyong’o. Now, I’m working on my 20-something-th dressing room—all in a year and a half.
How do you decide which elements to prioritize in your design?
I don’t even have an idea of what I’m going to do until I talk with the actor. The first thing I ask them is how they want the room to serve them. The answers have been very different. My first was Leslie, who wanted basically a lounge and a little entertaining spot for after the show. Then I’ll work with people who want the space to reflect the character. The second thing I ask is what they need, function-wise, in order to get ready. Some people need a fridge and a space for all of these organized elements. Some just want a bar area and a place to nap. They all have very different ways of getting ready for the show.
When you’re working with actors who want the room to reflect their character, how do you see your work helping actors get into their roles?
I’m trying to create a room with their personal aesthetic involved, so they feel like it is a home away from home, while also having little things that are a tip of the hat to the show, so it’s just a nice transition area. A lot of times I will look at the set and find a little element that I can put into the room. The challenge has always been [not creating] another set. I want to create a home that gives a little bit of that magic of transformation the theater provides.
Any tips for actors trying to make their personal space their own backstage?
People weren’t really doing this before, because they thought it was an unnecessary luxury. But my budgets are so low anyway—for pennies I do these rooms—and with the feedback so far, people are realizing the importance of these places. You spend so much time in a dressing room, and it’s important to reflect on what you need from the room. How do you need to feel in the room? If you’re doing a crazy, emotionally draining show like Cynthia Erivo was doing [for “The Color Purple”], just spilling her guts on the stage eight times a week, she needed a calm place, a completely centering place to come back to. But if you’re doing a really fun show and need to get your energy up, it might be interesting to play with some fun colors or do things that might get you in that mood. It doesn’t have to be anything grand, just little accents that play on whatever you need to go give a great performance.
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