Luke D’Alessandro first became fascinated with the art and magic of creating a live show while acting in youth theater and school plays in Biddeford.
His passion and curiosity led him to a performing arts high school in Michigan, college in Australia, summer theater jobs in Italy and TV sets in Hollywood. The Biddeford native is now working on the Fox reality show “The Masked Singer.” He won his first Emmy this fall, for his work on the show’s outrageous costumes.
“I hope that young people in Maine see that there are opportunities everywhere, you just gotta go for it and follow your dreams,” said D’Alessandro, 30. “That’s kind of what I did.”
D’Alessandro shares the Emmy with five others who help create costumes for “The Masked Singer.” The show is focused on celebrity guests who sing for a panel of judges while wearing disguises that have some elements of props or set pieces. Some of last season’s costumes included singer/actor Jack Wagner as a giant purple eggplant, actor Taraji P. Henson in a glittering costume inspired by a scarab, and former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz as a fuzzy red monster with googly eyes.
Ideas for the characters come from the producers, sometimes inspired by the real identity of the person the costume is meant to disguise, D’Alessandro said. Then the costumes are built, head to toe. As head designer, D’Alessandro is involved in all the costumes. The work is more like that of a production designer, he says.
“These aren’t just garments, jeans and T-shirts, they have some elements that are soft and sculptural and some that are hard plastics or weird material,” D’Alessandro said. “They have to blend somewhere in the middle.”
D’Alessandro and five other people won the Emmy for “The Masked Singer” costumes in early September. The category was outstanding costumes for a variety, nonfiction or reality program. In a video posted after the award was presented, D’Alessandro can be seen holding the Emmy, standing on stage in the middle of the group. He thanked the Television Academy, Fox studios, a few specific people and “the entire team that makes our costumes come to life.”
The show’s most recent season ended in April. It has been renewed for another season but no specific dates have yet been announced. The show had been filmed in Hollywood but is now being filmed in New Jersey, close to New York City.
Maine stages
Performing arts run deep in D’Alessandro’s family. His grandfather, Eugene D’Alessandro Sr., founded the legendary Geno’s Rock Club in Portland in the 1980s. D’Alessandro’s father also ran the club. He remembers spending time there on mornings when his father had errands to run, with his twin brother, Dominic. They played songs on the jukebox, danced around and drank Shirley Temples.
As a kid, he was always diving into the costume box at home. By the time he was in Biddeford Middle School, he was acting in plays and involved in various theater programs, including theater camps. He was particularly inspired by his experience at the Academy of Developing Artists of Maine (ADAM), run by Ronda Verges in Biddeford. It was then he started to explore some of the other jobs and skills needed to put on a show, besides acting.
“I remember Ronda saying ‘OK, if you’re going to be an actor you need to have some other skills. You need to learn something about costumes, lighting, sound,” said D’Alessandro. “That sort of opened up my eyes to the backstage part of it. “
By high school he realized he had a knack for design, for helping to created characters and worlds, and wanted to focus on that rather than acting. He applied to a performing arts high school in Michigan, Interlochen Arts Academy, without telling his parents. He was accepted, and his parents were immediately supportive.
At first, the family wasn’t sure how they’d pay the tuition. But then D’Alessandro got financial aid that covered most of it, and he packed his bags and headed for Michigan. After his junior year at Interlochen, he got the opportunity to travel to Italy with some of the teachers who had summer jobs working on operas. He worked as a prop master, making hand props and painting scenery, among other things.
An Interlochen graduate who was working as a set designer on Broadway suggested to D’Alessandro that he consider attending college at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia. He applied there and to a school in London. He ended up going to NIDA, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Properties and Objects in 2018 and a master’s degree in Design for Performance in 2020.
He began working professionally in Australia, including on Australian versions of “The Masked Singer” and “Dancing with the Stars.” He started in the workroom, sewing, dying fabric, putting on rhinestones, before working his way to costume design.
After working a couple seasons on the Australian version of “The Masked Singer,” he got a chance to work on the American version, in Hollywood. He’s been head designer for the past four seasons of the show.
When not working on “The Masked Singer,” D’Alessandro lives in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, after nearly a dozen years of living in Australia. When he talks, a slight Aussie accent can be detected.
In between seasons of “The Masked Singer,” D’Alessandro has done freelance theater design, working on sets and costumes, and as a freelance prop maker and painter. He’s also done costume work for films, including a couple of Marvel superhero films: “Thor: Love and Thunder,” starring Chris Hemsworth; and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” starring Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
D’Alessandro says what he likes most about his work is collaborating with performers to tell a larger story. He likes the challenge of creating a stretched-out sweater for a character who is portrayed as nervous or an outfit that allows an active performer to do splits or cartwheels.
“When the singer or performer joins the process, they bring to life the piece you designed on paper,” he said. “The minute the actor or performer gets involved, it really elevates the ideas.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Ray Routhier can be reached at rrouthier@pressherald.com.