Moments after Troy Weiss told his mother “The Kelly Clarkson Show” wanted to fly them to New York City to talk on-air about Akron native Paul Tazewell and his award-winning costume designs, she steered the conversation in a different direction — to fashion.
“Hey, do you want to wear Robert’s suit?”
It was the emerald-green suit Weiss’ stepfather, Robert Neal, wore the day he married Troy’s mother, Veronda Neal. The treasured piece had rested quietly in his mom’s closet since the wedding.
Weiss added a pink shirt, a lion brooch and other accessories inspired by “Wicked” and the movie’s green-and-pink palette shaped by Tazewell, a 1982 Buchtel High School graduate. (“Wicked: For Good” was released in movie theaters on Nov. 21.)
In March, Tazewell became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best costume design. He also won a Tony Award in 2016 for his costume designs for the “Hamilton” musical.
Show producers recently asked Weiss to submit a casting clip to potentially appear on the show and talk about Tazewell’s influence on his style. After being selected, what Weiss didn’t know was that Tazewell had just been interviewed on the show and Clarkson was going to surprise the teen by introducing him to his style hero.
“And I had to compose myself,” said Weiss, who is pursuing theater and vocal pathways at Firestone Community Learning Center. He’s also the senior class president. “There’s a lot of similarities in the way we see things in fashion.”
One short day in the Big Apple
After the show, Weiss and Tazewell chatted a bit —- in sheer admiration, he thanked him for the compliments during the TV show segment. Weiss said Tazewell was “graceful, super personable and super nice.” Clarkson, he said, was “hilarious.”
Weiss feels like he left a positive impression on Clarkson, Tazewell and the show’s staff — so did his outfit. He appreciated the creative freedom to style himself.
“Kelly’s team was super-amazing, and there were endless compliments on the sophistication of how I dressed myself and the way I carried myself,” Weiss, 17, said. “It was such a beautiful experience.”
Tazewell gave Weiss and his mother tickets to see the musical “Death Becomes Her” that evening at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre — Tazewell designed the costumes for that show as well.
They sat a few rows back from the stage, every theater kid’s Broadway dream.
“The costumes were superb, and every actor was on point,” Weiss said. “From their singing to their acting to their delivery to their cadence. It was just amazing to watch.”
