Karen Cartwright / Ivy Lynn

Fade in on a girl...

When Irvin and Maya decided to go to Broadway Rave in January 2025, Maya wanted to pull together a couple costume relevant for the upcoming Broadway season.  And to be honest, no show had as much anticipation as the stage adaptation of Smash - so they would go as Karen and Ivy!

After much grumbling, Irvin consented to be the Karen to Maya's Ivy based on physical description... but they were both obviously #TeamIvy.  It's okay, Irvin is used to dressing up as villains, though usually as far more likable ones.

Since this was all fairly last-minute, it had to be a true closet cosplay.  Fortunately, Irvin had enough sparkly dresses and blonde wigs for both of them to dress up as rival Marilyn Monroes, while Maya helped provide the bling and the make-up.

At the event, they had a lot of fun recreating as many of the Karen & Ivy poses as they could (armed with zero chairs to dramatically lean on).  If anything could get them even more excited for the Broadway show, this was it!

...with a hunger for fame...

With the costume ready to go, Irvin got himself all gussied up for a big group outing to see Smash on Broadway.  Since Maya wasn't able to get into costume before the show, and since the Broadway show differs from the TV show, Irvin was technically cosplaying Ivy Lynn as Marilyn Monroe this time around, which was a role he felt much more comfortable with.

The thought was that April would be much more conducive to sleeveless dresses than January was, but it turned out to not be case, as it was a frigid April evening barely above freezing temperatures.  So Irvin, intending to get lots of fabulous pictures outside the theater, added a white wrap to the costume out of his closet.  It really set off the costume perfectly, and swished very dramatically as Ivy walked down the street.

The costume was very enthusiastically received!  Audience members kept complimenting the getup, security enthusiastically pointed out to people that Marilyn was here, and the stars at the stage door all expressed their awe and admiration (not least because of the cold).  As one of the actors said, "And the best dressed award goes to..."  All the really fun photos taken that night can be seen at this photo album.