One hundred and ten pairs. That's how many shoes are being prepped for the 36-member cast in Pioneer Theatre Company's "Les Misérables," the $1 million show that will be the country's first regional production of the oversized musical when it opens in Salt Lake City on April 27. At this point in the show's timeline, organizing costumes for the cast of prisoners, prostitutes, wedding guests and lower- and middle-class townsfolk seems, well, overwhelming.

"I haven't wanted to count anything, because I don't want to know," says costume designer Kevin Alberts, laughing.

As part of The Salt Lake Tribune's weekly backstage tour, costumers showed the work of dyeing and aging contemporary clothing and shoes to create the wardrobe for the period drama, set in France from 1815 to 1832.

For footwear, rubber patches are applied to new, slick soles for safety, and then the real work begins. Using sandpaper and rasps, costumers rough up the pristine leather, glue on bits of sawdust and cheesecloth patches, then paint and highlight so those additions appear to be clumped-on dirt.

A similar process of aging and dyeing is used for costumes. After outfits are sewn or assembled from the company's stock collection, costumers set upon the fabric with seam rippers to rough up the edges and punch small holes, before spray-painting everything to add shadows and highlights.

All this work will be examined under the spotlights next Saturday, at the first dress rehearsal. "Then you know if you've gone too far," Alberts says, "or not far enough."

- Ellen Fagg

For a photo gallery on the building of "Les Miz," visit www.sltrib.com/arts.