In Touring 'The Cher Show.' Tyler Pirrung Plays Superstar's Go-to Costume Designer Bob Mackie

In a time when jukebox stage musicals that draw on an artist's catalogue and serve as bios of iconic singers-songwriters and musical acts have become commonplace – think "Jersey Boys," about The Four Seasons, "Ring of Fire" about Johnny Cash, "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," or the Neil Diamond-centered "A Beautiful Noise," to name just a few – it takes a true icon to stand apart from the rest.

Enter "The Cher Show," which traces the career and musical evolution of one of gay fandom's most beloved entertainers. Boasting a book by Rick Elice, and featuring hits from across Cher's career with onetime husband Sonny Bono ("All I Ever Need is You," "The Beat Goes On," "I Got You, Babe,") and her solo career ("Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves," "If I Could Turn Back Time," "Believe"), the show includes three different iterations of Cher from across the decades: Babe, Lady, and Star, each of them a personification of a personal and professional era.

"The Cher Show" enjoyed a 2018-2019 Broadway run of nearly 300 performances (and 34 previews), then saw a touring production in the UK in 2022-23. The current American tour, though delayed by the COVID pandemic, got underway this past November and is ongoing. The show arrives in Boston, where it will play four shows across three days at the Boch Center on March 15, 16, and 17.

Cast member Tyer Pirrung plays several roles in the production, including that of fashion designer Bob Mackie, whose dazzling list of accomplishments include helping design Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress, costumes for two Mitzi Gaynor TV specials (each of which earned Mackie an Emmy), and concert costumes for Whitney Houston. But the celebrity Mackie is most associated with is Cher, whom he first met in 1967 on "The Carol Burnett Story." He has been designing for her ever since; most recently for her dazzling looks for her Caesar's Palace Vegas residency and "Dressed to Kill" tour. And in a full-circle meta twist, Mackie also designed the costumes for the Broadway run of "The Cher Show" – costumes that won Mackie a Tony that are used in the touring production.

"The Cher Show" is the 29-year-old actor's first tour. EDGE caught up with Tyler Pirrung to hear about playing the famed designer, what it was like the night Mackie himself showed up to see a performance, and what songs and styles Pirrung most adores.

EDGE: Were you already a Cher fan when you when you went up to audition for this part?

Tyler Pirrung: I was a fan of her very well-known songs, "Believe" and "If I Could Turn Back Time," and I'd seen a couple of her movies; but I wasn't, like, a die-hard fan. But my parents are big Cher fans. My mom, especially, talked about growing up watching the "Sonny and Cher Show" with her parents.

EDGE: "The Cher Show" was a Broadway hit. What has the response been from the audiences on tour so far?

Tyler Pirrung: Oh my gosh, it has been absolutely incredible. We've had so many sold out shows, and audiences are absolutely loving it. So much of the way the show is built is that it feels like you're at a concert, with the lighting and the set design and the costumes and the choreography. At the end of the show is a six-minute-long mega mix of all Cher's hit songs, and it's just so fun.

EDGE: This is your first touring show. What's it been like, as opposed to being in one place for a while?

Tyler Pirrung: So much of being an actor is being a nomad – like, we're always moving, we're always hustling. The number one thing a lot of people don't necessarily jive with on a tour is how much moving around you do. You're living out of a suitcase. But I have actually loved it. It keeps things fresh. You don't really have a routine so, everything's kind of new and exciting every day.

EDGE: Is it hard to be apart from your family for so long?

Tyler Pirrung: Yeah, it definitely is. But we get breaks every couple months or so, where we're able to go home. And, of course, with phone calls and FaceTime it's easy to keep in contact and stay in touch.

EDGE: You're playing Cher costumer Bob Mackie, who also designed the costumes for "The Cher Show." Did you have a chance to meet and talk with him?

Tyler Pirrung: [When] we did [the show] in Palm Desert, Bob Mackie came to see the show. He lives there. It was very, very scary, because we are using the Broadway costume package which Bob Mackie designed for which he won the Tony. He was integral to the project from the beginning. He came and saw the show, and we got to meet him afterwards. I was like, "Oh God! I have to really be on it today." [It's] scary that the person you're playing is out there watching you. It's very strange, but a very cool experience.

EDGE: What is it like to be portraying a real and living person?

Tyler Pirrung: It's interesting. I can't even tell you how many hours I spent watching interviews of Bob Mackie and little documentary videos and everything about him, just so I could understand how he is as a person. Obviously, playing a real person you don't want to go out there and be completely different than how they are and how people know them to be, and you don't want to do anything that's going to offend them or make them look a fool. So, it was definitely intimidating at first, but because he was involved in the original production, I found it easier not to be so nervous. He has seen the show and been working with the show from the beginning, so he knows how he's being portrayed. I think that makes it a little easier for me to play him.

EDGE: You also play [film director] Robert Altman. Did you feel like you needed to do the same kind of research to play him?

Tyler Pirrung: No, because I'm Robert Altman for maybe three minutes. It's just one scene in the second act of the show. There are interviews with him and everything, but it was kind of just like, stick to the words in the script and try and be a believable human being, and come from a place of where he was in his life and his career. It's actually one of my favorite scenes to do. It's just me and Morgan Scott, who plays our Star. It's a really different scene than the rest of the show. It feels very different, very simple, and just a nice, sensitive scene.

EDGE: You also play a character called Frank. What can you tell me about him?

Tyler Pirrung: Frank is a representation of misogynistic men in the TV and film industry that Cher was fighting against. He's always pushing her aside and not really wanting to hear her opinions. He wants her to stand where she's supposed to stand, look pretty, make it be all about the clothes, and go home. He doesn't really jibe with the fact that Cher's a woman trying to take charge of her own show and create a vision. He's a bit of an asshole. But he's not a real; he's the only one I play that's not a real person.

EDGE: As you mentioned, you're using the same costumes as the Broadway production. What costumes are your favorites, whether you're wearing them or other people are wearing them?

Tyler Pirrung: Oh my gosh, there's so many. Anytime I'm on stage as Bob Mackie, I'm in a turtleneck and a blazer. It's very, very '70s. There are so many of Cher's iconic looks in the show. There's a number called "Ain't Nobody's Business." It's the introduction of Bob Mackie in the show, and it's kind of like a giant fashion show of a ton of Bob Mackie costumes. Every single one of those that the women wear are my favorites. I mean, they're all just fabulous and stunning, walking works of art. The number stops the show every single night – audiences lose their mind for it, because it's such a feast for the eyes.

EDGE: Bob doesn't have a solo, but if he did, what songs or songs from the Cher catalogue would you want for him?

Tyler Pirrung: "Believe." I feel like I've known that song my entire life, so I would probably go with that one.

EDGE: Are you looking forward to being in Boston, in particular?

Tyler Pirrung: Yeah, I am. I have a couple of friends from college and other jobs I've worked over the years that live in Boston, and I have some cousins that live there and are coming to see the show. They are gonna love it!

"The Cher Show" plays at the Boch Center in Boston on March 15, 16, and 17. For more information about Tyler Pirrung, check out his website. Learn more about the touring production of "The Cher Show" here. For tickets to see the show at the Boch Center, follow this link.