Worst Stage Make-Up Moment??

[broadwayalto01]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:22pm

Who hasn't had one of these if you haven't been in Theatre??

Here's mine... I was taking a class called Make-up for the Stage and we were working on Fantasy make-up.. I picked Elphaba (of course) and my friend picked a Smurf. Well we both forgot to put base on before the color... oops.. The worst part was, not only was it extremely difficult to get off.. I had another show that night and I had to put on another set of make-up...

Please enjoy the story and laugh...

[Overthemoon6]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:27pm

Tee hee. That's funny. Mine was when i was in "Little Women". I played Beth, the one that dies. I had to change my make-up before the death scene so that i would look extremely pale. During the 2nd show, they had put the make-up away, not realizing that i still needed it. I had to run about 300 yards to the classroom we were using to change, put a lot of powder on, and run back in about 3 minutes. I didn't look that sick, because my cheeks were all red.

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:31pm

I had to be green for a show last year. (No, it did not have anything to do with Wicked.) But I used similar green pancake makeup to the MAC stuff, and it took me almost a month to get it out of my ears after three shows.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:31pm

When I was The Tin Man in THE WIZARD OF OZ. I had that dreadfully heavy and uncomfortable costume on, so not only was I sweating to death, but i was covered in thick silver paint. In the second to last scene when the Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow say goodbye to Dorothy, we must run offstage, rip everything off, take our makeup off completely, change into farmhands, and be back onstage in literally 2 minutes. It was the hardest thing in the world, and often times I would have some silver still on me. It was the most difficult change I have ever had to do, second being when I was Friedrich in THE SOUND OF MUSIC - going from the Sailor outfits into the party clothes in under 2 minutes was a nightmare as well.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:38pm

most embarassing thing that's happened to me due to being naturally very pale, in my school's production of sorry. wrong numnber the ploicy was that when our make-up was done we had to go out under the lights and make sure we weren't washed out....i got sent back for another coat 8 times

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:39pm

Mine is more of a costume moment, but here goes:

I was playing the Judge in Inherit the Wind, but i was also part of the ensemble during the prayer scenes. I only had like, a minute to get out of my townsperson costume and into my judges robes for the trial scene. Well, on the second night, i forgot to change out of my long polka-dotted skirt i wore as a townsperson into the more sensible black one i was wearing for the judge under my robes. So in our interpretation, our conservative southern judge wore a polka-dotted skirt. I was so sure i was going to get in trouble with my director, but she just laughed.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:44pm

I did WIZARD OF OZ as well. I was the Scarecrow. So I feel your pain, munkustrap178.

Also, in GYPSY... the "Farm Sequence" into "Broadway" was a real quick change.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 2:56pm

wll munku and anotha i guess your experiences are why my "oz" director insisted on seperate actors to play miss gultch and the farm hands

[Mythus]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 3:08pm

I was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at a community theatre, and I played the brother Zebulun (yes, I am a girl). I had, like, six layers of makeup on my face each night (base, bronzer, and a lot of other really weird stuff) - plus the silver-grey stuff that they patted on me to give me a five o'clock shadow.

Now, those of you familiar with Joseph know of the dance from hell (also known as the Megamix) at the end. Everyone who could dance was in it, and that was most of the cast except the children. All of the main character bows lasted about one second. The brothers lined up, and we got our own second in the spotlight, and then we ran like hell offstage to change out of our costumes and makeup and into the Megamix costumes (which were white pants, white shirts, and a colorful vest/shirt). The chorus of kids stalled for a minute or two by taking an awfully long time with their bows.

So! I ran to the wives' dressing room (right, like I would get changed in front of the rest of the brothers) and, since they were already in their Megamix costumes, they would strip me and attack my face with baby wipes and baby oil. Actually, that started on the second or third night, when they watched me trying to do it all by myself and failing miserably. We went back out onto the stage in arranged lines for the Megamix, and I was always the last person, running into the wings, pulling my white shoes on. It was a nightmare.

I talk too much. *sigh*

ETA: And the worst part about being a girl and playing a brother - after the show, when we went out to greet the audience, no one knew who I was! So I started wearing the little...thing that I had on my head as a brother when I went out. Updated On: 12/30/04 at 03:08 PM

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 3:10pm

I did the Wizard of Oz and I remember everyone freaking out about all the makeup. I was Glinda, so I was only in a couple of scenes---however, the director completely showered me in glitter, and it never came off. I have such sensitive skin, that I developed a terrible rash as well.


When I was in Neil Simon's Fools, I had to wear this nightgown for one of the scenes. I didnt realize the nightgown was made out of such crappy material---I wore dark undies, and everyone could see through the gown.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 3:13pm

The hour and a half of makeup and hair for Into The Woods when I played The Wolf, and the fact it came off so much faster when doing the quick change into the prince.

[personB]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 3:18pm

These are really interesting stories...Unfortunately, I have none to tell. Does knocking over the Santa Maria (in West Side Story) three times count?

[Overthemoon6]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 4:23pm

When they were taking our picture for "little Women", the other sisters and i had to change into our costumes. Well i was wearing black underwear with a white nightgown and everyone saw it. Thank goodness the newspaper picture was black and white and i was sitting down in it, so you couldn't really tell.

[maybethistime]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 4:31pm

anything w/ spirit gum.... blegh!!!

[BroadwayBaby816]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 5:17pm

I havetn had any yet...but I'm playing the witch in into the woods and i can garuntee there will be mis haps with the change from ugly to pretty lol

[Jon]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 6:15pm

Playing Sitting Bull in Annie Get Yor Gun - when the costumer informed me that for one scene I'd be in a buckskin vest - open, with no shirt - and I'd have to wear body makeup to my waist. And the theatre had no shower, so there was really no way to wash it off after each performance.

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:07pm

a fake eyelash fell into my eye. it was painful - enough said.

oh! but there was also the time i was in "die zauberflote" (the magic flute - mozart) and "okalhoma!" at the same time. i was a whore/slave in "zauberflote" and laurey in "OK!"...and we had to wear gold makeup all over our faces and black lipstick in "zauberflote"..which i couldn't get off for "OK!" later that night!! it was so awful...i was laurey with black lips. i felt so bad for the guy playing curly - because we had to kiss all the time and i had this nasty-ass black lipstick stuck on. that was pretty embarassing.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:13pm

Ah, spirit gum... I did Tevye in FIDDLER for a children's dinner theatre two years ago... age makeup and spirit gum to keep my beard on...

*Sang to DO YOU LOVE ME* "Golde, am I shedding?"

[JoshuaEads]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:29pm

I feel for you, my fellow Ozians! Having played the Lion three times and the Scarecrow once, I think I've *finally* got that quick change down. Too bad I don't plan on doing another production...at least for a very long time...

No, by far the worst makeup experience for me was when I played the Modern Major General in "Pirates of Penzance" last year. The director had the brilliant idea of casting someone younger and "aging" him up so that lots of physical business could be done. Luckily, I went to school for hair and makeup design, so the actual process (while long and itchy) wasn't the problem. The problem was that I happened to be employed in the office of the theatre and thus had to work in the ticket booth until five minutes after curtain. I had to figure out a way to squeeze an hour and a half long makeup application into about fifteen minutes. While there were some close calls ::knock on wood:: I made it for my entrance every performance.

Then there's the time I did the makeup design for Ben Franklin in "1776" for a man who had the tendency to complain about anything and everything. Let's just say that on one of his more vehement evenings I "forgot" to seal the scalp piece and his left eye wound up glued shut by intermission.

Love,
Me

Updated On: 12/30/04 at 11:29 PM

[WickedGrl2006]

Posted: 12/30/04 at 11:30pm

oh gosh my worst moment with like makeup and stuff, was when i had a fake witches nose because my school every year does like a little cabarret of different acts and i was in a parody skit about the wizard of oz after dorothy came back...it was funny but anyways the witches sister (me) comes back and asks for the shoes...and yea well my nose, right in the middle of the line, falls off and i catch it without looking just in time be4 it hit the ground...oh god so i just improved and said "I TOLD THE SURGEON THIS NOSE WOULDN'T WORK!" everyone laughed, it was funny...but i think i needed some of that spirit gum you're talking about...hope everyone enjoys my worst moment...

[OhSoWicked]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 12:52am

Makeup -- In a production of The Wiz I did two years ago we had this horribleeee makeup artist that did our Dorothy's makeup SO bad. We called her Hooker Dorothy until she fixed it up....still laugh about it today. She was scary lol.

Costume -- Same production, I was a dancer and we had to change from the Poppy outfits to Emerald city in one extremely short scene. We had to change tights, dresses, briefs, shoes and accessories, and it was mass chaos.

[gertiecummings]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 1:09am

It wasn't for a show, but for my school's big end-of-the-year theatre party I went as Regan from The Exorcist and put green paint and peas all over my chin and chest for the pea soup. It stung a little and was crusting and peas fell off all night. I remember taking a picture with my friend and having to angle myself so I wouldn't get paint on his all-white costume.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 1:14am

yes, I agree... OZ is HELL at the end. I played the Scarecrow once.. getting from Scarecrow to Hunk for the last scene then back to Scarecrow without make up for curtain call was a NIGHTMARE

[felineofavenueb]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 3:42am

I've been fairly lucky as far as hellish makeup experiences go. I recently played Mrs. Fezziwig in a production of A Christmas Carol though, and had to do old age makeup. I got backstage after our pre-show (we did a Dickens Faire, it was very cool) to realize that I had smudged one of my wrinkles and now had an extremely odd (and out of place for someone upper class) brown streak going diagonally across my forehead. That's what you get for forgetting set powder I suppose.

Costume wise though, I was in a production of Cinderella where I was in all but one scene of Act 1, and as a different character each scene. I came off as a townsperson to change frantically into a mouse costume (don't ask) only to have to race offstage stripping and changing on my way to my next entrance as a waiter, and then leave from that and enter again thirty seconds later as a mouse again. It was interesting, to say the least. Also am currently playing Eliza in My Fair Lady and have to negotiate not one but two quickchanges involving a ballgown...

[maybethistime]

Posted: 12/31/04 at 3:48am

yea- the oz change is killer. i remember throwing my hat offstage as i was walking on.
this was a really long time ago, but when i was colin in secret garden, theres a scene when i was in the bed being all annoying & miserable and wearing a night gown & then the bedroom went off on the slipstage as the garden drop lowered and then 15 seconds later i was being wheeled back onstage in the wheelchair wearing a 2 piece button-up sailor oufit with laceup boots & an annoying hat that had to be bottoned on the back. I remember once, i was already onstage and i was covered by a blanket and when i was wheeled in a circle & wasn't facing the audience i would finish buttoning the shirt. that was a crazy one! i had like 3 dressers!