Bruce Vilanch wig question

Posted: 12/14/04 at 10:52pm

In Hairspray, Bruce is the only Edna I have seen to wear a blond wig in the finale. I don't like it very much. Does anyone know why he did this? In fact, he never really has the reddish wig the other Ednas do.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 12/14/04 at 10:54pm

I think Michael McKean wore a red on when I saw him

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 12/14/04 at 11:01pm

it seems to have varied by the actor- havey's was more brownish, then michael (imo the least "pretty" edna) has a bright red, now blonde for bruce

[midtowngym]

Posted: 12/14/04 at 11:03pm

i literally tripped over Bruce yesterday. We were both sitting in the same row at a play. Jeez that man is BIG.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/15/04 at 12:44am

the reasoning for the blonde hair and pronounced glasses, i believe I reads omewhere, was that bruce was teh first one to take on edna after harvey, who is soo beloved in the role, and they wanted to visually draw a seperation between the two of them.

[TheOneAndOnly]

Posted: 12/15/04 at 11:56am

...and also to match a bit more to the actor's natural hair color. When Shannon Durig first came in as Kathy Brier's stand-by, her wig was a light brown, almost reddish, because Shannon's natural hair was a reddish-brown. It just looked more natural on her, though somewhat shocking if you were used to the standard dark-brown haired Tracy. A few months into her stay, they switched her to the regular dark hair, but all wigs are styled and colored a bit different to match the actors' features while staying within the characters' guidelines.

Jenn Gambatese's Penny wigs changed a ton, from shocking red, to mousey brown, to red-brown, she was all over the place. Don't even get started on the different styles the finale-Penny wigs have gone through, they changed quite a bit over time. A lot of these changes were played with when they incorporated some of the tour changes into the B'way version (the slimmed 'Timeless to Me', the black girls singing 'Go, mama go!' during the finale, etc..)

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/15/04 at 12:02pm

my favorite wig was the one sandra denise originally sported when the tour first opened - PUR barbarella!





THAT is my checkerboard chick look! Updated On: 12/15/04 at 12:02 PM

Posted: 12/15/04 at 3:27pm

When I saw it, Jenn Had a much shorter wig, sort of curled at the ends almost like pigtails, and mouse brown hair. It enhanced her geek look. Also, I didn't like her finale wig. It was too tame, too simple.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/15/04 at 3:31pm

I've seen the show many times (both Broadway and tour) and it seems like everytime Penny's finale wig is different. I might have seen the few performances where Penny didn't wear the traditional Penny finale costume (understudy went on early on tour, her costume was not ready).

Posted: 12/15/04 at 3:34pm

What costume did she wear then, Dottie?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/15/04 at 3:39pm

She wore her "Brenda" green dress finale costume. I went with my mom and the first thing I said was, she's not wearing the purple dress!!!