Elphaba's Wigs in the tour of WICKED

[yarn769fink034]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:23pm

All the pictures of Elphaba hair I have seen it has been flat and straight. On Broadway it was in a Braid.Why the change?I like the braid much better.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:38pm

Probably just to downsize the amount of changes that have to be made. For instance, Glinda also wears the curly wig throughout most of the show instead of switching back to straight for "Dear Old Shiz" to "Defying Gravity". Just regular tour cutting-down-ness. If that's a word. Which I doubt it is.

[yarn769fink034]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:40pm

Thats sucks.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:40pm

you mean that braid? I'm pretty sure in all 3 companies elphaba loses the braid after glinda undoes it in popular.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:43pm

You are correct Jonartdesigns!

She does have a braid through "popular" but Glinda takes it out for "how to fix your hair"
and then the rest of act one its slightly wavy, long, mostly straight. It's a bit more styled in act 2..and when you see her in Kiamo Ko (Fiyero's castle..where dorthey is)("for good") she has it pulled back, wrapped around her head. then for the "surprise" at the end it's down again :)

I just saw it again last night..so...

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:53pm

i'm still confused as to why they cut glinda's straight wig from the tour and chicago, i always felt it made that rapid costume change to her "younger self" a little more impressive in that 9 seconds.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:53pm

I think the braid is used only for Stephanie, the understudies have just one wig, but as much as they have been going on, this should change.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 3:57pm

for the understudies would it honestly be that hard to braid the damn thing before the show? (i realize its harder than it looks and the opening wig is probobly different from the one glinda undoes [especially since she gets that braid out damn fast] but still)

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:01pm

and since the show is makin oodles of $.
Get the umderstudies another wig!

[FrontRowFirst]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:04pm

I guess I'm being petty and nitpicky but the Glinda wig change seems important to me. It showed a difference from school girl, to sophisticated fancy Glinda. It was a visual cue.

To me, that would have been one of the things worth saving.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:40pm

Actually, in the current Broadway cast, Megan Hilty wears the short curly hair the entire show. I'm not sure if it's her real hgasir but she comes out curled every time at the stage door.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:43pm

I am pretty sure Jenna had the braid too. The braid is just taken out in the popular scene. And I think the reason Kendra doesn't have the straight wig is that it wouldn't suit her. He looks so damn cute with the curly do, I don't think the straight would look good on her. Dont forget, the tour was actually redesigned slightly, so Susan Hilferty mught have made that choice conciously after seeing Kendra.

Akiva

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:50pm

Wigs + Maintanace/Styling = Super $$$.

I wouldn't be surprised if CHICAGO now follows New York's wig design, but it's to be expected that such things would be lightly simplified for the road.

[yarn769fink034]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 4:51pm

I thought Elphaba had her hair in the braid during one Short Day amd Defying Gravity or at least pulled back.
All the pics of the tour(which I'm seeing in D.C) and on Leno
Elphabas hair was flat and all over the place.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:13pm

nope yarn, those scenes are after she's "galindafied" so her hair is down.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:22pm

Jenna definetly has a wig..I'm pretty sure with a budget like Wicked's everyone that would possibly go on for Elphaba has the 3 or however many different wigs :)

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:33pm

I dont think Kendra even uses a wig. Cuz I met her at the stage door, and her hair looked exactly the same.

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 5:45pm

The Elphie wigs expecially the one in Chicago looks really really brown instead of black

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 6:02pm

radioactive, based on her interview clip on the chicago version trailer i'd definately venture that thats a wig, remember also that kristin chenoweth's straight wig looked almost exactly like her real hair too, its easier for upkeep to have them in wigs

[RustyJusty830]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:07pm

WickedGeek- I'm actually going to have to correct you...In the current Broadway cast, Megan Hilty has three seperate wigs and does indeed change from the curly "No One Mourns the Wicked" wig into a more wavy 'do' which has long bangs pulled back against her head(much like the wig JLT wore in the Shiz sequences all the way up through "Defying Gravity"- a slight alteration from Cheno's straight wig). She then changes during the second act into a more formal up-do which she loses for the rest of the show starting at the fight scene in Munchkinland, for which she wears her opening wig. My sole reason for posting this is because wigs are one of my passions in theatre! For some odd reason they fascinate me...

[Glindafan]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:18pm

RustyJusty is exactly right. You never see Megan's real hair until she hits the stage door.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:18pm

Oh, Justin! I love you! I'm so totally obsessed with wigs; people think I'm weird. But they are so fascinating to me, too!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:26pm

Does it really matter?

Sorry - I just can't understand why people discuss if the wig is "flatter than the wig on Broadway." Seriously. Lets talk about better things. I can see talking about costume and set changes - but having a big discussion about if Elphaba's wig is flatter on the tour - it just boggles my mind.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:34pm

thread jacking am i the only one who is genuinely happy they did away with the wizard's wig, brows and mustache that joel wore? I'm still confused as to why he wore them in the first place

[Joshua488]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 7:36pm

Some people think that talking about set changes and costumes is stupid. I don't, but I'm sure that there are people who do.

Let people talk about what they want to. If it doesn't interest you, don't read it. Different people have different opinions. It's pretty simple.
Updated On: 7/21/05 at 07:36 PM