BrodyFosse speaks true. Beyonce ALWAYS wears a wig in public.
As far as Creel's long wig vs. his short hair, it isn't simple a matter of it being the easier change. It is much, MUCH harder to create a convincing short haired wig in a male style in general. It is even harder when you have to hide longer hair under it. Therfore, the logical choice is to cut the hair to the shorter style and build a wig for the longer style. Keep in mind, the person's hair is still piled up under a wig, so long hair under a short wig has the potential to distort the visual shape of the head.
As far as Creel's understudies go, as they are normally ensemble / swing tracks, they require long hair for that, hence they have that, and should a short hair wig look awful, sad though it might be, it is only for once performance, not EVERY performance, you know?
Re: cost.
Hand tied human hair wigs can, and DO, run into the thousands of dollars based on where the hair is importated from, the amount of dying needed, the length of the wig, etc etc. A comparable wig made from sythetic could possibly cost only several hundred.
The hair and wigs for this production of Hair were designed by Gerard Kelly. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Kelly does most builds for the shows he works on himself with the aid of a few assistants.
Broadway Wig Company (
http://www.broadwaywigs.com/home.html ) does great work. Among other things, they provided / built the ensemble wigs for White Christmas and the wigs for the Little Shop revival.
Broadway Wigs provides a great price breakdown for their work at
http://www.broadwaywigs.com/pricing.html As they are custom builds, the prices DO vary based on what you want, but there is a starting guide.
Updated On: 7/13/09 at 01:34 AM
