Wigs on Broadway

[ShuQ]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:01pm

I know this is random, but I just was looking at some pictures and it looks like more characters on Broadway wear wigs than I would think.

What characters on Broadway, that you know of, wear wigs?

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:03pm

Almost ALL of the female characters anymore.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:03pm

Wearing wigs is just easier than trying to style everyone's hair exactly right, even if they have the right hair type for what they're looking for. I've heard that Kristen Chenoweth wore a wig for Glinda, even though she obviously has nice blond hair. Of course, I don't know if that's true...but that's the rumor.

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:04pm

Yes, she wore a wig.

[morosco]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:04pm

I would say the majority of actors and actresses wear wigs on Broadway. I could be wrong though.

[PJ]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:04pm

I'd say females definitely wear them more often than not. But in photos, they must photoshop out those terrible wig lines that sometimes cover a 1/3 of the actor's ears.

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:40pm

A plus for an actor wearing a wig is that he or she won't have to worry about not being able to change the color, style, etc of said hair during the run of the show.

[Raggy Q poo]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:50pm

I'm sure all the people in Hairspray wear wigs...I wouldn't even doubt some of the men but there is nobody that I know of in Q that wears wigs. Of course, they do dress like 'themsleves' as the puppets are really the ones 'on stage.'

Did that make sence? Didn't think so...sorry

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 6:51pm

I love wigs...you don't have to style your hair every night...

I think it's seldom that they don't use wigs now.

Most of the time a director wants the show to look exactly the same each night, by using wigs they at least have THAT part of identical!

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:01pm

I read in an interview with someone (sorry for the vagueness) that your hair wouldn't be able to survive if you didn't wear a wig in most shows.

I would also think it's easier to hid the mic when wearing a wig.

[Broadway_freak]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:08pm

Evita has about 4 different wigs to change into throught the entire show. It's become standard.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:29pm

Tobias from Sweeney Todd

[grizzabella]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:50pm

"La Cage" uses quite a few obviously for Zaza,the Cagelles, and almost every other character at one time or another. For some reason which I have not been able to comprehend, since Robert Goulet doesn't wear one, Daniel Davis wore that grey thing while he played Georges. I think that Gavin Creel is the only wigless one in the male cast. I don't know about the female cast.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 7:53pm

Almost everyone on Broadway wears at least one wig in every performance. Beauty and the Beast, for example, uses over one hundred wigs every performance.

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 8:09pm

Yeah the wigs are just easier then having to style and re-style hair during the shows (especially if the actress or actor requires many style changes throughout the show.) Although I was a bit curious, doesn't it actually take a while to apply the actual wig/blend in the hairline etc or do they just use the kind that slip over a skullcap?

[birdboy782]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:00pm

It's very very quick. Wig changes can be just a few seconds long. Hair is pin curled, placed on a wig cap, and the wig just sits on top held on by a few strategically placed bobby pins. The lace usually is not even glued down with spirit gum.

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:03pm

I believe John Adams was a Whig in 1776!

[shira467]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:26pm

Haha, Sum...

Christine Ebersole does NOT wear a wig in Steel Magnolias -- she has her hair washed on stage every night...

John Lithgow wears a wig, which I find amusing.

[LesMizazz]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:38pm

A wig is also easier for quick changes in terms of having the mic under it, so you don't have to worry about taking the mic off or having to rewire it through clothes and such.

[jaded_october]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:42pm

in my school, theyre really cheap. and i played little red riding hood in into the woods and they wanted me to pull my hair into a pollyanna and curl it every night. my hair is naturally curly, but i guess it wasnt good enough for them.

damn, my hair got so ruined.



that was kind of off topic. but yea, alot of actors/actresses do wear wigs.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:43pm

Yeah...I thought it was hilarious that Lithgow wore a wig. It doesn't really seem like he needs it...

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:14pm

i know in wicked glinda wears 3 wigs (the curly one, the straight one, and the one for thank goodness), and i believe elphaba might have 4 i could be totally wrong (some wicked fanatic will correct me i'm sure) one with hte beanie, one semi-braded for popular, one for the rest of act 1 (?), and one for act 2

i know i personally would opt for a wig if/when i get cast in a show even tho i am a guy, just for ease of certain styles, i have hair like superman and thats all it does

Updated On: 6/1/05 at 11:14 PM

[JSousa]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:46pm

Wigs Rock. They are so awesome the way they are blended and tapered to look like its part of the head. I think almost every female on Broadway has one. How does Steel Magnolias do it. Do they have a new wig every night. I have not seen the show, but I know its set in a beauty salon. Does she cut hair onstage? Does she cut wigs? Or how does it all work?

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 11:52pm

i'd imagine that they put extensions into whatever wig is to be "cut" nightly, so they get cut out and put back in

[Footlooser]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:23am

A little off topic but does anyone know where to buy really good wigs for shows. I have found a lot of crap but not a lot of good.