Would it be alright by you, if I de-greenified you?

Something to remember when you go see a show is, the characters you see on stage are just that, characters. The people don’t usually look like that. That is why you need an amazing makeup designer. Joe Delude did an amazing job creating the face of each character on stage. Joe Delude has also worked on The Wedding Singer (2006) and Grease (2007).
One of the most obvious transformations you see on stage is in Elpahba. She turns green. This is a video of Idina Menzel being “greenified”. She is also giving her thoughts on the show.

While Elphaba is the most obvious, other actors go through a transformation to make their characters believable.
This is a picture of Kristen Chenoweth in normal street makeup.
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:GXagO6Np3ZrGvM:http://www.freewebs.com/kristenchenowethonline/kristen-chenoweth%255B1%255D.jpg
This is what Kristen Chenoweth looks like as Galinda in Wicked.
http://www.thestage.co.uk/images/pics/19409.jpg
While the actual change might seem minimal, there is more to it than that.
This is Joel Gray in “real life”.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQ_dHSmVKRkg5neiRJBeXqvfnSs4mm1lCWSudi_JUgRtrXLY8v9wZLtoF8nGUBBALO0OLW_48Y7Yj4A-w7NNHHbfVC5E6QR8ia1l-vRFw2Lcn1TN6q-LOXrLQf7vOoWQMVCSa_2sbXcA/s400/Joel_Grey+pic.jpg
And this is what he looks like as The Wizard of Oz.
http://z.hubpages.com/u/128100_f260.jpg
For this show he got a wig and eyebrows along with his other makeup.

Others have latex masks they wear. This is one of the masks worn by a flying monkey.
http://www.shnsf.com/dynamic/news/nav_image_3_528.jpg

This is a video from broadway.com. Carol Shelly is giving a backstage tour of Wicked. This video talks about several different aspects of the show; however, it does talk about the makeup and has a small part with Joe Dulude himself. Plus, you get another look at the costumes!


Any makeup artist’s design would not be complete without the proper hair. In Wicked they use more than ninety different wigs. Tom Watson, the hair and wig designer for wicked has been designing hair and wigs for the theatre since the late 1980s. He has worked on shows such as, Mastergate (1989), Into the Woods (2002), Les Misérables (2006), South Pacific (2008), Crybaby (2008), and Waiting for Godot (2009). Mr. Watson is an incredible talent. Most of the wigs are made by hand with two or three hairs at a time.
About two minutes into this video you will see Joe Dulude talking about the makeup in the show. Then it goes into Tom Watson talking about the hair and wigs. It is amazing!



Wickedthemusical.com
Internet Broadway Database-Tom Watson
Internet Broadway Database- Joe Delude