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Hi, I'm Anthony Galde from 'Behind the

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Emerald Curtain.' Today, we'll take a look

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at the hair, and wig designs for 'Wicked.'

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From simple looks to elaborate headpieces,

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these imaginative styles are uniquely Oz.

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Wigs are so funny because we are all as

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human beings used to dealing with hair

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on our bodies and treating it in a certain

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way. The wig is an object; Tom Watson is

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a great, great, hair designer, and wig

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maker, so his wigs, he wants people to

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treat them like their own hair. Once we've

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made the decision of what the wig is going

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to be we know who is going to be wearing

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the wig, how the hair is actually going to

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move on the head, whether or not there's

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color change, what the color is going to

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be, then it's given over to the hands of a

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wig-maker. Susan designs the costumes to

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be asymmetrical, a lot of the hair is also

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asymmetrical so you'll see they'll be a

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single sided horn in the wig that goes up

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to the right side with a hat on the other

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side, so it's completely asymmetrical.

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All of Susan Hefry's original sketches

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included sketches of the hair. We look at

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the sketch, we try to understand the

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language that we are going to be using-

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The conversation has to do with the color

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of hair, the shape of the styles of hair,

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this conversation is about blending all of

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the elements together.

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Whenever any new actor comes into the show

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their hair is addressed almost

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immediately, there's always for every

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actor, even if they're wigged for the

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entire show, a conversation between

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the wig supervisor and myself about

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color, texture, length.

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Our job, as soon as we get our hands on

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the actor, is to measure them in every

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conceivable way. Most people for the first

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time are shocked that there are so many

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measurements to be had. To understand

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how to make the wig, you have to have

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literally almost a tracing of the head.

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We do a mold of their head, using

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basically a plastic bag and tape, and then

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we take that plastic bag mold that we just

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did and we stuff it out to meet certain

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measurements, so basically we'll end up

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having a duplicate of their head in the

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studio, and then we can build the wig on

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that duplicate. When we make the mold of

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the head we start by prepping the heads

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that we get the hair as flat as we

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possibly can, and then we get the plastic

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bag over their head and start taping it

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down so that we've basically covered their

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entire head with tape, so that forms the

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actual shape, and then we use a sharpie

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to outline exactly where the hairline is

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on each person, so you know, if they have

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a widow's peak we can capture that, if

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they have a receded hairline we capture

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that, then after that we measure- we take

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a series of various measurements,

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circumference, across the back of the nape

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from the front-center to the back, over

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the top of the head and so forth. We take

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those measurements so that we know how

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we have to stuff that mold out later, so

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we have something to compare it to.

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It's literally the road map of a person's

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head. Once we have the head wrap we take

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the headwrap and find a canvas block whose

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circumference is about the same as the

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circumference of the actor or actress's

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head, then we place the mold onto the

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block, tape it down, then actually make

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a series of cuts into that mold and start

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stuffing it with polyfill, and that

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allows us to basically stuff the head out

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till we get to the exact measurements

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that we've taken before, and that gives us

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the duplicate of their head. There's two

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ways we can make the wig: either we

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start with nothing, and we build a

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foundation, we build everything, or we

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start with an existing wig, rip off the

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front, rip off the top, and customize it

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to the person. It takes about anywhere

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from fifteen to forty hours to build the

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wig, most of that process is putting hair

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in the cap, then we start building the wig

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from scratch that very day. Every hair is

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put on by a craftsperson, every hair is

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put into that wig using methods that've

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been around for 300, 400 years now, so

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nothing's changed about wig making in the

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past three centuries. On 'Wicked'

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Broadway there're approximately 120 wigs,

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including facial hair as well, which is

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much larger than most shows. Other

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productions of 'Wicked' have about 109,

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110 wigs as well, so right now there's 7

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productions in the world, that's 800 wigs

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just for 'Wicked' alone. It's impossible

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to talk about a costume if you're not

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talking about the hair too, the hair

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design for the show is intrinsic to the

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design of the costume, to all of a piece.

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The wigs are really what pull it all

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together, for all of the time and energy

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we spend making the clothes -and they

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are exceptional- the clothes the shoes the

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gloves the hats, it's not a costume

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it is not finished, they're not in

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character until they have a wig on.